Breastfeeding in the news this morning

[Jackieharris]

From what I heard on the radio a Brazilian study has linked breastfeeding with intelligence & 'success' later in life.

I've not read the study or seen any details so not sure about validity/is it applicable to UK/how long the sample bf for etc.

But I did also hear that in Scotland the bf rate at 10 days is less than 50%. I'm quite shocked at that. I'd have guessed it would be more like 70-80%.

Can't see this study/news changing that though.

What are the chances of GO announcing spectacular new investment in bf support in today's budget?

It seems to me, LPM, that it's treating people like simpletons to suggest that every single observational study on any topic must be ignored, as only RCTs are acceptable as evidence for discussion.

I wouldn't dream of treating the result of these sorts of trials as the "gospel" truth. They add to the weight of knowledge to differing degrees, or they can be criticised for poor methodology and discounted if they are very flawed.

The press reporting of these sorts of studies always causes issues because they claim causal links where this has not been proven.

Tiktok off the top of my head the sibling study on 8000 babies showing no benefits from bfing.

The iron thing gets continuously brushed to one side and re co- sleeping sorry I don't need any study telling me that a baby in a bed with a duvet and two adults is ok to do it.

Culture most of us don't ignore every study,we use common sense in the same way you would with any parenting choice.

The sibling study showed no discernible differences, but there are flaws to that study too. Both these studies add to the picture of breastfeeding in different ways and to differing degrees. Neither should be discounted or treated as absolute causal proof.

The "iron thing" isn't swept under the carpet. There is differing evidence here too. So, in this case, I used a multivitamin from 6 months alongside breastfeeding as a back up just in case. A simple measure to take.

As for co-sleeping... what you've described is unsafe co-sleeping. No sensible person who is pro co-sleeping would recommend a duvet and the baby sleeping between the parents. So my personal take on that was to have a sidecar cot on my side, and not to have a duvet. Common sense I hope.

So it's ok to feed a baby a synthetic iron supplement but not cows milk.

As an aside I'd like more research into the effect of drugs in Breast milk and cortisol from stress out mums loathing every Breast feed.

My point is that a possible lack of iron is not sufficient reason (for me) to swap to 100% formula at 6 months in order to guarantee iron levels. The same effect can be achieved by using a multivitamin, and you maintain the benefits of breastfeeding as well.

So if you are a person of lower socio-economic status who has a freezing house and needs a duvet and can't afford a sidecar cot are they.... what... more reckless than you for choosing to co-sleep?

No woman is 100% comfortable co-sleeping with their newborn - they can't be. It is one of the greatest risks to the life of a baby and I can't believe people feel comforted that their child is going to grow up intellectually superior from their breast milk when they are endangering their health by co-sleeping.

...and a septuagenarian crying over her FF guilt just makes me.

But some of these women are the same ones who without even realising it undermine the choices of a woman who does want to BF by creating a Unsupporting hostile environment.

Do we really know that in the vast majority of cases BF is best? Given the shockingly low rates we have in the uk. We have mothers who still believe that BM is not enough,that fall for the tick list on formula tins,people who post photos of BF women calling them 'exhibitionist slags'.

Perhaps if we really did believe BF is best we would have a more accepting culture

Loads of parenting choices are best but we don't choose them all,we can't as none of us are perfect parents.

I and many others refuse to put bfing above all other parenting choices.

Absolutely. It is far more damaging to a child's health to have warring parents, obese parents, parents who work ridiculous hours or who barely engage with them on other levels.

The sibling study was not negative about bf. Read it. It looked at very specific outcomes mainly related to cognition (number recognition, for example) and relationships. It found breastfeeding/formula feeding effects were not stronger than heredity and family background. No surprise there. Heredity and family background are known to be powerful predictors of all they tested for. They did not test for effects like gastro, infection, other health effects. Researchers were at pains to point out that their study was in no way an indication that mothers should not be supported to bf.

You are arguing against things I haven't said.

If I were in a freezing house with no money, I might find other ways to co-sleep safely. Eg have my partner sleep elsewhere if that was possible, use layers of clothes and blankets instead of a duvet etc. Or if really not possible, have a cot right next to the bed. Or if that wasn't possible then I would accept whatever situation I was in that I couldn't change and try and do whatever else I could to improve my situation. I do think that an adult duvet with a small baby is risky - all advice about co sleeping I have seen suggests using separate bedding for adults and babies as much as possible.

