>As I mentioned, I wrote to the corresponding author of the study from Kaiser
>which is being touted all over the place under the banner of pacifiers
>saving lives, to ask how they defined breastfed babies for the purpose of
>their study.  De Kun-Li wrote back to me yesterday, and here is the answer
>to my question.
>
>Hang on to your hats - a baby was classified as 'breastfeeding' if it had
>ever been breastfed.  They do have the data available to distinguish between
>babies who were previously and currently breastfed, and possibly even
>exclusively or partially breastfed, but they didn't make the effort to look
>at the groups that way before sending in the article for publication.
>
>Not too surprising that breastfeeding did not emerge as a significant factor
>one way or the other in this study.
>
>Rachel Myr
>Gobsmacked once again in Kristiansand, Norway


Well....I am gonna say it.

I think that is absolutely shocking.

I am most shocked by the BMJ and their reviewers.  That paper should 
have gone straight back to the authors with a request to explain, and 
possibly remove,  'breastfeeding' as a variable.

*We* know what a weasle word 'breastfeeding' is, but many people 
involved in these issues truly do not, let alone 'ordinary' people. 
'Breastfeeding' to most people will mean 'breastfeeding at the time 
of death' or  'at the time we asked about the baby'.  But reviewers 
of papers destined for medical journals, especially one of the 
'medical journals of record', should know, and should be demanding 
clarity.

I have already recorded my feelings about the way the BMJ trumpeted 
the study to the press.

I hope there will be some printed correspondence in the BMJ about 
this, asa well as some further discussion in Rapid Responses.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc, tutor, UK

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