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!

It's made me smile that your dh supported you by doing research (genuinely, not being sarcastic!)

Genuinely, it appears you are sniping at anyone who disagrees with you.

Really? Because I don't disagree that mums should be able to feed their babies however they want with zero guilt. I've said very clearly that I don't have any personal evidence that bottle feeding decreases intelligence.

In my kids case I combi fed my oldest, he's not exactly the sharpest tool in the box! My 3rd i fed for 4 years and he's highly intelligent. Not related at all my oldest is just lacks common sense. My daughter was breastfed 6 months only and is very intelligent. My stepsons were exclusively bottle fed and ones a computer scientist. None of it relates

To add, my mum never breastfed any of her 4 kids. My sister is very academic and has 2 degrees. My younger brother is a computer scientist. My older brother will never know as he is schizophrenic and lives in care, me, I'm probably the least intelligent out them all but still consider myself intelligent

What does "OH THE HORROR TARQUIN" mean?

Presumably you're associating breastfeeding with a certain economic status.

Would it be equally as ok if I said "ere you go av anotha bottle of Cow n Gate Kenzo"?

There are plenty of academically reviewed studies that show breast fed fed babies have the optimal physical conditions in the brain for positive development.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6230484/

When I had my first I was only 16 so had a health visitor visit every two weeks and she had a million leaflets with facts such as this one.

https://www.wbur.org/news/2014/02/28/sibling-study-finds-no-long-term-breastfeeding-benefits-for-kids

This study covered a 25 year period.

However as so many posters have written, middle class, intelligent women are more likely to breast feed so that is also a significant factor.
As MN indicates there are many, many anecdotal stories of very intelligent babies being formula fed.
I know my sister’s premature babies were given breast milk from the hospital breast milk bank donated by other mothers. Does this still happen?
The NCT slogan many years ago was , ‘Breast is best’, and one of the services it used to offer was support with breast feeding.
Undoubtedly, babies will also thrive on formula. However, there is so much evidence that promotes breast feeding provides a positive start for babies that it would be disingenuous to pretend the evidence doesn’t exist.

Fed is best. She shouldn't have said what she said - so untrue!

I have just checked on AI if UK babies in ICU are still given donated breast milk and they are.
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+5

Yes, premature babies in the UK are often given donated breast milk when their own mothers' milk is not available or sufficient. Donor milk is considered the next best option after maternal breast milk, particularly for very premature or vulnerable babies.

I'm not saying breastfeeding isn't important for the health and wellbeing of a child, and therefore its intelligence, just that it is not the only factor.

Education, finances, nutrition, genetics and family life all play a role. If a woman is struggling to breastfeed and chooses not to, it is not condemning that child to being less intelligent to its breastfed peers. She shouldn't be made to feel guilty over that by healthcare professionals.

🤣🤣🤣

I think breastfed babies tend to get better gcses.
But this is probably due to the families being better resources and supported and confident and educated in general.

I pumped for 6 months due to all this breast is best messages and I did miss out on a lot of fun as I was chained to home!

Sorry to hear this. I felt similarly awful at the time. Two years on I never ever think about breastfeeding. I have other things to focus my mum guilt on!

Complain - like a previous PP I suffered terribly not being able to breastfeed and this would have seriously affected me!

🤣This is the most ludicrous thing I’ve read.

A few weeks or months of breast milk is not going to trump or even add to the advantages of genes, upbringing, maternal education, diet throughout childhood, access to books, schooling, SATs results, good MH,no SEN,disabilities or trauma etc, etc.

A bit of breast milk wouldn’t even get you an extra point.

She’s trying to encourage you to breastfeed that is not a bad thing and you should if you can

What a stupid, and tone death comment.

There is absolutely no provable link between breast milk and IQ. Zilch. It makes no difference to your baby. And I'd be really concerned at a health professional not knowing that, and going around spreading myths willy nilly. Especially to a new parent that has stated they're finding breastfeeding really hard.

This is the sort of thing I'd write a complaint to the surgery about. This could do real damage to the mental health of new mums, being told misinformation could lead to completely unnecessary guilt.

People really aren't ready to acknowledge this, I've found.

I get it, so many of us were sold absolute nonsense about how crucial breastfeeding is, it can be really hard when you find out that it makes no difference to your child long term. A very minor short term difference, yes, but by the time they're out of babyhood it's gone.

The OP shouldn’t do anything she doesn’t want to. She is struggling with bf so can use formula and her baby will continue to thrive.

I didn’t bf at all - DC’s are healthy.

Maybe they will thrive maybe they won’t.
The truth is nobody but the parents care. The nice is trying to advise as is her job to do so following the nice guidelines.
Whether your DC are healthy or not is completely irrelevant because they have a completely different genetic make up to every other DC
Maybe your version of health and mine are different too
The point is nobody is that invested

God some people are total arseholes about this issue and I will never understand it. Why does it matter so much to some people how other mothers choose to feed their babies? Just do what you want to do.

Why wouldn’t a baby thrive on formula - the majority of the population do? A baby on formula with a happy mother will do better than a baby bf with a mother struggling with her mental health.

What do you mean “your version of health and mine are different too”