101 reasons to breastfeed your child

[mears]

cameacrossthisthismorning

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Great link mears!

Oh ffs...
the nature of research is that it doesn't say anything specifically about what illnesses your child or my child will get...
it just says what's more likely to happen to a bottlefed child! You can still have the healthiest bottlefed child and I can have the sickest breastfed child! Is that really so hard to understand?

You all come up with your bottlefed children who are so healthy... that doesn't prove anything! I have a breastfed child who is by far the healthiest in my group of friends - and their children are all bottlefed. My children are the only ones never to have had diarrhoea (sp?) or gastroenteritis or ear infections. So my circle of friends falls in with the research, yours doesn't. Still doesn't say the reserach is wrong!
And what about all those articles which supposedly prove the opposite to the pro-breastfeeding ones. Where are they then? Can anybody quote any?

Gwenick, the evidence on the benefits of breastfeeding is unequivocal. The list may not reflect your personal experience but on a population level, it's correct. You can't dismiss valid, comprehensive research because you don't like it.

In my experience, b/feeding can take some doing not least because other people are not always supportive. I know many women have found this to be the case the longer they have done it.

Please could there be just one thread where the positives are discussed instead of trying to find fault with the link Mears posted?

emkana how do you know your child is healthiest BY FAR?!? I am sure the other parents think their kids are healthy too Your tone is what some of us are talking about

Examples of research showing the opposite to be true, then, please, Gwenwick....sorry, I don't accept personal experience as evidence that research isn't 'correct'. Research shows trends, risks, tendencies, not predictions, of an individual outcome.

Take the breast cancer thing. Two close friends of mine breastfed all their children for ages, and they still developed breast cancer (and died). That doesn't 'disprove' the formula-breast cancer link. It doesn't make me 'disagree' with it. It doesn't mean the research isn't '100 per cent correct'. It just means it can't predict for an individual.

Why is it so difficult to have a grown-up discussion about research here?

I found it rather depressing.
My dd refused to breastfeed and lost a lot of weight before we started her on formula. I now have to worry about all sorts of horrible illnesses befalling her apparently.

Thanks mears, great link

it really annoys me when people say 'but I have personal experience that contradicts the research', do you know THOUSANDS of children personally and do you really know the state of their health or their IQ?

Noddyholder...

my children are the healthiest by far in my circle of friends because they have never had more than a cold, whereas all the other children have been on several courses of antibiotics, some of them have been hospitalized for gastroenteritis, they have all had ear infections...

so I don't think my friends would be pig-headed enough to say that their children are healthier than mine. It's just a fact!

beansprout - how many of those studies used THOUSANDS of children for their research - not many I bet - I bet most used groups in the 100's of low 1000's.

Do they know you say this about their kids?You obviously keep a close eye on their health

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Gwenick - you are arguing with the wrong Bean.

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ooops - sorry beansprout

I've had very negative experiences with BF as well, but I'm not going to be so wilful as to pretend that means it's a bad idea to do it.

I don't think anyone is saying that Caligula - I'm speaking as having had my 1st exclusively BF and my 2nd bottlefed.

There is no way of predicting health from how you were fed I have had 2 kidney transplants and was fed the same as my siblings.They are both extremley healthy according to all the tests they had as potential donors.I was rarely sick as a child but have been plagued with illness in later life

I can't believe this.

We are friends, so of course I know what illnesses my friends' children have had. Don't you talk with your friends about what illnesses your children are going through?

This just shows why this is such an emotive subject. IMO it's not a judgemental thing to say "My child is healthier than yours." It's just a fact - my child has had fewer illnesses than yours. It's not the same as saying "My child is prettier/more intelligent/funnier/more popular than yours."

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Same here Gwenick but the tone of some of the posts on here is positively anti BF. Which I just find absurd, I'm sorry.

Caligula I think that's because some people feel they're having rammed down their throats how wondeful BF is and how much damage we do to our children if they're Bottlefed