bf in the news again, for increasing intelligence

[robinredbreast]

so far its been on bbc1
radio 1
yahoo homepage

three cheers for breast feeding

also i thought alison baum who was interview on bbc1 put the message across so well, so tactfully done

well done alison,ive already signed your bf manifesto

i just saw that on gmtv too! lots of nice bf shots

Spare a thought for women who wanted to bf but couldn't - this kind of thing (while great news generally) must be hard to hear.

NNN, I spare many, many thoughts for them.

and many hours with them

nang - i did think that actually, when watching it. It's a fine line isn't it? Such a sensitive issue on both sides, it can be difficult to promote without causing upset to those who couldn't or chose not to for whatever reason.
I still believe that news such as this is an important message to send out.

Sorry - didn't mean to turn a very good story dark so quickly! Let's get back to celebrating more evidence for bf (not that we needed any more)

don't worry nang

Ooh - another thread on this, which means another chance to say [clearly raising genius child].

Very interesting, particularly the genetic side.

Can I just have an 'Aaaaaargh' in advance though for when someone posts along the lines of "this research is rubbish because I bottlefed my children and they're all geniuses with double firsts from Cambridge"

did you hear Today prog coverage? so sensitive to the 'fine line' were they that presenter felt it neccessary to point out that "many women report feeling bullied into breastfeeding" and the woman who's research it was fell over herself to say it is only a gruop of babies which are affected by this gene though, not ALL of them. yeah only 9 out of 10.

of course it is wrong to make women who didn't breastfeed feel bad but this sort of coverage really doesn't help to normalise it in our culture.

Fishie, it's a shame that future bf support is impacted upon by that sort of talk.

My mum spoke to an MP the other day about it - he said one has to be careful because of those who can't breastfeed.

My point, as ever, is there will be fewer women who can't if the support is better.

I can't think why ANY woman would want to stand in the way of better bf support, however she feels about her own experience, unless for some kind of peculiar schadenfreude? I can understand why it might be painful to hear things like this news item though.

i wasnt able to breastfeed dd but i still think this is fab news. (she will obviously be a genius anyway cos im her mum) but i will deff try again with next baby.

did anyone actually see the bbc1 news interview with alison baum ?
she did say that 9 out of 10 women that stop bf by 6 weeks wish they could of carried on, and that this needs to be addressed by better support/help from health professionals, and cultural changes and that she couldnt directly bf herself as her two lo's had cleft palate
and she also stated that the bf rates in norway etc where in the 90's
and that woman in the uk need far more support
i thought she was v sensitive band supportive to those that bf did workout for

Ho hum, I'll just wait a few years for yet more research that "appears to" contradict this study.

We've been through a cycle of breastfeeding produces brighter children, oh no it doesn't , oh yes it does already , haven't we ?

Same with the asthma/eczema and breastfeeding vs genetics research.

Can anyone link to the article though, please, because all I caught was a very quick 10 second article on last night's late news. Blink and you'd have missed it.

More here, FUWW

While my heart goes out to those who cannot breastfeed, or have significant probs. There seem to be plenty of women who just can't be bothered or are in someway uncomfortable with it (5 out of 11 women in my antinatal group tried it, 1 couldn't, three gave up in the first few months, so that just left me!).

I breast fed both my daughters and for me it was the only option, formula wasn't even a consideration for at least 6 months. Personally I don't think there's much wrong with one bottle of formula a day (but only when necessary and if bub will take it) to give mum a break, especially for night time feeds if mum is excessively tired and there are other children to look after.

I think it's only a small step between formula and feeding children ready meals and those ghastly cheese strings.

MOTM, posts like that really get my back up.

for once we agree, hunkermunker!

MumOfTwo - whilst you're quite right to be proud of breastfeeding past 6 months, perhaps you should reign in the superiority complex - it's never an attractive look.

I was lurking here to see how long it would take for this thread to go, pardoon the pun, tits up.

Cor blimey, DOWN GIRLS!!!

I don't feel superior I just don't understand why so few women are doing it now days, IT'S A SHAME THAT'S ALL.

Does anyone know if the research shows anything about the length of time of bfeeding needed for this effect to happen?

MOTM, what you hoped to achieve by posting as you did, I'm not sure.

Do you think you'll encourage more women to breastfeed, perhaps?

Or make women who fed formula feel better about their decision, maybe?

Or just have a bit of mid-morning smuggery?

FWIW, both DSs had ready meals last night. M&S bolognaise. Want to judge me? [double dare ya]

(Oh, and LE - it had to happen sooner or later, eh? )

MOTM, I'm afraid I breastfeed and DD eats cheese strings.

More scare tactics! Breastfeeding isn't for every woman and in fact some babies get on better with a bottle.

Jacqueline Walton, Sawtry

and this one of teh most ignorant unenlightened comment i have read in quite a while.