I may have missed some posts but I haven't seen anyone mention the most
critical point that needs to be made  regarding research on asthma and
breastfeeding.  How does the researcher define breastfeeding?  What do we mean, when we
say, "Are you breastfeeding?"  What does the mom mean when she answers, "Yes, I
am breastfeeding."  I have worked with moms who breastfeed and supplemented
with 1-2 ounces of formula after every nursing session.  The mother told me she
was breastfeeding and not until I was doing a home visit with her did I
realize that this baby was getting alot of infant formula.  How much breastmilk was
this baby really getting?  I have had new moms tell me that their babies were
being exclusively breastfed (what did they mean by that?).  I have talked to
fathers and grandmothers who have privately told me that they had given these
"exclusively" breastfed babies infant formula.  Mothers requesting their
baby's birth records find that their infant received infant formula during a
hospital's mandatory separation.  LC's differ on what is meant by exclusive
breastfeeding.  The CDC until recently defined exclusive breastfeeding to include
water supplementation.

If studies do not define breastfeeding, then how can we know that there are
protective or no  benefits from breastfeeding?  How can we know anything about
health outcomes in infants, if breastfeeding could mean that the infant got
some infant formula, or some water, or some food, or some tea, or meds.  What
about the exclusively breastfed infant who receives antibiotics and how is the
GI tract effected?  How about the mom who exclusively breastfeeds and receives
antibiotics for a breast infection--might that change the infants GI tract
especially in the early days?

"How breastfeeding is operationally defined is of particular interest when
evaluating and comparing study results, because imprecise definitions of
breastfeeding categories affect data analysis and interpretation of study outcomes."
from "Breastfeeding and Human Lactation"-second edtion,  by Riordan &
Auerbach,  page-755.

It is amazing to me that breastfeeding advocates have less faith in
breastfeeding and human milk;  than the infant formula companies who are positively
poetic about the wonders of human milk in their patents.  How strange is it to
have companies using human milk components to treat asthma (genetically
engineered human milk components--and remember the FDA has declared that a substance
that is genetically engineered is "identical" to the natural substance) while
publicly questioning the protective effects of breastfeeding towards asthma?
What do we believe and why?  It seems that our research helps us buy products
and yet it makes us question the value of nature.  Is research about truth or
about what we want to sell to the people?
Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html