Benefits of breastfeeding 'wear off' by 5

[greygal]

Had 6 week check for DS today with my GP. He asked all the 'normal' questions, including how I was finding breastfeeding.

I've been really lucky and had no pain, soreness etc and DS is gaining wait incredibly well so I explained that despite my longest sleep in 6 weeks being 4 hours in one go, I felt that it was going really well and felt positive about continuing.

He then launched into a rant about there being far too much pressure on mothers to breastfeed and that by the age of 5, any benefits to a baby of being breast-fed had worn off!

AIBU to wonder why the bloody hell we're all bothering (especially people who have cracked, bloody nipples/ blocked milk ducts/ mastitis etc)?

Is it true that there is no difference between a breast fed and formula fed child by 5 years of age?

You've done well so far and he definitely shouldn't have said what he said.

But to be honest, he's right. I just believe all this about breastfed babies with higher IQs bla bla.
If formula was so bad, it would not be sold, offered in hospitals and used to 'top up' breastfed babies who aren't getting enough milk (tongue tie, low milk supply, latch problems).

even if it was true, then 5 years of benefits for the child are still worth it! and there are long term benefits for the mum too.

Just because something is a video doesnt make it woo...shes presenting to a world health organisation and UNICEF conference...not woo warriors United. ..there aren't a huge amount of papers out there ...but here is one systematic review that is inconclusive but details some of the mechanisms of the possible benefits...im.trying to find the paper with the third generation benefits journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0173070

there is a more decent body of evidence about epigenetics and nutrition...with early life nutrition obviously a critical stage..

scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=The+eukaryotic+microbiome:+origins+and+implications+for+fetal+and+neonatal+life&author=W.+B.+Miller&journal=Front+Pediatr&publication_year=2016&volume=4&pages=96&doi=10.3389/fped.2016.00096&pmid=27668211

Ok now methylation is my thing :)

That paper is very speculative which the authors acknowledge. It’s potential mechanisms rather than casual/proven ones. All the mechanisms are plausible, none are proven.,

There’s a solid body of evidence on nutrition post birth (all the Dutch famine stuff for example.)

But... all these effects are visible on a population level and it’s really important that people understand that. There was a poster upthread making the point that she’d bfd and her child had unfortunately suffered from cancer and then bottle fed and the child had other issues. I’d like to reassure that poster that on an individual level her feeding choices probably influenced her children’s health by a tiny percentage only

Because the danger is that we misinterpret the evidence to say that ‘bf prevents condition x’ when the reality is that bf may reduce the chances of condition x by x% when you look across the whole population

Now that’s certainly evidence to get public health to increase breastfeeding uptake and duration.thays a population level effect,
But on an individual level, the genetics and environmental background of the individual predominate overwhelmingly

So the individual Mum/baby should do what’s right for them and the population level advice should be to try to increase bf, these are not contradictory viewpoints, and I think a lot of people misunderstand that.

Maybe I’m not explaining well.

I like your posts too Backenette. :)

We don't need all this drama and competition about feeding babies for goodness sakes, most of us have better things to do.

@littlepea

if anyone says some breast feeding benefits it seems to turn into a breast versus bottle war...

I have to disagree with this^^.

To be fair, this thread was started because a doctor said to the op that the benefits of bfing weren’t quite as long lasting as one might think. Something which, it seems, there was some basis for, even if it’s not clear cut. Immediately people, (including me), were a little bit sceptical, despite him being a doctor; someone I’d normally trust to advise me on health matters. But it’s difficult to believe ANYTHING even remotely anti-BF, because the ‘breast is best’ message is so well touted by HCPs and others. The GP was definitely not ‘on message’, but that’s not always such a bad thing imo.

I’m currently pumping, (almost exclusively), so that my baby gets as much breast milk as possible btw and I also mix fed dc1. I’d hoped to EBF both dcs but it didn’t work out for either, (yet - hopefully dc2 will decide to latch when he’s a little bigger). My point being that I’m definitely not anti-BF. Quite the opposite. I think it’s great and wish I’d had the same result as the op tbh, but that’s life eh?

Breastfeeding is a worthwhile pursuit if it's what the mum wants to do and if baby is thriving too. I believe in women having all the facts before making a decision. As far as I understand it the health benefits to mum are quite substantial especially regarding female cancers (whether they outweigh mastitis, bleeding nipples etc is an individual choice) and at a population level, breastfed babies are a healthier weight and have less chance of asthma and eczema, type one diabetes and ear infections. Even if that does wear off after 5 years it's worth it if the mum is happy and able to breastfeed.

There is also an environmental cost to formula feeding.

I do think there is a problem in lack of support from medical bodies or organisations to help with the physical act of breastfeeding, but also in how society pressures women. For example, there is so much focus on how much weight a baby gains, how often they feed, how soon they will sleep through the night.

