101 reasons to breastfeed your child

[mears]

cameacrossthisthismorning

your child is not healthier than theirs You are judging on childhood illnesses which most kids get.I know vaguely when my friends children are ill but wouldn't list their illnesses in the way you did.Bragging about your childs superior health is just strange.

HappyMumof2

sigh...

if you read my original post again you will see that contrary to some bottle-feeders here I did not quote my personal experience as proving anything about the benefits of breastfeeding. On the contrary, I pointed out that personal experience is irrelevant in comparison to controlled research.

This thread never did that Gwenick. It started off very nicely, giving support to some mums who need support to do what they are doing. That's all.

People may feel that, but it doesn't make the arguments less valid.

I wasn't bragging, I was just stating a fact.

As I said, to me saying "My child has had fewer illnesses" doesn't say anything about which child is "better". That's just completely absurd.

And yes, I can say which illnesses my friends' children have had, but not when or how often exactly. That's not because I want to feel superior, but because I take an interest in my friends' children and because I am concerned for them.

It seemed to me that people jumped into this thread in order to rubbish the valid arguments for breastfeeding.

Why?

The Promom info is very useful in supporting the choice to bf but in point 53 they cite the following "Interestingly, one study found that there were far fewer incidences of domestic violence and sexual abuse in breastfeeding families.
Acheston, L, "Family violence and breastfeeding" Arch. Fam. Med. 1995, 4:650-652 " Anyone got this reference? I've not read it so this is just my comment on the promom info - it does seem unfair to put it to mums that if they don't bf then they are somehow responsible for a partner being violent. Women in this situation have enough to deal with without being made to feel bad about wether they chose to bf or not.

IT'S ALL STATISTICS.

emkana and Caligula, you are so the voice of reason. Which I am finding very refreshing .

I agree that this thread should be to help not hinder but I found emkanas use of the words 'by far'and the'only 'children not to have had these ilnesses v judgemental.How does she know it is because she breastfed them"My ds has never had these either but I don't put it down to anything I have or haven't done

What I mean (and sorry for shouting) is that a breast fed baby is STATISTICALLY less likely to get g/e, ear infections etc. That doesn't mean b/feeding is necessarily right for you. You need to look at the overall picture, and if for example b/feeding will make the mother miserable, it might be better for baby to bottle feed. But all things being equal, b/feeding is stastically better.

Thank god for mears and Caligula.

PS - thanks for the link mears! Good reading.

I used the words by far and only because they reflect the facts - they are by far the healthiest (never had more than a cold), and they are the only ones who have never had more than a cold. Nothing judgemental about that.

I did not say that this is due to the fact that they are breastfed. On the contrary, I pointed out that I know that my personal experience doesn't prove anything at all. Contrary to others here who believe that their personal experience proves research wrong.

You deliberately misquote and misunderstand me. No wonder these threads go so wrong.

well this is a thread about this subject so I assumed you posted here as you thought it was because they were breastfed that they were never ill otherwise you are just stated a fact about their health I am leaving this now as no matter what you say I find it judgemental sorry......

It is a bit strange to come on a "101 reasons to breastfeed" thread to argue against breastfeeding. A bit like coming on a thread about which formula to buy, or similar bottle feeding issues, to argue against bottlefeeding.

Whatever.

Quite true NCQ - perhaps you'd like to come over to the 'things I love about bottlefeeding' thread and tell people there the same thing - actually don't bother it will never happen - people will post what they like where they like

The link between domestic violence and infant feeding method is an 'association' not a cause and effect. One (the feeding method) does cause (or is not caused by) the other (violence).

They can just both occur in the same families - for other reasons.

It's not a study that should be used to encourage someone not to formula feed.

and besides - who is arguing 'against' Breastfeeding??? and where?

That's exactly what I said on the other thread too. I said my children have in fact been more sickly AFTER I gave up bf them than bottle-fed babies I know. At the same time my mum bf me for 12 months and my siblings for 3. I have no allergies whilst my siblings are very allergic and also were more sickly than me. My mum has often wondered if it was because they were bf for such a short amount of time. Maybe. Maybe not. It's purely anecdotal. It doens't proove anything.

I do think some people do form opinions purely based on what they see. Often people who don't read much or perhaps are less educated. Perhaps the science seems to abstract? I know this will sound patronising to some, but I will be brave and post it anyway because I think it's got relevance for how information on the benefits of bf is given.

Thanks for the info tiktok In stats info can be related to unrelated items easily - just run it through a statistics program & see what comes out. Just thought to say this is such a strong statement & that domestic violence often survives in a situation where the woman is made to feel guilty.

Yes - you could probably find that dv occurs in more houses where Colgate is used or something, if you had the right programme!

(Disclaimer: this does not mean I think that men who brush with Colgate are reprobate wife-beaters)

Although my gut feel is that if a woman has a supportive partner (and if she bf's successfully in America, she's likely to have) then she's less likely to be bashed up by him. (Another disclaimer: this is not backed by any research, just a reasoned deduction! )

I only found net mums the other day and I seem to have walked into a huge debate. Still I was starting to miss office politics from work!

At the end of the day as we are advised that breastfeeding is best we should give it a go, if it works then great but if it doesn't then switch to bottle, don't worry about what other people think (as mums we spend far too much time comparing ourselves to others) chill out, enjoy your baby and continue to do the best you can for you and your baby. Breastfeeding did not work out for me so I am trying very hard with my ds's weaning to make sure he has a healthy diet.

Do your best and enjoy your baby. (smile).

was supposed to be a smily face but as i said i am new to net mums!