Personally, I'd trade the death of one child for normal health and
cognitive development for the other 9. Guess that's a very personal
choice. I don't think the other 9 children should suffer so that the one
child can live. And I don't think that ALL women should have no choice in
how they labor so that some other woman's baby won't die (AND I REPEAT THAT
ELECTRONIC FETAL MONITORING DOES *NOT* RESULT IN BETTER FETAL OUTCOMES
ANYWAY!!!!!!).
But let's look more realistically at the numbers. Doren Fredrickson's
research on SIDS shows a 50% reduction in the death rate from SIDS for each
month of exclusive breastfeeding. I just posted about this the other day.
So if we look at current death rates from SIDS, 1/1,000, and we consider
100,000 births in a year, say.
Currently, the death rate from SIDS is 1/1,000 or 100 deaths per year in
the group.
If ALL babies were exclusively breastfed for one month, that would drop to
50 deaths per year.
If ALL babies were exclusively breastfed for two months, that would drop to
25 deaths per year.
If ALL babies were exclusively breastfed for three months, that would drop
to 12.5 deaths per year.
four months, that would drop to 6.25 deaths per year.
five months, that would drop to 3.12 deaths per year.
six months, that would drop to 1.51 deaths per year.
98.5 babies per 100,000 who DIED because of formula feeding. These
children ABSOLUTELY ARE NOT living to be 70 years old with only a little
allergy, asthma, or diabetes controlled by medication. Neither are the
children who die of NEC, or pneumonia, or lmphoma, or any of the other
diseases that kill infants and children. What about the mother who dies of
breast cancer because she didn't breastfeed, and leaves her children
without a mother?
This is obviously a very complex issue. I am just trying to get people to
recognize that you MUST factor in the deaths and pain and suffering caused
by formula in your cost/benefit equation.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D. email:
[log in to unmask]
Anthropology Department phone: (409) 845-5256
Texas A&M University fax: (409) 845-4070
College Station, TX 77843-4352
http://www.prairienet.org/laleche/dettwyler.html
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