Even after living in Belarus for 4 years, I have a lot more questions than answers regarding the validity of the PROBIT study.  There are so many cultural factors that were not accounted for.

For example, if the mothers were given information at the 'birth house' independent of the grandmothers, then whole thing would fall apart as soon as the new mom got back home.  Most couples live with their parents, and these 'babushki' have an unparalleled sway on all  baby-care and child-rearing decisions.  Another point is that the concept of exclusive breastfeeding is unheard of.  The vast majority of babies will be given some water, tea and/or other liquids beginning soon after birth (see http://www.childinfo.org/breastfeeding_belarus.html for details).  "Milk is food, the baby also needs something to drink" is an oft-quoted phrase and pervasive belief.

From the UNICEF website, "The authors note that, whilst Belarus is a developed country, it does not suffer from the obesity epidemic currently affecting North America and Western Europe and therefore some caution must be used with interpretation of the results." http://www.babyfriendly.org.uk/items/research_detail.asp?item=491

A release by the Academy of BFmed (http://tinyurl.com/22wx7ku:) notes that "not even half of the infants in the breastfeeding promotion group were being breastfed at all by six months of age" and "only eight percent of the infants in the breastfeeding promotion group were being exclusively breastfed".

With regards to the Chernobyl accident, I can't say how this would impact the study as this isn't my area of specialty.  However, on a personal note, I never felt that my family was in danger living in Minsk.  We were far from the contamination zone, and felt confident eating Belorussian fruits and vegetables, as well as their delicious dairy products.  We traveled freely and spent time outdoors.  Several visiting inspectors (invited by Western embassies) confirmed that the levels of radiation were well within acceptable levels.

Theresa Yaroshevich, IBCLC
Living in Moscow and Minsk since 1994
Recently relocated to Kiev, Ukraine

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