Linda Smith writes:
The big political argument is whether the breastfed curves are the only
legitimate norms, or whether there should be two sets of standards - one
for BF and one for BoF. (But that's another discussion entirely.)
The current norms in use (kindly provided by Ross Labs free to all doctors)
are based on a mixed sample of kids, some of whom were breastfed for varying
lengths of time, some of whom were formula on home-made formula, and some of
whom were formula-fed with early commercial formulas. Most of these kids
started solids very early, like before one month.
The comparative studies of DARLING (Kay Dewey, et al.) compared modern day
formula-fed kids with modern-day breastfed kids, but they did NOT control
for HOW breastfeeding was done. Although they didn't collect data on
frequency and duration of breastfeeding, Dr. Dewey told me that most of the
mothers in the Davis, California study area were scheduler-feeders, feeding
on a 3 or 4 hour schedule, and the vast majority of the babies slept by
themselves in a crib in a separate room, and were sleeping through the night
early (i.e., the same age as the formula-fed kids). Thus, it is entirely
*possible* that the slower growth of the breastfed babies is due to low
frequency of feeds, leading to low quantity and low fat content of the milk,
and to the separate sleeping. Dr. James McKenna's research has shown that
co-sleeping breastfed babies nurse more often and for more total minutes
that separately sleeping breastfed babies. Before we develop new standards,
we need to have a study of breastfed babies nursed on demand, including at
night. Just my ever-so-humble-opinion. In fact, I think we could do quite
well with the current standards, however flawed they might be, if we could
just get doctors to use them correctly!
Quote of the day:
It isn't that they can't see the solution. It's that they can't see the
problem. -G.K. Chesterton
Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Anthropology and Nutrition
Texas A&M University
Co-editor of "Breastfeeding: Biocultural Perspectives"
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