That said, I did see a lovely leaflet from the Unicef Baby Friendly Initiative about responsive bottle feeding - feeding on demand, skin to skin, recognising feeding cues before baby cries etc. Truly I think these are the most important factors - the building blocks of a great relationship. As PPs alluded to, the lifelong emotional bond between baby and caregiver will protect DC into adulthood and foster resilience to draw on long after ear infections cease to be a major concern.

Of course...and in my posts have acknowledged that even the well documented mild benefits like reduction in ear infections obesity etc dont apply to every child and I think.your explanation of that is much better than what mums are given by hcps....this isnt about people being made to feel guilty or horrible....but culturally we have a massive issue around infant feeding and mums being made to those feelings..which is really rubbish....I hope none of my posts have made someone feel that way.

I think that area is so amazing, epigenetics and the microbiome.. hopefully we will know more as time goes on...not just for baby feeding but for nutrition as we age. Even when effects are better evidenced there will be a huge context surrounding them..thousands of internal and external factors..which may make it impossible to pinpoint the causes 100%. I'm still on the hunt for the original paper Lauren quotes. If I find it I will add it :)

I wish this doctor had seen my dsis 9 years ago. My dsis is one of the successful breastfeeders and she says she regrets ever doing it. I know this goes against mn view. She struggled to bond due to breastfeeding and says she missed out on the baby stage. Its only been the last year my dsis has become herself prior to dc. As a direct result of seeing her struggle i ff dd and found it the easiest thing for me. It so simple to make a bottle in 2 minutes and tbh ff overnight was sooo easy compared to my dsis bf experience, and dh could share the night feeds. I know mn hate me for this but for me best thing i did was ff. i have a bright well dd and enjoyed every second of her baby and now toddler hood. The time is flying past! It really doesnt matter how baby is fed. Do whats easiest for you! (Creeps into a corner and puts on flame proofed hat).

A GP shouldn't be saying anything discouraging to a woman successfully bf a 6 week old baby. End of story. Bf rates are low enough as it is in this country.

Yes the WHO covers developing countries too where access to clean water is more of an issue. But they say this:

"Exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months has many benefits for the infant and mother. Chief among these is protection against gastrointestinal infections which is observed not only in developing but also industrialized countries."

I will link some of the references they use...

www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)01024-7/abstract

"Not breastfeeding is associated with lower intelligence and economic losses of about $302 billion annually or 0·49% of world gross national income. Breastfeeding provides short-term and long-term health and economic and environmental advantages to children, women, and society."

www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)01044-2/abstract

Yes but again - population level statistics

It is wise to inform health policy with that but it's misguided to pressure the individual with that data. For the individual other factors have a much bigger influence.

Not breastfeeding is associated with lower intelligence

This is the Brazilian study I mentioned earlier I presume? There are plenty of criticisms of the methodology. I personally don’t feel they accounted for confounding factors well enough.

Look I’m very pro bf - I fed my son till he was a toddler. But I’m uneasy with small effects that are only visible when you look at large populations being used to browbeat individual women. It’s poor statistics, it’s poor science and it’s not helping anyone to feel guilty they’re ‘doing it wrong.’

Backenette I don't think it's a Brazilian study? It's the Lancet study I've linked to directly below the quote from it.

It was the evidence the WHO feeding guidelines were based on

See here
www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs342/en/

Who is bowbreating anyone? The OP asked if benifits extend past 5 years? Pp including myself have linked to evidence that suggests they do. Just answering a question... no browbeating here

Saw enough when I worked in HV to know that infant feeding is not a simple Breast=always best

@ShamelesslyPlacemarking The benefits are pretty great but they have been overstated.

For example, telling women that they will pass on antibodies to their children through milk is true , telling them that it will protect them against anything other than gut infections (a fantastic benefit) is a lie and overstating the benefit. Antibodies are too large to get through the gut wall and into the bloodstream in humans, but not in cows which is where the misinformation comes from. Therefore @ElephantsYeah who was beating themselves up thinking their child might have suffered less with meningitis if only they had breastfed is incorrect, they did their absolute best and should not feel guilty about it. They are suffering guilt from having the benefits overstated to them which is a really unfair burden on them.

The study I linked to also only covers intellectual ability testing. I haven't seen any study about future health implications, directly from breastfeeding and not lifestyle, that has an adequate sample size or any credible results.

Does anyone actually believe that there’s something in breast milk that contribites to higher IQ?

Do my twins have lower IQ because I pumped rather than feeding directly? Did every bottle of supplementary formula knock off an IQ point?

How bloody ridiculous.

fancy isn't it to do with the fats from BM passing through the blood brain barrier and being absorbed more easily than those based on cows milk??

There is a lasting health benefit for mothers.

Interesting study on BF and IQ

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2939272/#!po=82.3864

A GP shouldn't be saying anything discouraging to a woman successfully bf a 6 week old baby. End of story. Bf rates are low enough as it is in this country

I totally agree.

And I also agree that no-one should be forced to bf against their will. I think the thing about parenting is that it is a marathon not a sprint.