These studies don't hold a lot of weight with me. While my son received breastmilk (pumped) for the first 2 months of his life, he also received formula as well as items I added into his formula including infant probiotics and various essential fatty acids. My son is not your classic formula fed baby. By that, I mean, he does not fall into any of the points brought up in these "studies". He has never had an ear infection, never had any digestive issues, has no allergies, does not have a weight problem, has advanced exceptionally in all areas (except speech I will admit!) and is a pillar of strength when it comes to immunity - having never had a diaper rash or any skin issues whatsoever and I can count his 'sick days' (one bout of diaraeha and one day of 'sniffles') on two fingers. He is 20 months old. He sees things that boggle the mind (minute fluffs of dust in the air, miniature planes in the sky so high up you can't hear them). I can't say a lot of what I wrote above for my friends with exclusively breastfed babies. My son has never been vaccinated on top of all of that.

So my point being, these "studies" leave MANY exceptions to the rules. I was exclusively formula fed myself and have never had any health issues nor allergies nor ear infections and have stellar eyesight and was a straight A student all through school. I guess another exception to the rule?

Reply

We know that there are exceptions Monica, but did you know that most eyes change around age 12? That your kid may be on the way to bad eyesight as we speak, and how do you really know you have good depth perception?

I asked an ophthalmologist why so many wear glasses now - and how we functioned 200 years ago if our common eyesight was so bad. He chalked it up to reading, but I thought that was dubious at best. I will be well pleased if my kids can skip the bad eyes my family tends to get - and certainly since we were weaned at about 2 months I expect that not having being breastfed long enough contributed.

Reply

Monica, these studies point to statistical truths or trends. Of course there are exceptions. There are to everything except physics. But, it does mean that A=B more times than A does not equal B.

I agree with Kristin, the human body is astonishingly, mind-bogglingly wonderful.

Reply

It may be that babies who are breast-fed are more likely to be making loving eye contact during feeding. I know that bottle-fed babies are often given the same loving treatment, but not always.

I don't believe everything I read about what doctors or scientists are claiming on a particular day. But we can say breast feeding is tried and true. It is so amazing that just a couple of generations ago, the same doctor and scientist groups were advising against breast feeding. Two generations from now, they will admit lots of today's theories are wrong. On the one hand, it's great to be educated and keep up with the news. On the other hand, mothers need to ignore the hype and go with their intuition.

Reply

"On the other hand, mothers need to ignore the hype and go with their intuition." True, True. The media changes it's mind on a pretty regular basis....

Reply

It is really silly to say "I don't believe these studies because my kid . . . blah blah . . " That is no different from saying "I don't believe studies that say that smoking is bad for your health because my grandma smoked and lived until she was 90." A study that shows that breast fed babies have better eyesight, fewer ear infections, or higher IQ's, does not mean "all formula fed babies are dumb, sick and blind." Of course many formula fed children are fine. But you have no idea how any child might be affected by having had formula, even later in life.

No one wants to make women who can't breastfeed feel bad. My hope, is that this kind of information will help women who are undecided make the decision to try to breastfeed, or help those who want to quit continue just a little longer. I am a peer counselor to nursing mothers, and very often I see moms who are having troubles in the beginning, but once they get help with their issues and make it past a certain point, things get easier and they are really happy they stuck it out.

Reply

I remember being told this at a La Leche League meeting.

The reason that was given is that bottle-feeding moms typically have a "favorite side" that they always hold the baby on to feed, while breastfeeding moms are forced to put baby on both sides equally (or explode). So both of the baby's eyes get equal time looking at Mom's face and focusing, the one being slightly farther away than the other, in a breastfed baby's head.

On the other hand, a bottle-fed baby may have one eye that gets slightly less use because of mom's preference for one side.

Makes sense to me.

Reply

If you re-read my post, I said "these studies don't hold a lot of weight with me". I never said once that they are not true, I said that FOR ME *I* do not fit the bill of these studies nor does my son. So again, please note I was talking about myself.

And for you to say, "but did you know that most eyes change around age 12? That your kid may be on the way to bad eyesight as we speak, and how do you really know you have good depth perception?" PARDON ME? Who says that to someone?! That would be like me saying, "well, your kid could be growing a cancerous tumor as we speak". Who says that?! And questioning whether or not I know if I have good depth perception or not? You'd think that I had just said that breastmilk was bad. Never said that. Breastmilk is WONDERFUL. All I said is that studies don't hold a lot of weight with me. Most studies are performed with one-size-fits-all mentality and fit perfectly in a box with no thinking outside of it.

