Sorry - not sure while last post didn't come through clearly.
Interesting that "most of today's young people were breastfed."  Gee, I 
didn't know that!  (tongue in cheek).  And that's just the beginning.  His e-mail:  
[log in to unmask]

Ruth Scuderi, IBCLC


Breast-feeding as religion


Posted: November 11, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2003 Creators Syndicate, Inc. 
One of the phenomena of our time is the passion surrounding breast-feeding. 
In Norway, for instance, it is now illegal to advertise baby formula. And 
America is probably not far behind. Whenever I raise this issue on my radio show, 
merely saying that bottle-feeding is OK renders me a villain in the eyes of 
many listeners. 
The religious-like fervor for breast-feeding and loathing of bottle-feeding 
need to be explained. I acknowledge having no scientific basis on which to 
challenge the many scientific studies that point to the health benefits of 
breast-feeding – such as fewer infant infections, fewer early allergies, getting the 
mother's antibodies, and so on. I do, however, believe that in a 
health-conscious home, these benefits are negligible. 
On what grounds do I believe this? Common sense – our built-in defense 
against nonsense – suggests it. 
Virtually my entire generation of baby boomers was bottle-fed. Yet we are the 
healthiest generation in human history. Moreover, it is among today's young 
people – most of whom were breast-fed – that we constantly hear about the far 
greater incidence of obesity, juvenile diabetes and children with asthma. Now, 
I surely do not attribute these conditions to breast-feeding, but if 
breast-feeding were all that significant a health benefit, this generation would 
surely be more, not possibly less, healthy than the previous generation at the 
equivalent age. 
So the question remains: Why do all these healthy parents who had been 
bottle-fed now wage war against bottle-feeding? 
One answer goes well beyond the issue of breast-feeding. It has to do with 
education. 
In much of the West, the well-educated have been taught to believe they can 
know nothing and they can draw no independent conclusions about truth, unless 
they cite a study and "experts" have affirmed it. 
"Studies show" is to the modern secular college graduate what "Scripture 
says" is to the religious fundamentalist. 
Thus, the question: "Was your bottle-fed generation so ill as children that 
you really believe breast-feeding makes a major improvement in health?" is of 
no importance to people passionate about breast-feeding. They have read the 
studies and heard the experts, and that is all they need to know. 
But education alone does not explain the war for breast-feeding and against 
bottle-feeding. 
A second explanation is the God-like status of health in the secular West. As 
G.K. Chesterton foretold a hundred years ago, when people stop believing in 
God, they don't believe in nothing ... they believe in anything. When people 
stop worshipping God, they begin worshipping many gods. Health, for example. In 
the name of Health, condoms are given out to high-school students. In the name 
of Health, many parents would rather their teenager cheat on tests than 
smoke. And in the name of Health, women are pressured into breast-feeding. 
The third explanation is the other major argument for breast-feeding – the 
mother will bond better with her child. 
This argument is even more remarkable than the health argument. At least the 
health argument is rational, even if wildly overstated. 
Is there a shred of evidence that adoptive mothers bond less with their 
children? Do women who cannot breast-feed bond less well with their child? Do women 
who breast-feed one child and bottle-feed the other love the breast-fed child 
more? Are men incapable of equal love of their children? 
The bonding argument is also a bit scary. Are women – who believe it – 
saying that without breast-feeding, they would not have been capable of 
sufficiently bonding with and loving their child? 
And if breast-feeding is indispensable to optimum bonding, why not 
breast-feed for a few years? Isn't more bonding better? 
Many fine women and men are passionate about this subject. But the current 
war against bottle-feeding, which is a thoroughly wonderful gift of modern 
science, is just another sign of our morally confused secular world. Instead of 
fighting real evils, too many men and women – and governments – devote much of 
their lives to fighting trivia such as bottle-feeding and secondhand smoke. 



Dennis Prager, one of America's most respected and popular nationally 
syndicated radio talk-show hosts, is the author of several books and a frequent guest 
on television shows such as Larry King Live, Politically Incorrect, The Late 
Late Show on CBS, Rivera Live, The Early Show on CBS, Fox Family Network, The 
O'Reilly Factor and Hannity & Colmes.