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Subject:
From:
Ros Escott <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 20 Apr 1996 13:59:21 +0000
Content-Type:
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My local daily paper, the Mercury (Hobart Tasmania) has been into
affirmative (breastfeeding) action this week.  First, a few days ago
there was a large colour photo on the front page of a "working
mother" and her  11 month old baby - a visiting glamorous fashion
model who we were informed travels everywhere with her son because
he is still breastfed.  Nothing unusual, just a fact of life.

Then today on page 5 there was an article with the headline:
"Breastmilk the spice of life" about a Sydney study (David Laing &
Champa Jinadasa of University of Western Sydney) which showed that
babies breast-fed by mothers who eat strong tasting food develop an
appetite for the flavours, which translates into a wide range of
tastes when solids are introduced. The babies of mothers who ate
bland foods were slower to take up new tastes, and the formula fed
babies were the slowest, and when they did begin to eat it, they ate
only half the portion the breastfed babies ate. Surprise, surprise!
The food they tried was garlic flavoured mashed pumpkin.  The best
thing about the article was that it was about breastfeeding - the
formula-fed babies were a deviate group, just mentioned in passing!

Then on page 20 was the heading "Spit that out, you dummy" which
reported a study just publised in Lancet which shows that babies
given dummies will grow up with a below average intelligence.  Unlike
the US report someone mentioned on Lactnet a day or two ago, this one
dismissed the fact that the researchers failed to find a link between
BF and IQ  (of course, "failed to find" is different to "is not
there"). The focus of this report was on the strong pacifying effect
of dummies (pacifiers) and how they make the infant less aware of
what is going on around it.  It said that "parents who pacify their
babies with dummies make their children so soporific they do not
notice their surroundings and they may have less interaction with
their mothers.  Without any response to outside stimuli, a child's
intellect may be underdeveloped.".

It made me think of the contrast with the interaction between a
breastfeeding mother and her child, and reminded me of why dummies
were invented - to pacify bottlefed babies who had had their quota
and could not be given an emptly bottle to suck on, so they made a
"dummy bottle" without a hole in the teat and without the empty bottle
attached.  The article also made me wonder whether understimulation
is the only factor.  What about the effect of dummies on reducing
airways, etc.?  Surely this does not enhance IQ.

With apologies to lactnetters whose children were heavy, soporific
dummy users.

Ros Escott
[log in to unmask]
"In every work the beginning is the most important part,
especially in dealing with anything young and tender." Socrates

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