Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Emily Oster on Breastfeeding - minimal benefits.

822 replies

IamOvercome · 14/03/2022 13:02

I am pregnant with my first and am an economist so I was recommended books by fellow economist Emily Oster. The books don’t give advice. They review the statistical studies underlying pregnancy advice and whether they are any good or not.

It’s been such an eye opener. For example it is pushed pushed and pushed some more that breast is best. But when you review the evidence there is minimal evidence for benefits of breastfeeding for babies. The strongest evidence is actually for mothers that it can marginally reduce chance of breast cancer in later life.

Same with not introducing babies to bottle to confuse them when breastfeeding. Literally no concrete evidence for it.

Yet this is all pushed as clear cut facts by midwives and other health professionals.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
Peasock · 14/03/2022 19:52

[quote apple93]@Peasock yes! The friend I'm talking about her baby same age as mine and son (in my daughters class)

Every time they catch something the baby always requires admission. It must be like the 6th time she's had a few days stay! [/quote]
So one baby and not 'friends babies' which implies several. Sounds like they might have viral induced wheeze or something similar, my DS has it and I breastfed, pretty sure there's been no research that suggests breastfeeding reduces the effects of this, the main thing is whether family members have asthma. Of course it could be something else other than VIW which is the usual suspect, sad you feel that the way she feeds has indirectly caused multiple hospitalizations though.

Cognoscenti · 14/03/2022 19:53

Ahh Emily Oster... Is it just a study or yet another book reiterating other people's studies? 🙈

Cognoscenti · 14/03/2022 19:54

Article not study, would be surprised if she had actually done her own study on it.

lavaa · 14/03/2022 19:55

horrible thread this - say you didnt start it to cause an argument all you like OP but threads like this only ever go one way.

NurseBernard · 14/03/2022 19:58

So is there a link between the author, Emily Oster, and Ostermilk?

BulletTrain · 14/03/2022 19:59

Sounds like they might have viral induced wheeze or something similar, my DS has it and I breastfed, pretty sure there's been no research that suggests breastfeeding reduces the effects of this, the main thing is whether family members have asthma.

Yep. DS has been in hospital twice with wheeze, once life-threatening. His dad has asthma. I breastfed him until he was 21 months.

And as for the poster comparing 3 children in the same family and saying the breastfed one is sickly - I'm pretty sure that type 1 diabetes and heart diseases are not affected by whether someone has breastmilk or formula. At all. 1 in 100 babies is genetically predisposed to TD1.

Peasock · 14/03/2022 20:02

@NurseBernard

So is there a link between the author, Emily Oster, and Ostermilk?
Why not Google it and see? Seems fairly unlikely as she is American and it was a British brand that stopped production a few decades ago (so there would be no financial incentive for her to say formula is great now anyway), but perhaps.
MissConductUS · 14/03/2022 20:02

@NurseBernard

So is there a link between the author, Emily Oster, and Ostermilk?
Unlikely. She and her husbands are professors at Brown University in the US. It's an Ivy League university.
VelvetChairGirl · 14/03/2022 20:04

@BulletTrain

Sounds like they might have viral induced wheeze or something similar, my DS has it and I breastfed, pretty sure there's been no research that suggests breastfeeding reduces the effects of this, the main thing is whether family members have asthma.

Yep. DS has been in hospital twice with wheeze, once life-threatening. His dad has asthma. I breastfed him until he was 21 months.

And as for the poster comparing 3 children in the same family and saying the breastfed one is sickly - I'm pretty sure that type 1 diabetes and heart diseases are not affected by whether someone has breastmilk or formula. At all. 1 in 100 babies is genetically predisposed to TD1.

Just making a point if people want to go comparing all the kids in a nursery, how you would know what any of them are fed, how they live etc I dont know.
Fixyourself · 14/03/2022 20:05

Human babies should drink human milk, it’s basic biology.
Breast milk changes to meet babies needs. As babies get older the amount of breast milk doesn’t change but the fat content does.
Formula is synthetic and the volume needs to increase as babies get older, stretching their stomach. This plays a huge part in childhood obesity.
Calf’s are being ripped away from there mother so we can use their milk to feed our babies- what a ridiculous world we live in!

lavaa · 14/03/2022 20:07

@Fixyourself

Human babies should drink human milk, it’s basic biology. Breast milk changes to meet babies needs. As babies get older the amount of breast milk doesn’t change but the fat content does. Formula is synthetic and the volume needs to increase as babies get older, stretching their stomach. This plays a huge part in childhood obesity. Calf’s are being ripped away from there mother so we can use their milk to feed our babies- what a ridiculous world we live in!
lol I would find the nearest cover if I was you. they will have your head on a pike
VelvetChairGirl · 14/03/2022 20:10

