Nurse said something strange about breastfed babies

[Chocolateegg123]

My 8 week old had her jabs today. The nurse at my GP surgery was taking an awfully long time getting down to business and kept faffing around such as explaining how to use a syringe for the calpol for about ten minutes. Then, she asked me if I was breastfeeding and when I answered yes, she asked how it was going.

I was honest and explained I’d found it hard and we had to combi feed etc but that my mental health had been really awful whilst breastfeeding and so I have considered moving over to formula.

She then completely matter of factly stated… “breastfed babies are more intelligent so if you can continue feeding her your milk you should.”

I was kind of taken a back as I didn’t think this was true but also is this kind of advice ok for a health professional to give? Whenever I have gone to a local breastfeeding clinic or spoken to a professional about my struggles they have never ever said anything like this?

I guess I want to know if I would be unreasonable to complain about this nurse? She has been unprofessional in the past when I went to have a vaccine during pregnancy and now this. However - is it true that breastfed babies are more intelligent? This has added to my guilt and anxiety over my breastfeeding journey now. Help!

The issue with studies into breastfeeding is that most are comparisons between children fed in different ways by very different families. There are many confounding factors for these studies.

There was a large study done as a sibling study i.e. children where the feeding method varied between siblings and if memory serves me right, the only negative difference for bottlefed babies was a slightly increased risk of gastrointestinal illness. There was no difference in IQ or any of the other 'benefit of breastfeeding' often oversold by NHS midwives/health visitors who are well meaning but often have little understanding of statistics.

well they shouldn't tell them bullshit if they are in a job that is supposed to be medically accurate

some nurses have such idiotic opinions, was she a health care assistant?

no idea if it’s true but in my case definitely not. I exclusively breast fed all of mine from 1-2 years each. None of my children are academic at all. All great kids, great work ethic, emotionally mature etc but definitely not academically intelligent.

i love that expression
Fed is best
just repeat that in future

that that expression, a Happy mum is a happy family that they love to trot out

🤣😁😂

There’s clearly research that has, correctly or not, concluded that. So wouldn’t call it idiotic and wouldn’t complain.

Also, if she said ‘stronger immunity’, would that be idiotic or strange too? And if we all agree it does have an effect on that, are we saying it’s less important than intelligence?

I think you might call it ‘flawed’, if it didn’t take things like section economic status, or IQ of parents into account? Or even parental involvement.

And of course fed is best and mum’s well-being is crucially important, but comparing like to like, one is upf and the other one is as healthy as food can be.

Formula is amazing and babies fed on it will be as healthy as any baby and as intelligent as any other.

You’re making formula sound a negative.

Whether its true or not it was highly inappropriate of her to say it (out loud!) Reminds me of my first HV who said some spectacularly stupid things.

As healthy as the breast feeding mothers diet, not necessarily as healthy as can be.

There is some research that suggests this but I recall it being very minimal differences and not statistically significant. IME saying things like that is very discouraged in children’s/maternity nurses. Especially as there’s a lot of training around prioritising maternal mental health.

She's batshit

👏👏👏✊✊

My view too. Neither of mine had more than a small amount of pumped breastmilk. Not sure how DS1 managed a great degree result, or DS2 great GCSE results on formula …

What a load of rubbish. And it’s a good job she didn’t say this in front of me as I would have put in a formal complaint.

This feels important now but in time it won’t. I wouldn’t bother complaining but just dismiss it from your mind.

The obsession with how other people feed their babies and the nonsense spouted about breastfeeding is ridiculous. It’s dreadful how many women’s mental health has suffered by being told that formula is absolutely awful and that they are failing their babies by giving formula.

The NHS is obsessed with telling mothers they must breastfeed and yet they don’t question the diet and lifestyle of the mother. I find it hard to believe that a breastfed baby with a mother who smokes, drinks and lives on a diet of UPF food is better off than one who is formula fed.

I say this as someone who both breast fed and combi fed. A fed baby with a happy mother is the best scenario.

Ridiculous, my friend was bottle fed and has a double first from Oxford, she's literally the most intelligent person I know. Do what works for you and your family. A happy mum is far more likely to lead to a happy and healthy child.

Obviously the nurse is wrong but so many people coming on here to say their child was formula fed and is academically gifted or was breastfed and is of mediocre intelligence has about as much relevance as me coming on here and saying my DD and her best friend are consistently the top of their class and both were breastfed until they were preschoolers. Anecdotes are totally meaningless with this kind of thing, surely we all know that.

My sister was breast fed, I was bottle fed. We both have PhD’s. Our parents are both university educated and supported us through uni. My kids are one breast fed and one bottle fed, both are doing well at school. I think there’s a lot to do with better educated people having better paid jobs and getting things like paid maternity leave and just being in a stronger position when it comes to the newborn stage. Breast feeding is hard, and if you’re already struggling to make ends meet and having to work difficult shifts or something it’s just one thing too many. So I’m definitely in the correlation rather than causation camp.

Anecdotal evidence is important as most of us are only concerned about the health and wellbeing of our own children.

Baby with full tummy = a happy mummy.
Fed is best. 👩‍🍼

Don't listen to the "only the breast is best "nazis.🙈
They would have you feeling like a failure for using formula - OH THE HORROR TARQUIN!
I personally am pro -choice, and you should do what is right for you and your LO.
Whether that's breast or formula, it's your call 🤗
Personally, I would complain.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8894195/#:~:text=Gifted%20or%20above%2Daverage%20IQ,the%20breastfed%20group%20(19%25).

Which has no relevance to the OP's child!