That's very well argued, Tricia, and while I doubt this particular woman
will be receptive, I hope lactnetters will note your comments for use with
other practitioners they may encounter. The AAP and international documents
should be sufficient, and then it's up to this new medical graduate to prove
HER case for artificial baby milk - and at the same level as what she is
demanding of human milk, i.e. benefit across most health outcomes, not just
one or two! She also seems to be unaware that breastfeeding is more than
just the milk.
I'm wondering how much of her thinking has been influenced by marketing.
Even intelligent people absorb these messages and base their attitudes on
them. I also wonder if she was exposed to strong emotional negatives while
she was growing up, e.g. mother's attitude. This is something that Angela
will never know, of course, but clearly this woman has a huge mental block
on anything good surrounding breastfeeding and I suspect an entrenched
emotional component to her thinking. Poor woman, poor patients!
Sadly, advertising for leading brands of factory-made artificial milks for
older infants promotes the additives - but neglects to state that there
isn't much of these in artificial formula, compared with the significant
amount in human milk. An example is the 130 or more oligosaccharides in
mother's milk. Parents hearing the advertisements naturally assume their
precious baby can only get prebiotics (and probiotics and omega 3s) from the
advertised product in the can, and this belief can easily lead to action,
such as taking a baby off human milk and switching to the commercial
product. What new mothers need is ongoing support for breastfeeding, not
further undermining by a new medical graduate who insists that breastfeeding
is inadequate.
Virginia
Dr Virginia Thorley, OAM, PhD, IBCLC, FILCA
Private Practice Lactation Consultant
Cultural Historian of the History of Medicine
Brisbane, QLD 4072
Tricia Shamblin wrote:
Dear Angela,
The real problem is not lack of evidence of benefits of breastfeeding, or
detriments of formula feeding, it's the lack of good research about
breastfeeding. ... Mostly, we only have observational studies and literature
reviews, and one million years of evolution at this point, to go on. But my
question for her would be, if that's not enough for her, what research is
she
planning to use as her evidence that formula is adequate? ... it's her
responsibility to provide proof of it's adequacy, it's not our
responsibility to defend human milk for human beings. And I would challenge
HER to find large scale, cause and effect studies that show that formula is
as healthy for infants as human milk. When you talk to her, also I would be
sure to use the term "human milk" not breast milk, as a reminder that what
we are talking about is human milk for human beings....
.... as a new MD, I think she should be especially careful about passing
along advice that conflicts with information provided by the AAP, ACOG, the
Surgeon General, the AAFP, WHO and Unicef. ... Where are her large, cause
and effect studies to make her case? Where are her studies showing human
milk is detrimental?
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