Diane asks:
“am I right in thinking that the biggest problem
behind the whole debacle is quite simply that they
chose formula-feeding as our biological norm?”
As always, Diane is right about this…
The thinking would change completely, from the
beginning of any pursued question, if exclusive
breastfeeding from birth were considered the norm.
Then, if something “unexpected” was discovered, the
questions would be different. For example:
What is altering the woman’s (baby’s) environment?
Is this unexpected finding protective in ways we don’t
yet understand?
(but should jolly well be pursuing…)
Instead we have study after bumbling study sending
chicken littles running about crying “Stop
breastfeeding!” when the only sky that is falling is a
sky erected of artificial feeding. I like to think
that more and more people are looking up to see that
the sky is fine but something else is falling down.
Diane wonders what would have been found in the
“little bitty” category of “never formula-fed.” Is
anyone looking for this group? It is small. Mothers
memories are what they are. Mysteries occur behind
hospital doors, and other doors. It is extremely
difficult to find with the sampling methods most
preferred.
Kathy Dettwyler’s survey of longterm nursing mothers
is an interesting group, though it is not random.
Interesting to me based on my assumption (based on
years working with such mothers) that mothers who
nurse 3+ years are likely to have nursed quite
differently in the first year. [Kathy D’s survey group
is a potentially rich resource to study into old age.]
As much as I would like to see studies of children
“never formula-fed” I would also like to know if the
nursing was “by request,” if it included co-sleeping
(night nursing), if babies were worn, the nature of
separation, when / how solids were introduced, and of
course if pacifiers or other artificial nipples were
used. Once you find yourself asking such questions,
studies about babies who were breastfed a bit vs
deliberately AIM fed become nebulous studies of
varying mixed feeds. One thing I haven’t heard
mentioned is that some of those AIM babies may have
lucked into a little colostrum before weaning first
week postpartum. How close is the questioning? How
accurate the answers?
Diane suggests that in this study “the vast, vast
majority of their subjects would have fallen in the
[ever formula-fed] category.” Yes. In fact I suspect
almost all.
I meant only a short note, you can only imagine how my
friends & family must suffer… Still, I hope those of
you aware of researchers / published studies
addressing the “never formula-fed” issue will post
about such work.
Susan Johnson MFA, IBCLC
Salt Lake City, USA
__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo!
http://sbc.yahoo.com
***********************************************
To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]
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
|
