Please don't misunderstand my post about Mothering Magazine. I *LOVE* Mothering magazine. But it does concern me that some of their articles are not based on research, especially if they are written and presented to the public as though they are. One example, from many years ago -- they had an article about the risk of Trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome) and whether or not it was linked to mother's age. The author wrote that obviously there was no relationship between age of the mother and risk of having a child with Down Syndrome, because most mothers of children with Down Syndrome are young. The author seemed not to realize the errors in her logic. Of course, most mothers of children with Down Syndrome are young, because young women are the ones having most of the children. Still, your *risk* is higher in your teens and after 35 years of age than it is in your 20s and early 30s. The risk at age 45 years is about 1/12 births. This is a very high risk, compared to the 1/1000 risk during your 20s. But, there aren't many 45 year old women having babies. That's why you don't see very many older mothers with children with Down Syndrome. The article told women not to worry at all about any link between maternal age and risk of Down Syndrome. The general public tends to think that there is some great overriding censorship/quality assurance group that certifies everything before it gets published, so that if something got published, therefore it is true. That's why I said that Mothering should be taken with a grain of salt. Not a bucket of salt. Not tossed out with the bathwater. Just taken with a grain of salt. Just last month in Canada, I tried to talk with a 'lactation consultant' (not sure of her credentials) who took issue with my presentation about the issue of guilt and harm caused by formula. No matter what research I tried to inform her about, she responded "If formula hurt babies, *they* wouldn't allow it to be sold." THEY being the government, I guess. Because it is available for purchase, it must be 100% safe, was her reasoning. Like cigarettes and alcohol, I guess. Kathy Dettwyler _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html