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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

channel 4 breastfeeding programme

816 replies

lazycow · 23/01/2006 14:20

Just thought people might be interested if you don't already know.

Channel 4 on Weds 1 Feb. A programme called Extraordinary Breastfeeding is on. The write up in the magazine I'm looking at says:

"You'll be texting your friends about this as soon as it starts. It's about the phenomenon of mothers who breastfeed their kiddies well beyond the age considered 'normal' in this country. Seeing a feisty mum breastfeed her two-year-old twin isn't that disturbing, but the sequence of another lady suckling her 7 year old dughter isn't one we will forget in a hurry. "

I'm looking forward to seeing the tone it takes.

OP posts:
JoolsToo · 30/01/2006 12:58

my comment about 'its only breastfeeding' was very tongue in cheek!

if it's a breastfeeding story - let's read all the pages - you can't ignore the bits that you don't like otherwise you might miss a vital bit of information

GDG · 30/01/2006 12:59

Jools is wrong expat because I didn't 'scoff' anything - I ate like a sparrow!

Busyalexsmummy · 30/01/2006 13:00

expatinscotland- im not saying that, i wouldnt judge people bottlefeeding or question why they are, its their buissness, what i dont agree with is people ie people i know etc saying that their use bottles and not even giving breastfeeding a try, ie theyve condemmed it before theyve tried it and programs like this dont help to make the whole breastfeeding thing appear "wierd" "not natural" etc etc

expatinscotland · 30/01/2006 13:00

I was put on a skimmed milk at 2.

Funnily enough, I've been about the same size since I was 13 - about a UK size 10 - excepting pregnancies.

GDG · 30/01/2006 13:02

Tbh Enid, I've not seen the trailers for it all, don't see much TV, but have to say it does sound sensationalist and while I formula fed all of mine and think that's a perfectly valid choice, I also agree that breastfeeding needs more promotion and more support for those who want it. I would never disagree with that.

I'm not sure what the remit of this C4 programme is? It doesn't sound like it's aiming to promote breastfeeding and does seem more like a 'freak show' approach - in which case, that is very definitely a bad thing.

I agree with all that everyone says with regard to breastfeeding but at the same time defend the right for anyone to choose formula feeding without being made to feel that this is somehow damaging to their child - it just ain't so.

Squarer · 30/01/2006 13:09

Well said GDG. Makes me sigh when I see the "bottlefed babies cost the NHS money" argument dragged out. People don't seem to realise that there are other factors involved in requiring NHS treatment (statistically speaking)

JennyLee · 30/01/2006 13:14

"And really where are the programmes about why bottlefeeding is not recommended as the first choice?"

''What a bizarre suggestion - why would anyone make a programme about that? ''
I was bottle fed I'm no fanatic, but can anyone else understand why somone should make a programme about that? and all the health problems bottle feeding causes in the poor countries? Instead of pathologising the healthier & recommended by the World Health Organisation method of feeding - brestfeeding. Also i know many British and American Kids are fine on formula milk, that is not what I was talking about.

JennyLee · 30/01/2006 13:14

Can spell - Breastfeeding LOL

Squarer · 30/01/2006 13:16

I don't think that would be relevant to us here in the West then JennyLee, and as such would do nothing to promote breastfeeding. What's really needed is the obvious - a programme promoting breastfeeding, pure and simple!

wessexgirl · 30/01/2006 13:17

Wasn't going to contribute to this until I'd seen the programme but at this rate a new thread'll be needed for that! Blimey!

So here's my point...er, what GDG said!

Squarer · 30/01/2006 13:17

Seen it mistyped as beastfeeding before

Busyalexsmummy · 30/01/2006 13:17

"And really where are the programmes about why bottlefeeding is not recommended as the first choice?"

''What a bizarre suggestion - why would anyone make a programme about that? ''

so why would anyone make a prog like this one then? breastfeeding is natural, how long people do it for is their choice

GDG · 30/01/2006 13:20

Don't know - as I said in my last post

JennyLee · 30/01/2006 13:26

Well I was trying to be tactful in a lot of poor areas in Britain breastfeeding rates are way low and this programme won't help.

and it is relvant as in this country breastfeeding is still recommended as the first choice and there are reasons for that.

also if babies are dying and suffering because of agressive marketing and colusion by formula manufacturers with hospitals in poor countries, due to lack of clean water, lack of money to get enough formula which is then watered down causing malnutrition, poor development and starvation. And women forced to take the formula at hospitals therefore rendering them unable to breastfeed, and unclear instructions on foreign formula packets. all to sell a mainly unnecessary product, it is pretty relevant as these as are all the popular formula companies making profits in the U.K. they are not meant ot advertise here and get round it by advertising follow on milk, which itself is the biggest swindle ever

prettybird · 30/01/2006 13:27

I actaully agree with Squarer - what is needed is a simple programme ilustrating the benefits and normality - and yes, the diffuclites - of breastfeeding and getting it established.

