To wonder how much breastfeeding matters 14 years on?

[ringle]

Genuine question. I bf both my kids with relatively few problems, mostly because I found it enjoyable.

But looking back it doesn't seem that big a deal.

What's prompted this is a couple of people testifying on another thread that their ongoing efforts to bf drove them to depression.

What are the stats?

Matilda,

Those are assertions not evidence though I think? Anyone can assert...

I formula fed 2dc. I didn't even consider breastfeeding the first. I was 16 and the midwife assumed I would be bottle feeding and I just agreed. I tried to breastfeed the second but didn't get past day 2. I was mildly disappointed.

I breastfed dc3 and 4 until 16 months and dc5 until 22 months.

I have no guilt, no regrets and no worries about any of them. I did the best I could do at the time. They were all well fed. It never affected bonding and as far as I can tell it hasn't affected their growth or health.

I will say that I suffered more upsetting comments, looks and direct insults while breastfeeding than I ever did bottle feeding but I found breastfeeding much easier overall for night time feeds and out and about so if I had another baby I would prefer to breastfeed.

I don't care how other people feed their babies.

I think it is very sad if a woman who wants to breastfeed is unable to.
I think it is very sad for a woman to feel guilty if she can't or doesn't want to.

From a public health point of view, I think it is important for breastfeeding to be promoted and for all mothers to be supported.

;) dawned

havne't read the full thread so apologies if someone has already posted this. But read thsi. The evidence in favour of breastfeeding has been heavily exaggerated. There are some benefits, but for full term babies they are VERY minor and almost all of them disappear in studies when social class and mother's IQ are properly controlled for.

www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/04/the-case-against-breast-feeding/307311/

I am friends with a paediatric dietitian (obv hugely in favour of BF) and she says all the benefits are at population level so you wouldn't see any meaningful differences by comparing one child to another.
Also some of the effects depend greatly on the mother - a BF child doesn't get any immunity to something that the mother is susceptible to, nor any reduced chance of asthma if the mother has it.

I couldn't. It caused massive stress and upset but it didn't get in the way of bonding. I erroneously believed that I was in some way letting DS down.
15 years on, it hasn't made one jot of difference to how healthy, happy or clever DS is and I can't see what difference if could've made.

My message to anyone beating themselves up about it : don't and keep away from anyone who tries to tell you that it does matter.

It's probably impossible to prove as there will always be so many other factors.

I reckon most of the benefits are benefits while the child is being bf rather than benefits throughout like but tbh that's a guess. I think the main thing that motivated me to bf was that I expected it tasted better and was more varied! Also that it was so natural to bf in a cuddle position whereas with ff you have to consciously think to do the same.

That said of my children, the one who was bf much longer doesn't have asthma like the older one does and is very robustly healthy. HE was always the better sleeper once we had his tt snipped.

BUT the reason dd wasn't bf as long was that she had major heart surgery and needed high calorie formula, which I found impossible to mixed feed with. Once she started taking a bottle only the high cal stuff would satjsfy her. So differences between my kids are probably due to other factors.

DD IS by far the better, less picky eater, despite the ff and being weaned on puree at about 13/14 weeks on medical advice. D'S was bf til 8 months, blw at 6 months and is the fussiest little thing now at 3 1/2!

On an individual basis it must be impossible to tell. We could all tell anecdotes until the cows come home and it wouldn't mean anything.

I'm glad I BF because I've enjoyed doing it and the kids have enjoyed it too. I don't think they'd be significantly worse off in any way if I had FF. I would do it again if I had another. And I do think that with BF, the first bit is the hard bit - if you manage to crack that then you have free, instantly available food for your baby, you don't have to fuck about sterilising anything, it's absolutely dead handy and great. But it's definitely not worth suffering depression for.

I agree with those saying that the effects are impossible to detect at the individual level, only at population level. I breastfed 3 of my children and formula fed 1. I was angst-ridden by formula feeding at the time and passionately pro-breastfeeding with the others. That feels ridiculous in hindsight, 16 years later, and obviously I rarely think about it now. In comparison with the many parenting decisions I've made since then it pales into insignificance. I wish I could go back and tell my younger self to stop stressing about it!

Matilda actually studies now suggest that any advantage would wear off by the time the child is 5 so that's not entirely correct....

Washing Matilda

'Can' is the word in your links.

FF child here. No childhood illnesses at all. High IQ. Not obese. Perfectly healthy child

Stop peddling rubbish and trying to make people feel guilty for not breast feeding.

