Can breastfeeding really cure all?

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I am confused by some of the claims made about the benefits of breastfeeding. (Especially the link made to curing cancer on recent program) A friend of mine exclusively breastfed until 6 months and her daughter has all sorts of awful allergies and excema, I also breastfed and my baby caught the same bugs as everyone else. Yes its best for mother and baby, yes its wonderful but I think that some of the advice and information given about the supposed benefits can be exaggerated.

Both my kids BF until about 3 weeks, then FF. DD is now 4 never had antibitoics, never needed them, never had D&V and yet has been at nursery from 11m so all sorts if bugs have passed her by. My BF friends kids have had eczema, endless bouts of D&V, chicken pox, winter sickness and rounds of antib's and I must admit I always felt quite smug at my FF kid being the one who was fine. Then along came DS, who was BF for a bit longer and more thoroughly than DD and he has ended up with one ear infection after another. I guess DD lulled me into false sense of security with BF/FF health benefits and although I found BF very hard (hence giving up) I always wonder now if I had continued would it have made enough of a difference to mean DS would not need operation now. I'll never know of course. Just another layer of guilt to add to the pile....

sorry, riven, I think I picked you up wrongly! I thought you meant that you were medically advised to put her on formula and that you wished you'd done it sooner. But epilepsy was mentioned in the Bible, and I would assume everyone was bf back then!

Mozart was not breastfed and his brain was more 'okay' than most. He attributed his (and his sister's) genius to their unusual start in life. It has to be said that many of his siblings died, however the same number of his own (breast fed) babies died as well so perhaps the data was not clear in those days either.

In his day, universities were not so target driven and were able to do research rather than churn out headline grabbing data results which need so much in context interpretation that the results in themselves are questionable.

Why wasn't he breastfed, cyber? And what was he fed on?

Well the only source for this fact is a letter written by Mozart himself in which he sings the praises of sugar water for babies and is insisting that his first baby will be fed on sugar water too - however the mother in law steps in and insists on a wet nurse. It does seem that sugar water was a weird idea current in fashionable circles in Austria for a short period of time - though we can't really know what actually went on as it is not well documented.

hmm, wasn't sugar water used for colicky babys...or something...tvh...I can;t imagine a fashion where a Baby would not receive any kind of milk

actually I would find it highly unlikely that a Baby would survive on sugar water alone...

It does seem strange which is why I did say the only source is a letter written by Mozart himself - obviously he was relying on stories told to him rather than an actual memory - must check out the book again sometime. There were some historical footnotes on this point.

I'm glad I didn't see this thread yesterday!

lver - what? eh? very shouty and rude!

I agree with the poster who said that refering to 'the benefits of bf' does kind of imply that it's not the default way of feeding. But I can't really see any prospect of our culture and use of language changing to talk about the 'disadvantages of ff'. There would be an outcry! And it would be unfair to make those who have to ff feel bad about it.

Might send that guardian article to MIL!

Anecdotal of course, but I know 18 children with serious and/or multiple allergies - all of whom were breastfed for at least 4 months - many for a year. My children who were breastfed for a month at most and then had formula have no allergies - and my brother and I (both bf) have several.

Also have a friend who is one of 13 children - all formula fed and not a single allergy between them - but her own three - all breast fed for a year are all on inhalers and have eczema. She has a great sense of humour about it and says at least it saved her money.

I'm sure the scientific evidence suggests breastfeeding limits risks of all those things but, assuming the science is right, it belies my personal experience. Not saying formula is best - I never intended to do anything other than breast feed at first - but think all the stuff about IQ and allergies etc is used to give formula feeding mothers a massive guilt trip by the breastfeeding mafia. Formula and then a good diet can produce perfectly healthy, resilient children - it's blindingly obvious. So much for the sisterhood.

I think this thread proves that research, statistics and scientific methods need to be taught in schools. This thread is absolutely amazing.

Tiktok, stop quoting your facts. You can prove anything with well researched facts, it's just not fair!

Remember scientific evidence once produced thalidomide.

By your reckoning there was no link between thalidomide and birth defects.
Or is only anecdotal evience good enough?
I can't actually believe that there are (presumably) intelligent, adult women arguing that evidence and research doesn't actually prove anything.
Is the earth still flat?

How do you think they figured out what was causing the rise in birth defects?
I despair

And thalidomide is a very good drug when used appropriately, but yes science isn't perfect. It is however, the best way of finding stuff out that we've got at the moment.

xx

SPB types faster than me!

xx

In answer to the OP, no breastfeeding can't cure all, otherwise we'd have found a cure for cancer, AIDS and ignorance.
However not breastfeeding has been proven to have associated health and other risks. Breastfeeding can be seen as another way to help towards health and wellbeing. If the 'benefits' are exaggerated then that needs correcting I agree. If they're downplayed, well presumably that's fine, in the interests of fairness and ensuring that women are kept in the dark.

Yes Marla, definitely.
Conspiracy theory that could form the plot of a future episode of the X Files.
The truth is out there - really breastmilk is just processed cows milk - they pump it back into our bodies as we give birth

I don't think that breast milk can grow a severed limb, but apart from that, who knows? My 3 were breastfed for a long time - eldest 18m, DD 3yrs, DS#2 4.5 years. And they have always had near as damn it 100% attendance at school. They just never got sick. Admittedly DD (9) and DS#1 (11) have started to have days off with minor illness - but I'm very much afraid that is because school is getting harder and mummy isn't good at identifying lead-swinging as she thought she was

SPB - I'm totally with you on the idea that research and statistics need to be taught in schools. Even those who say "well I knew someone" is totally irrelevant. We're talking averages and trends over thousands of people, not the skewed sample size of 'some people I know'. Why would people want to do research to make people feel bad? Just so silly. Tiktok I think you should save your brilliant advice for someone who will actually listen to you!

So these people who think the evidence and research is rubbish, do you also think that about the links between smoking and loads of diseases? Alcohol and liver disease? Sunlight and skin cancer?

Please, please answer this, I'd be really interested in the answer.

It is interesting when people say things like my whole family was ff and none of us have allergies, for example.

I have a dear friend who was ff and weaned early onto solids. Her mum wanted her to wean her ds early and she stubbornly refused. Her mum always pointed out to my friend, why not, she turned out perfectly fine. My friend always points out back to her mum, laughingly, that maybe ff and early weaning has nothing to do with her IBS then.

Why is anecdotal evidence so compelling? Maybe that needs to be covered at school as well - the dangers of relying on it and the reasons why because it is extremely damaging to sense, reason and logic.