In it, you could also point out the imporved immunity benefits, the reduced rate of ear infections and ENT problems, the allergies (which will save the NHS money) and so on..... and that just tlaking about the benefits to the child. What about the benefits to the mum - reduced rates of breast cancer,ovarian cancer, osteoprosis......

Even if this porgamme mentions these benefits (and will be interesting to see if it does), it will have been a wasted opportunity, as it will have turned off so many people with its sensationsilist trailers.

(And BTW - even though I breast fed ds exclusively until he was over a year, he still suffered a lot from ear infections: I just think how bad he might have been if I hadn't breast fed him.)

JennyLee · 30/01/2006 13:28

not meant to advertise. So my point is these companies have bad ethics and we buy from them here, we give them profits. and if babies are suffering we in the West- well I think it is relevant. ch 4 should do a show on Nestle and mulipa

GDG · 30/01/2006 13:29

email them if you feel that strongly

JennyLee · 30/01/2006 13:30

I have written to them etc and others get a nice email about the nice things they do that have nothing to do with the issue. Damn those evil trailers CH4!!!

JoolsToo · 30/01/2006 13:30

can I digress a bit?
thanks!
can anyone tell me where all the data is that says breastfeeding prevents xyz and bottlefeeding causes xyz?

Admittedly I've not required much medical treatment in my life (breastfed) and neither have my 3 children (bottlefed) but on the occasions I HAVE been to see the doctor and the one occasion I went to have a lump aspirated I was never asked at any stage whether I was breast or bottle fed - don't know anyone that has been actually. I'm on two cancer studies (cervical and ovarian) and have never been asked this question here either.

JennyLee · 30/01/2006 13:32

All this and more la leche league and other sites .A study published in the current edition of Pediatrics reports that babies who are breastfed have a 21% lower risk of death in their first year, compared with babies never breastfed. The reduction in risk rises to 38% if babies are breastfed for 3 months or more.

The study compares nationally representative samples of 1204 infants who died between 28 days and 1 year from causes other than congenital anomaly or malignant tumor with 7740 children who were still alive at 1 year.

Infants who were ever breastfed had 0.79 times the risk of never breastfed infants for dying in the postneonatal period (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.67?0.93). Odds ratios by cause of death varied from 0.59 (95% CI: 0.38?0.94) for injuries to 0.84 (95% CI: 0.67?1.05) for sudden infant death syndrome. Babies who were breastfed for 3 months or more had 0.62 times the risk of death (95% CI: 0.46-0.82).

The researchers conclude that breastfeeding is associated with a reduction in risk for postneonatal death but acknowledge that the effects of breast milk and breastfeeding cannot be separated completely from other characteristics of the mother and child. Nevertheless, they note that increased breastfeeding rates would have the potential to save or delay around 720 postneonatal deaths in the United States each year.

Chen A & Rogan WJ (2004). Breastfeeding and the Risk of Postneonatal Death in the United States. Pediatrics 113: e435-e439 [Abstract]

This report was written by the UNICEF BFI

JennyLee · 30/01/2006 13:33

the information is out there....

prettybird · 30/01/2006 13:35

JoolsToo - if you scroll down this Unicef Baby Friendly site it will give you the sources for the research.

JoolsToo · 30/01/2006 13:40

thanks I'll take a look

GDG · 30/01/2006 13:46

But both Unicef and La Leche have a particular bias though don't they so of course they are going to highlight those studies.

However, I also think it's unlikely you'll find any study that says the opposite - partly because there would be no reason to carry out those studies and partly because I don't think there's really any argument that 'breast is best' anyway.

Plus, as I've said countless times before on similar threads (so not sure why I'm still going on but there you go!), you can show me studies till the cows come home - it's bourne out in my experience and I don't base all my decisions entirely on published studies. I tend to make decisions based on a number of factors - hence I decided that my children were unlikely to come to any harm on formula and indeed, I have been correct. They don't have allergies, they are barely ill and they are perfectly bright. I'm not denying that breastmilk may contribute to all these things, but I personally believe that greater factors are at play (genetics being the major one imo).

In addition to what JT says - I'm also on a breast cancer study - I've had to fill out a 50 page questionnaire that asks anything and everything about me, including such things as arm span!!! There isn't a single question asking about how I was fed as in infant though. This is Cancer Research UK - if they thought it was that influential they'd have asked about it surely?

Squarer · 30/01/2006 13:46

Did the research also take on board the socio-economic side of who breastfeeds and who bottlefeeds JL? Less money = more health problems, statistically speaking. As for SIDS, the formula theory was actually disproved as breast and bottle statistics were the same when it was broken down into social class.

In respect of a program about formula companies, my point is that I can not see how the issues could be translated into a pro-breasfeeding program in this country. Just for a start, who do you think would watch it? It would not be those in lower social classes where the rate is as you rightly point out so low.