Ellen Penchuk asks if anyone else found this article on how BF can reduce
childhood obesity negative.
http://www.news-medical.net/?id=5580

I thought it was lukewarm and written in a defeatist tone of resignation -
'yes, BF reduces childhood obesity but most women can't achieve the effect'.
They do point out the need for fundamental changes in the terms under which
women must mother their infants in the US, if exclusive BF is to be
practicable for more mothers.  But they do so in a way that implies this
will never be possible, and they stop short of mentioning the scandalous
collusion between many health care providers, maternity care institutions
and the formula industry, for example, that sabotages so many women before
they even get started.  Formula supplementation the first days of life is
the strongest single factor influencing rates of exclusive breastfeeding and
total duration of breastfeeding.  That is not mentioned.

In their very brief mention of possible causes for the effect of BF on body
mass index in later childhood, only the method of food delivery is mentioned
(breast vs. bottle), rather than the food itself.  There is no mention
whatever of the fundamental differences between a bottle of formula and a
bottle of expressed milk from the baby's mother.  This is hardly conducive
to motivating more women to supply their own milk to their babies if they
are prevented from being with them continually the first 4-6 months.  If
it's the bottle and not its contents that is the offender, why should anyone
go to the trouble of expressing milk at all?

From the article:
""While no one knows the reason why breastfeeding may protect against later
obesity, it is possible that breastfeeding, compared to bottle feeding,
allows infants to have more control in when they eat and how much they eat,"
said Whitaker, a senior fellow at Mathematica and a study co-investigator.
"Allowing infants to regulate their own food intake early in brain
development may be important for establishing long-term patterns of healthy
appetite regulation." This hypothesis is consistent with the study findings
that the protective effect of breastfeeding on later obesity only occurs
when breastfeeding is sustained and is stronger when breastfeeding occurs
without bottle feeding of formula."

My reaction is that the findings mentioned in the final sentence here, are
also consistent with the hypothesis that cow's milk and human milk are two
different things, for two different purposes, and I lament the lack of any
mention of this notion in the article.

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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