She had a hip replacement 8 years ago. In
>>the last 6.5 years she has had 3 children, has breastfed them all. She
>>has tandem nursed twice. Her oldest nursed until he was 5. The younger
>>two ages 3.5 and 18 months are still nursing. She has been told that
>>she needs to have the hip replacement re-done. She has also been told
>>that the bone that holds the replacement has degenerated considerably in
>>the last 8 years. She is getting pressure from friends and her husband
>>that breastfeeding is the problem. I don't think her doctor is aware
>>that she is lactating and I'm sure he's not aware how much she has
>>breastfed in recent years. I think she's afraid to ask the doctor for
>>fear of him saying it is the breastfeeding out of ignorance.
I am not offering an "educated professional opinion" re bone loss and
breastfeeding, but I would suggest that she find out from her doctor how
often hip replacements must be redone in general -- if this is something
that happens to a lot of people who are not breastfeeding, then I would be
less suspect that breastfeeding is the cause in her case. Most people with
hip replacements are past reproductive age, and probably half are men. She
needs to find out what the rate is for people in general having to have
their hip replacements redone after 5-10 years.
Comment re recombinant prolactin in goat's milk from transgenic goats. I'm
not sure I understand the *fear* of this development. It isn't at all clear
from the press release who the prolactin would be marketed to -- perhaps
people with HIV or autoimmune diseases or Down Syndrome or others with
impaired immune systems? As a general immune system boost for the elderly?
Even if the primary market is as an additive to formula, I think that is a
good step. No matter how successful we are in promoting breastfeeding,
there will always be many children who are bottle-fed with formula, and they
are the innocent victims of the poor quality of formula available on the
market. There is no reason they should suffer any more than necessary
because their parents made a bad choice on their behalf. They deserve the
best that science can provide. If someday the formula companies are able to
*exactly duplicate* breast milk, then the bottle-fed children will ONLY be
missing out on the physical closeness, the touch, the sight, the smell, the
sound, the social interaction, the proper development of the airways and
jaws and facial musculature, etc. That, of course, is a LOT to miss out on.
It is too much to say that they don't deserve the best formula science can
devise.
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Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D. email: [log in to unmask]
Anthropology Department phone: (409) 845-5256
Texas A&M University fax: (409) 845-4070
College Station, TX 77843-4352
http://www.prairienet.org/laleche/dettwyler.html
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