There's not enough calcium or protein in breast milk.

[zumm]

Child, 16 mths old, has broken arm through a fall.
Sister now questioning whether I have been giving enough calcium or protein . This is something she questioned before (quote 'how can Zumm still be b/f, child is obviously not getting enough calcium since child is not getting any cow's milk') BTW I give a great deal of yoghurt and cheese to him (which may explain the snotty nose he now has, but anyhow), and am v careful to feed him a wide range of protein and veg foods (all organic, sigh).

As background, sister quit b/f at 6 weeks (I never questioned or indeed commented on this at the time; in fact, at the time I had no kids and didn't even give formula or b/f a second thought), so maybe this is why she is taking (what I see as) a pop?

I am low level at my sister since such comments seemed designed to hurt. I'd like to arm (scuse pun) myself with some pro-b/f facts for a child at this age. Unless of course I've been doing the wrong thing b/f him... still so upset about his broken bone. Ug.

Zumm - Tell your sister that given her academic ability she should be aware that breast feeding only has postive outcomes for babies and that a broken arm is NORMAL as is breastfeeding!!! Repeat "it's normal" until she shuts up. Tell your MIL that everyone you know in your group of friends now breastfeeds as it's outdated to formula feed. It was what mothers in the 70's were told to do and is no longer in fashion. That one shut my mother in law up and aviods extending the discussion about risks of formula feeding.

That's a very interesting point of view ohanotherone, one of my friends is convinced that peoples attitudes regarding ff will change over the next few years and will follow a similar pattern to smoking. In that she thinks it was once very fashionable but as more people become aware of the risks, ie increased risk of SIDS, people will turn against it. Not sure I share the same view but it is interesting.

Zumm perhaps will help educate your sister

God no, don't show her that video link, if she knows anything about food or chemistry/biology at all, she'll just sneer and scoff at it! While there is some interesting stuff in there, much of it is partial or misinformation and is rather alarmist. Casein, for example, is referred to as a carcinogen - it isn't, it's a milk protein which has been shown to promote cancer growth see here where cancer potential exists but it doesn't cause cancer (definition of a carcinogen).
It's interesting but not accurate in any way.

no, no, definitely don't show her that video link - it is quite shockingly bad!

Obviously, formula will never, ever be anything like as good as breastmilk, but I don't think those kind of scare tactics really help - especially when there are such glaring inaccuracies! Much better to concentrate on the positive reasons to breastfeed.

zumm hopefully your little one recovers quickly.
falls happen and a break could have happened to a baby on formula as well.
just make sure the vit d intake is ok in the winter months (any multivit with vit d would do).
your ds sounds healthy and lovely!

Sorry, the video comment was meant as a tongue in cheek way, didn't actually mean for Zumm to show it to her sister.

Phew! Sorry, Jilted, didn't realise you were being humorous.

Thats one of the downsides of MN and FB, nobody can see your face smiling while you are talking. Sorry again for the confusion.

s'what the smileys are for, innit

Oh yeah. Well, erm yeah. Think I'd better sign up for Netmums

Hell no! You'd be overwhelmed by the number of moving smileys and tickers and sparkly bits and whatnot!

Since the majority of population is/was FF and fed with cow's milk should we assume that the poor things who have had broken bones have all been bfed?

Think if there are "sparkly bits* DH might sign up too, or maybe its just me who sometimes uses that term

www.ibfan.org/art/IBFAN_CF_FINAL_document.pdf

Gabrielle Palmer talks about how seafoods and meat make excellent first foods here Zumm, good summary on p.21 of pdf file but whole thing is an excellent read.

(Actually, I'm thinking this is an online version of her book Complementary Feeding :Nutrition, Culture and Politics? Or a draft that is near as dammit?)

Oooh thanks - I'll go through all the links now (bar Julie's dodge video :o ). Thanks especially for the vitamin info.

Update: Baby zumm is very happy - sleeping brilliantly, eating well, and generally happy. Who knows whether BF helps, but it does just seem so brilliant, comforting and healthy for him. Thanks all - again, it's good not to feel so alone or weird in what I'm doing (which is crazy since 16 mths is hardly very old etc).

I'll get me coat......

You've done enough damage already, Julie. Tart. Off for break-up snog with John. Actually, that John a bit of a whinger. He probably wears one of those Top Shop t-shirts. Ta for all to you all.

Actually looking back I think it was the that spelt the end of John and me. He's having some health problems now too, his .

Oh and don't show your sister these videos either, if she thinks bfing at 16 months is mad, she'll have you sectioned for showing her these

Those vids are barking, especially the second one!!

zumm maybe you can tell your sister that you will be moving to china, where cows milk is not historically consumed, and where your ds will feel at home among the broken limbed multitudes...