Dear all,

Have you seen the hair-raising article which appeared for public consumption on RICKETS ON THE RISE - Disease affecting kids who get only breast milk. To make things worse, the original article was published in the Journal of Pediatrics.

                     To see the item now, visit HealthScout at
                     http://www.healthscout.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Af?id=100607&ap=43.


It is said that bad publicity is better than no publicity at all. Sometimes, I wonder. I could not resist sending my comments:

To the editor:
                 This article is full of holes, as is the research if it has been quoted correctly (I
                 have not read the original source of information yet).

                 First, I have never seen a mother breastfeed a baby exclusively for 12 months.  In addition,
                 Black mothers breastfeed statistically in lower numbers and for shorter periods than any other
                 groups. Has there been any investigation of the kind of subculture these women belong to, if
                 indeed they have been breastfeeding exclusively for so long?

                 Second, if all these infants were "suffering from failure to thrive" this means that they did not
                 have enough milk to thrive. Therefore they were not fed breastmilk, they LACKED
                 breastmilk. A baby who is breastfed does not fail to thrive. If these mothers had been given
                 adequate followup on breastfeeding matters, their babies would not have developed rickets.

                 Third, all the professionals mentioned in the article pay only lip service to breastfeeding.
                 They know nothing about breastfeeding and they do not really believe in its health
                 promoting properties. Otherwise they would not have permitted their names to be published
                 in this slanted article and they would not have overlooked the obvious, that is #2 above. I
                 wonder who financed the research and the publication of this inordinately biased Journal of
                 Pediatrics article.

                 Fourth, I will bet anything that the victims were all living in poverty and that poverty  and
                 ignorance of breastfeeding matters were much more responsible for rickets than skin color.
                 Any mention of their social status in the article?

                 If you pride yourself in the quality of your publication, and if your goal is to inform, I
                 suggest that you consult with experts before writing about breastfeeding. Your inability to
                 read critically and the publication of this slanted article will cause a lot of damage to your
                 readership.

                 Disappointedly yours,

                 Nicole Bernshaw, IBCLC (International Board Certified Lactation Consultant )

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