I torture myself about this. 6 year old BF daughter, never ill (touch all wood) gifted apparently and a joy.
My adorable 3 year old was mostly bottle fed and always ill as a baby (not so much now thankfully) often unhappy and insecure :-(

Ooh some really interesting stuff here.

Is the lower level "how your baby will be healthier if you breastfeed her" stuff past its sell by date perhaps?

I will read the article from The Atlantic.

I think it is very sad if a woman who wants to breastfeed is unable to.
I think it is very sad for a woman to feel guilty if she can't or doesn't want to.

I think these two statements contradict each other actually. I couldn't breastfeed DS2. I don't want that to be sad; I don't want your pity. It's that pity that makes me feel guilty.

Breastfed dc1 for about 6 weeks. Stopped because in hindsight I simply did not understand the level of commitment involved, no idea of the whole growth spurt, pinned to the sofa for hours on end, 24 hour feeding, etc.

Dc2 I was a bit more educated, realised that it's something you have to give yourself over to and with an undiagnosed tongue tie and a larger than average baby ( on average in clothing 2-3 years older than his age, since about 2) I exclusively fed until about 5mths.

What still amazes me is that in the 12 years since I first became a mum, so little has changed in terms of breastfeeding support, info, etc. If you don't take the time to go out and find that info and support, then tough. With friends having babies, it still seems so hard to get to know even the basics. It's still a case of just try it, give it a go. With mums not realising it takes weeks,months for feeding to be established. Or that it might not happen for them at all....

I'm with the Not A Jot camp. I FF DCs 1 &2, BF DCs 3 &4. I'm as bonded to each of the children as I am to the others, they're all now young adults or teenagers in a comparative state of good health and general well-being. I agonised over my failure to BF the older two - but it really, really didn't matter. It was less of a faff with the younger two - that was pretty much it.

It doesn't matter at all as far as I can see. I have one above average intelligence child and one average intelligence child neither are ever ill both were formula fed. My friend has 5 breast fed children many of which didn't wean until 3 or 4. One is super intelligent the other 4 are average intelligence. 3 of them have multiple food allergies, one has autism.

It is what it is. Feed your babies the best way for you, them, and your family and the rest will be what it will be.

Probably not that much benefit but as someone who's never really respected their (tiny) boobs, it was nice to feel that they served a purpose. And my gran died from breast cancer and my mum's had it so selfishly it felt like I was doing something for me while also looking after DD. Also, v good for a lazy type as I never had to worry about sterilising and carrying bottles and formula around

Three children. Breast fed until 18,17 and 24 months. All have asthma. I don't. One has severe peanut allergy. I don't.
I was lucky. A few over supply problems but no major issues.
I don't think breast feeding gave my children any health advantages. We've been through many sickness bugs and colds.
I look at the statistics and think that so many other factors come into play it's impossible to get a definitive answer as to if breast feeding is better.
My advice to any new mother would always be, do what is best for you. A happy mother makes for a happy child.

IQ increases were minimal if I remember that BMJ article that the poster paraphrased earlier. 0.005 of a point. Ultimately the only thing that makes a demonstrable long term impact on a baby is their mum’s mental health - if it’s destroyed through following futile feeding methods right at the beginning then the baby’s not going to have a great start.

I couldn't agree more OP. Depression is far more of a risk to public health than formula feeding.

FWIW, DS1 was breastfed. He's pretty healthy, but had quite a few colds as a baby. DS2 was born prematurely and with health problems, was in hospital for 2 months. He's formula fed. Apart from the hospital stay, an operation and a subsequent infection, he's never had so much as a sniffle!

This is interesting. I was on the other thread. I couldn't breast feed. I did get over it but a little part of me is still disappointed. However, whilst trying to get it all going a bf consultant told me that a Brazilian study showed that bf babies were more cognitively advanced age 16 than ff babies.

From my own experience, DM couldn't bf so I was formula fed. Never sick, not obese, educated to post grad.

Personally I think there are other factors which determine a child's future health and success.

By the way my siblings and I were all formula fed, all had high IQs over 140, no allergies. Out of the kids the only child that seems to follow us is the one that was formula fed - the others have shocking allergies (apples, bananas) despite being breastfed. So I imagine there’s something else going on.

Curls
I agree about the lack of support for women who want to bf but need help. When I was struggling with DS1 post section with a sleepy baby with mild jaundice I would have loved some help but had nobody to turn to.

It's one of the things that makes me angry when people are evangelical about breastfeeding but don't actually fight for the help that is needed. Don't target the struggling mums; target the overstretched system.