I do think it is important for medical professionals to say SOMETHING in
these situations where early weaning has likely contributed to health
problems. One mother I know weaned her baby early, and he then suffered
through almost continuous ear infections. He hadn't had even one during the
five or six months he was breastfed, but once he weaned he had one after
another - lots of pain, antibiotics, delayed speech due to hearing loss,
etc. The mother specifically asked her doctor if longer breastfeeding might
have prevented this, and he told her no, that the tendency towards ear
infections was genetic and had nothing to do with feeding methods. So of
course when she had her next baby, she followed the same pattern as with the
previous one - and once again went through more than a year of terrible ear
infections.

I don't know if the doctor actually knew that formula-fed babies have more
ear infections, but if he did he certainly didn't convey that information to
this mother. That left her making decisions without the full information,
and I think that was unfair to both mother and baby.

Teresa Pitman
Guelph, Ontario

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