@NurseBernard

So is there a link between the author, Emily Oster, and Ostermilk?
I have never heard of ostermilk, I have tried google and it appears to be a dried milk formula made by Farleys (then owned by Boots) that existed from the 1930s to the 1980s.
VelvetChairGirl · 14/03/2022 20:12

@Fixyourself

Human babies should drink human milk, it’s basic biology. Breast milk changes to meet babies needs. As babies get older the amount of breast milk doesn’t change but the fat content does. Formula is synthetic and the volume needs to increase as babies get older, stretching their stomach. This plays a huge part in childhood obesity. Calf’s are being ripped away from there mother so we can use their milk to feed our babies- what a ridiculous world we live in!
pretty sure the majority of it goes in your tea
collieresponder88 · 14/03/2022 20:12

There are many disadvantages to Breast feeding

NurseBernard · 14/03/2022 20:15

I had never heard of Ostermilk until this thread, either.

Seems like an unfortunate coincidence - an academic questioning the benefits of breastfeeding, and a formula company with the same name.

I am sure there is no conflict of interest though…

Polyanthus2 · 14/03/2022 20:18

I thought it was well known that the benefits of breastfeeding are minimal at the individual level, it is at the societal level where they are important.

Hmmm, well if they're important at societal level then they are also of some importance at an individual level. Can't really have one wihtout the other.

Grapewrath · 14/03/2022 20:25

It’s basic biology that milk that humans make is better for their babies than milk from cows. I mean a cow and a human are quite different after all.
There are some great formulas around now however human milk for human babies surely makes the most sense.
I’ve bf and ff. No regrets either way.

Theluggage15 · 14/03/2022 20:26

Having the same name as a product isn’t a conflict of interest!! How ridiculous.

RowanAlong · 14/03/2022 20:26

I’m so disappointed by this thread. Might be enough to make me leave Mumsnet. The same mudslinging, we’re all banging our heads against a brick wall, not being generous to each other. Everyone trying to score points over what is arguably one of the most beautiful things in the world - feeding a baby (however you do it). Sisters, this is not the time in history we need to be arguing with each other… (flounce 😁)

Original poster
IamOvercome · 14/03/2022 20:27

@Fixyourself

Human babies should drink human milk, it’s basic biology. Breast milk changes to meet babies needs. As babies get older the amount of breast milk doesn’t change but the fat content does. Formula is synthetic and the volume needs to increase as babies get older, stretching their stomach. This plays a huge part in childhood obesity. Calf’s are being ripped away from there mother so we can use their milk to feed our babies- what a ridiculous world we live in!
There is no evidence that formula feeding causes obesity
OP posts:
Ilostit · 14/03/2022 20:28

My kids were barely breastfed I pumped a little.

I see a lot more obese breastfed babies in comparison to my kids!

Tilltheend99 · 14/03/2022 20:28

@Babdoc

The real benefits of breast feeding only apply in the third world, where formula is made up with dirty water from unchlorinated sources, causing diarrhoea and deaths in infants. Here in the UK, it makes damn all difference, and as a doctor I am delighted that a credible statistician has finally published this. Perhaps we can now see the end of poor depressed mothers beating themselves up for “failing” to breast feed. A mafia of midwives and breast feeding mothers has controlled the narrative for far too long, to the detriment of women. Feed your baby by whatever method best suits you, secure in the knowledge that your way is as good as any other. And don’t let anyone guilt trip or pressure you.
This statement is mad on too many levels to ‘extrapolate the data from it.’ So you are saying people can’t afford clean water but can afford formula and bottles?! You have to sterilise water and bottles in the U.K. anyway!
VelvetChairGirl · 14/03/2022 20:28

@NurseBernard

I had never heard of Ostermilk until this thread, either.

Seems like an unfortunate coincidence - an academic questioning the benefits of breastfeeding, and a formula company with the same name.

I am sure there is no conflict of interest though…

I think your on to something, look at Boris Johnson he must have some connection to Johnson & Johnson, the bad hair is just a deliberate ploy to get people to buy more shampoo and conditioner.
ReeseWitherfork · 14/03/2022 20:32

There is no evidence that formula feeding causes obesity.

But there is some evidence that it has no affect. The NHS claims it's a benefit of BF (reduced obesity) and I am curious why. They don't make a point of lying. It's bizarre.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16332664/

RowanAlong · 14/03/2022 20:32

OP, I know you find this a fascinating topic in the abstract. Launching into it before you’ve had a baby, and therefore before you are totally remade from the ground up by parenthood, was brave. Good luck with it all.