Reply

Why do formula feeders always feel the need to defend themselves? Breastfeeding is better for so many reasons- bottom line. I always notice that whenever a new study comes out revealing more benefits of breastmilk, the formula feeding mothers get defensive. Feeling guilty much?

Reply

Why do breastfeeding mothers jump on the formulafeeders when we talk about our PERSONAL OPINIONS? Of course studies aren't going to cover everybody; I too was formula-fed, have excellent eyesight (former job required testing), and I'm not the walking plague either. Am I an exception, or the norm? I really don't care either way.

It's great to extoll the benefits of breastfeeding, because there are a few mothers out there who might not be aware. I'm not sure that a lot of the uninformed ones hang out here, though. It is my personal belief that in the end, it's not what the child is fed (breastmilk/formula/both), it's that the choice is made with love and sans guilt.

I can totally see how the vision thing could be because of the switching of sides that is more predominant in breastfeeding. Maybe we could encourage new mothers who are going to bottle feed to do the same. I did it with my twins, if only to strengthen my arms!

Reply

Because formula feeders tend to think that their "personal opinions" carry some sort of scientific weight, which they don't.

Anecdotal evidence is garbage. Two, three, ten, a hundred "exceptions to the rule"? Doesn't mean a single solitary thing. All it means is that people like to filter the world through their experiences rather than pay any attention to the sheer weight of information over the past, what, 40 years?

(And believe me, this isn't a flaw limited to baby feeding, and it's wrong every time I see it.)

When I say that I am capable of getting straight As without ever cracking a book (sad but true), is that "proof" that studying is overrated? And when I then go on to say that my friend who studies ALL THE TIME struggles to maintain a B- average, does that indicate, again, that studying is overrated and useless? But wait! That's two whole "exceptions to the rule!" Clearly studying is a waste of time!

Except it's not, because common sense prevails and says that there's always more variation within the group.

Reply

"it's that the choice is made with love and sans guilt." Amen! I've done it both ways with my kids because I was SO miserable breastfeeding the first one, it impeded our bonding. And no, Heather, I'm not feeling guilty much--since it was, in MY situation, the best choice for MY family. So, having been on both sides of the fence, I'd like to ask some of the breastfeeding mothers to get off their high horse. Really--you're giving the many women who simply advocate breastfeeding in a respectful and reasonable manner a bad name.

Reply

I hesitated to post this because I was scared of this very argument.

Why can't we just respect the individual choices of others? As Moms, most of us strive daily to do the best we can for our kids -- formula or breast, binkie or not.

I breastfed Nolan, but if I have to formula feed my next baby, I don't want the evil eye from Moms who are better off minding their own biz.

Reply

We lactivists wouldn't be on our "high horses" if you non-breastfeeders weren't so danged defensive. It's just simply irrestible, as least for me, to refrain from passing some faux judgment when mommas get so bajiggity at the mention of breast is best. Yes, it is every woman's choice. No, that does not mean I respect the choice not to breastfeed til at least 18 months. It just means I can't stop you from making such a bad decision. Just like non-lactivists don't respect breasfeeders - they just can't stop them from whipping it out (which I totally do, nipple and all!)

Breast is always best - the science and the common sense behind that cannot be sincerely argued. If a woman chooses not to breastfeed, she shouldn't immediately question the validity of the hundreds of studies which point to the same conclusion.

Reply

"Why can't we just respect the individual choices of others?"


Thanks, Kristin. I couldn't agree more.

Sometimes I wonder if super-judgmental mothers just have too much time on their hands.


And Yvonne, I'm not a "non-breastfeeder." As I said in my earlier post, I've been on both side of the fence. I respect caring mothers period--those who brestfeed and those who don't. What a novel concept. And, in my opinion, breast isn't always best in SOME cases; it wasn't for me with my first baby, due to personal reasons that I'm not going into here--and, because I had been told breast was always best no matter what, I kept it up for a year, to both of our detriment. Frankly, I don't care if you feed your kid formula from the get go or breastfeed until their seven. It's your choice, your business, and I respect it. I have my own life to worry about without stressing about other mother's "bad decisions."

