>Hi Magda,
>You are right and I don't for one second believe that the researchers
>involved in the study were doing anything but the best that they could.
>Certainly it is clear in the paper that they were comparing a breastfeeding
>support intervention to standard care and not an exclusively breastfed group
>to a formula fed group.


Yes - the paper,  and the  research, and  the team behind it, are fine!

>  However, it is also clear that whomever wrote the
>press release did not make this clear enough (and the authors did not have
>input??) I think it's probably the news reports more than anything that
>concern people.


Absolutely.....GMTV in the UK trailed its item on this with the words 
'Later....we hear why breastfeeding may not be as good for babies as 
we used to think' which is just a crazy way to interpret the work. 
And I already posted the link to the Press Association release 
headlined 'Asthma risk for breastfed babies'. Many (most?) 
journalists will not go anywhere near the abstract, let alone the 
full paper, and take their news from PA or other releases.

Twice this week, someone has said to me, 'I heard on the TV they're 
saying there's something wrong with breastmilk....'

>  I just wish that they would look infant formula/other
>milks/foods as the exposure rather than breastmilk, especially in relation
>to asthma.

Almost impossible to do in most contexts, because hardly any babies 
have *no* exposure to formula.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc, tutor, UK

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