Where is it said that (safe) co-sleeping is the single biggest risk to the life of the baby? If this were true, surely people would be told clearly and repeatedly not to do it by every healthcare professional they came into contact with?

I don't think that my child will be intellectually superior to other children because he was breastfed. I think that breastfeeding is the biological norm, and that infant formula is not yet equal or better than breastmilk. So therefore if I could breastfeed then I would. I wouldn't put deciding to breastfeed above all other parenting decisions, it's one of many that need to be made.

And just because other things are more damaging doesn't mean that the benefits of breastfeeding shouldn't be studied and investigated so that parents can make an informed decision.

I don't understand purdey's point about newborns and co sleeping. There is no good evidence that safe co sleeping is riskier to a bf baby than sleeping in a cot. Read the Fleming work I linked to on this. Purdey you accuse people of over dramatising and LPM I think it was you talking about fussing and flapping or something. I think it is ridiculous to say co sleeping is one of the greatest dangers to a newborn's life.

Yes, yes, Culture, I quite like your last post

Tiktok, you are right: a baby living in a household with drug-takers and Staffordshire pit bulls is rather more perilous to its health.

Quite right, PP, thank you.....:)

You'll be following this apercu up with some good evidence that a newborn co-sleeping under safe conditions is at greater risk than if he sleeps in a cot, too, I guess, yes?

I never need evidence when making decisions about my baby; I always use common sense and mother's intuition

No problem with that! It was just you were making general points about other people's choices which were not to your liking, and making general comments that these choices were wrong, and I wondered what evidence you had for that which might justify your judgment.

Clearly there is nothing, so I will stop expecting any!

It's probably a good idea if you refrained from making bold statements about other people's choices, reactions, preferences and so on don't you think?

Why should I beat about the bush when opining on teary, guilt-lashed seventy year-olds? Why shouldn't I laugh at 'studies' that conclude breastfed babies are the more intellectual for having been nursed? It's preposterous and I am perfectly entitled to say so. I don't need evidence to state my opinion

The Brazil study is not preposterous. It may well have flaws and weaknesses but to dismiss it as laughable is,well, laughable. You may disagree with the conclusions or how it might apply in a different culture, but to dismiss the whole study as ridiculous is quite extreme.

Parenting choices do have to be made on a personal basis, and instinct may well be a key part of that.
However researchers and scientists should be investigating these decisions at a population level, so that individual people can make their personal decisions based on the most current understanding and knowledge.

Research into the benefits of breastfeeding doesn't negate or criticise or judge the individual personal decision of a woman to formula feed.

Look, the elephant in the room is this: middle class women are the ones who will bf the longest and they are the ones who will breed the children who will take advantage of the best educational opportunities. It's got fuck all to do with breast milk and it has everything to do with class.

I don't think that most "middle class" people take advantage of the "best educational opportunities", as a whole. Don't most people's children just go to state schools?

In some areas where there are still grammar schools then perhaps there's more of that going on. And some people might stretch to send their kids to private school but surely not everyone?

In Brazil, these class differences between bf women and non bf women do not apply. That's why it was a good place to do the study. As has been explained.

The elephant in the room is that some apparently intelligent (and I have to say, probably middle class ;)) people dismiss anything as completely untrue anything that doesn't fit in with their choices/experiences. It's funny.

Over-population of the planet? Nope. That's not happening. I have 12 children and they are all at Oxbridge. So there.

Obesity crisis? No. I haven't seen it. My children and their friends are all very tall and slender.

Tvs in the room bad for kids? Rubbish. Dh had a TV as a child and now works for NASA.

Breastfeeding better for health?
Crap- my ff three have never had a day off school in their life whereas dsis dc have asthma.

Etc etc.

Nope screen time,exercise,junk food,reading etc are things I paid heed to. My kids have screen time and probably don't exercise enough.I often work on both. All the previous are life long issues,have far bigger impacts and have a shed load more hard fast directly attributed research to them.

Sorry but a few months extra formula which the vast maj of the population has had I refuse to agonise over.

Definitely not agonising over the differences between breastfeeding and formula feeding! It's interesting and useful to read about this kind of study, and it just feeds into the decision making process for me. Just like the recent studies about children's dental health, and just recently the research into parents underestimating their children's weight. All useful and thought provoking stuff.