Reply

Actually, I view it as really terrible propoganda that women chose to formula feed in the first place. It is not an exagerration to say that if you FF, you have a 7.7% chance of your child being hospitalized because of being ffed alone. A bf'ed child has a .5% chance, with all of the same variables.
I don't view it as a "personal" choice personally, its a health issue that all of us, ultimately have to pay for. quite frankly, I think formula companies should be ponying up for all of the money they cost our society by promoting their product to mothers who are told very paternanistically "its just as good", because quite clearly, its not. its a pharamaucutial product that was and should be intended for women *unable* to breastfeed, not because they got crappy advice, not because some stupid formula company told them it was "so hard" and they couldn't get over it, so they chose a bottle. who wants to be told you are chosing second best for your child when you chose formula? but you are. actually, its 4th best on the scale of what to feed your baby. I don't want fourth best.
the fact is doctors have sold out to The Man for money and their complete ignorance about the mechanics of bfing and how to make the relationship work.
another thing? the study *should* read "formula fed babies are more likely to have eye problems," NOT "breastfed babies are more likely to have good eyesight", breastfeeding is NORMAL, it was the way babies were designed to recieve immunity and normal eye development. we need to change our language.

Reply

Breastfeeding mothers tend to be "lactivists" because breastfeeding is HARD. You have to be committed to make it work. Anyone who has gritted her teeth and nursed in spite of sore, scabby nipples knows this.

Once you get past that phase, it gets a lot easier than bottlefeeding, but many mothers never make it past that phase - or past well-meaning relatives and doctors saying, "Just give her a bottle," and so on. I have even had strangers come up to me in restaurants to instruct me that I ought to give my daughter a bottle (because she was fussy)!! You have to be committed to get past all that crap, too.

It's kind of like being a combat veteran, at that point. For someone to suggest that formula is "just as good" minimizes everything we went through (pain, public criticism, disagreement from authority figures) to provide what we *really* *believed* was best for our babies. So, yeah, we get a little overzealous about it.

We're overzealous so that the other moms who are reading who are in the hard part know that there are good reasons to keep going - better eyesight, better immunity, better chance of not getting asthma, etc. We're overzealous to support each other. And the moms who have chosen to formula feed get offended because they think that we're being personally critical of them. And then we say they're being defensive.

But we're really not talking to or about YOU (past and present already-decided bottle feeders) when we extol the virtues of the breast. We're talking to the moms who are on the fence, the ones who need a nudge (and sure, maybe a bit of guilt) to see them through the hard part, the ones who are undecided and may lack support from the people they know in real life. They're our audience.

I'm ready to wean my 18 month old (I am 8 months pregnant and I am *so* *over* *it* with her, and I want to have a break before the baby comes), and I'm getting the guilt again from the LLL - who would collectively have me nurse her up until she goes to the prom, I think, if given their way. But when people are telling you that the only truly loving, unselfish choice as a mother is to nurse your baby (or, in my case, to nurse until the child is driving) you have to remember that they're speaking from their own experiences, and they're speaking in general, and they do not know you or your situation well enough to make any informed decisions about what kind of parent you are. So, don't take it personally. I'm going to wean my kid before she learns calculus, thanks very much. No one is going to make me feel guilty for that. If you really had good reasons to bottle feed, and I'm sure you did, then no one should be able to make you feel guilty either.

I was one of the 1% of women who truly have supply issues. My mom, who was a LLL Leader in the 70s and 80s, said that if she had gone through what I went through to nurse, she would've quit. And here I am, 18 months later. I am the poster child for If I Can Do It, You Really Can Do It. If I can get past what I got past (long, long story - my daughter's birth weight didn't come back until she was like 6 weeks old, she had jaundice, she didn't have enough dirty diapers, she wouldn't take formula, I ended up taking every pill in the health food store, plus Reglan, and I got severe depression as a result, her mouth was small and caused severe bleeding and scabbing on my nipples), almost anyone can nurse. But I'm not you, and you're not me, and we all have the right to make choices. You have to make the choices that YOU can live with, and tell the internet (or the LLL or the doctor or the little old lady in the restaurant) to go screw itself when it disagrees.

Reply

Amy, I think you articulated that well. When mothers talk about their personal choices or about evidence based medical/baby care, the folks who made different choices always seem to think it's a personal criticism. I'm getting mighty tired of that kind of "mommy wars" attitude.

I care about the choices my fellow mothers make. I try to advocate and agitate for positive changes in the health care of mothers and children. If, after having made the decision to do otherwise, a mother shouldn't feel offended by the support for different choices.

No one is interested in making another woman feel guilty for having already made the choice. But, perhaps with better information and the ability to make a different choice, she may be able to make a different decision in the future.

Reply

*****Standing ovation for Candance2!*****

Reply

Candance2, you make an awesome point about the lanugage we use to speak of baby-feeding. Breastfeedings is in fact the norm, regardless of the percentage of mothers who do it, because its been used for at least thousands of years. It's how it is supposed to be - any other alternative is the deviation.

Reply