Well, Barbara, you are quite right. We should not condemn until we
have read all the information. Where's the article? But the article
as Jan presented it, is to be condemned, if it does not reflect a true
portrait of the study. This is where breastfeeding advocates tear out
their hair. You get one article like this, it gets a big write up in
the press, everyone believes it, later studies come out which disprove
the original, and nobody notices and another myth has entered the
breastfeeding mythology. That is why condemnation is necessary. If
it is loud enough, it may get the author to stand up and say, "Well,
they got it wrong. Here's what the study really says".
However, this information goes so far beyond most of our usual
experience (teenagers generally produce tons, have problems with
overabundance of milk), that I'm just not sure exactly what spin could
have distorted the information that much. And the author, according
Jan's post, was not dealing with unusual situations, but was talking
about "teenagers".
We cannot deny information and good research, and we have to look at
bad news as well as good. But the information that teenagers do not
produce as much milk just does not correspond to reality. Which
lactation consultant is named as a co-author on the study?
Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC
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