"A multitude of studies demonstrate that when breastfeeding is
accompanied by formula supplementation, illness and death rates are
much closer to those of babies who are fully formula-fed..."
My friend Darillyn voiced her concerns about this paragraph, and
wondered if adoptive breastfeeding mothers might become discouraged if
they learned that breastfeeding combined with supplements did not have
the power that exclusive breastfeeding has. However, I would like to
argue for keeping the message unchanged, because I think more good can
come from solving the problem than from trying to avoid it.
It’s true that Americans in general struggle with the concept of risk.
If formula-feeding were associated with 100% fatality, we would have no
trouble convincing people of the importance of breastfeeding. Certain
death is a concept most of us understand. But because the outcome of
not breastfeeding is much more variable than that, it is hard for many
to understand that there is any risk at all. How many times have we
heard someone say, “But I wasn’t breastfed, and I’m fine,” meaning “I
wasn’t breastfed, and yet I am alive. Since I can see that there isn’t
100% mortality, there must be no risk at all.”
In a culture where most moms hear that breastmilk is only marginally
better than a can of dried milk from a cow, the concept of comparative
risk may be even harder to communicate. That adoptive breastfeeding
mothers may initially be discouraged is a real possibility, when they
learn that all their efforts are impacted by the health effects of the
supplements they use. However, this group has faced great adversity to
choose what they know to be the lowest risk for their children. The
fact that they are maximizing their children’s chances for health has
not changed. If this is not immediately obvious, then it is an
opportunity to educate the public about relative risk.
A mom who is making every effort to maximize her milk production is
doing everything in her power to reduce risk even if she has to
supplement what she makes. On the other hand, a mom who can easily
meet 100% of her baby's needs through endogenous production has the
right to know that she is choosing to increase risk if she chooses to
supplement.
I believe that with sufficient knowledge, empowerment will be the end
result, rather than discouragement. Today, many adoptive breastfeeding
mothers rely on supplemental formula. We can hope that accurate
information about the risks of artificial baby milk will help to
empower all mothers to demand access to safe and affordable donor human
milk when needed.
All that any of us can hope for is to have enough knowledge and control
over our lives to be able to act to decrease risk--not eliminate it.
All of our lives are filled with risk. The safest course lies in
having accurate information about risk, so that we can reduce our
exposure to it.
Arly Helm, MS, IBCLC
***********************************************
To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|