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Subject:
From:
Chris Mulford <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 15 Feb 2001 23:46:56 EST
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Heather writes


I'd love an explanation too.  I heard a story from a trustworthy friend who
was helping her sister with a quite new baby---under two weeks, let's say.
The mom ate broccoli.  The baby was extra fussy.  The auntie held the baby
and tried to make him comfortable.  He relaxed enough to produce a big burp,
and the auntie smelled broccoli in the burp.

Here is my theory to explain this story.
1.  We know that many new babies are fussy, gassy and belch-y.  That's part
of being a new baby with a newly-minted GI tract.
2. We know that flavors and aromatic compounds can go from what the mother
eats into her milk, and thus into the baby.
3.  In this case, the baby was going to burp anyway, and the broccoli
flavored aromatic chemicals were in his belly because they were in his mom's
milk.
4. The auntie concluded that the broccoli made the baby burp by following the
"post hoc, propter hoc" principle.  (If B happens after A happens, then A
caused B.)  We know this is not sound scientific method.  But with an unhappy
new baby, we adults will grasp at anything that seems to offer an explanation
and a guide to future action.

I do agree that we should listen to mothers.  And I do think they may be
right.  They are right there.  And we don't know everything---in fact, we
know very little.

Chris Mulford, RN, IBCLC
Swarthmore  PA (eastern USA)

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