Hi Barb
Great to hear from you on Lactnet - hope that
life in beautiful Warnambool is still treating you kindly!
Well, ABA and the unfortunate, but dedicated and
perfectly correct ABA counsellor have my
unqualified support - and I really hope that ABA
doesn't feel that it has to cave in and sacrifice
her on the altar of political correctness in
order to save its own face! Strictly speaking,
it's time that we, the professionals and
organizations who have studied this subject,
unequivocally acknowledged to every pregnant
woman that breastfeeding is her baby's birthright - and explained exactly why.
How many times do we discuss the importance of
watching our language on Lactnet? How often do
we assure each other that we shouldn't be talking
about the benefits of breastfeeding, but rather
the risks of formula-feeding? This is exactly
what this lady did. And actually I quite enjoy
her analogy. A formula-fed baby _is_
(unnaturallly) immunodeficient by default because
he receives no antibodies after birth, placing
him at serious risk for common opportunistic
infections that breastfed infants are able to
overcome by virtue of receiving maternal
antibodies. Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
(AIDS) is the end-stage of a viral infection
which attacks the immune system, rendering the
HIV-infected individual similarly immunodeficient
and similarly very seriously at risk for many of
the same infections (diarrhoea, pneumonia,
leukaemia and other cancers, fungal infections
etc etc) So the ABA counsellor is not
technically wrong. And, as an aside, acquiring
HIV through breastfeeding kills about 300,000
babies per annum. Formula-feeding kills about 1.5
million, so is much more risky, including for the
85% of breastfed babies of untreated HIV+ mothers
who don't acquire the virus in spite of
breastfeeding. There's no doubt about it -
formula-feeding IS risky and I believe that those
of us who know the difference between breast and
bottle have a responsibility to be clear.
I'm quoting below a paragraph from a paper I
wrote with two colleagues, published in the
journal AIDS at the end of last year, where we
argued that formula-feeding, even in
industrialized countries (such as Australia?) is not without risk.
.....Although the assumption that artificial feeding from birth
is without risk in industrialized countries is still common
(strengthened by journal titles and abstracts that systematically
fail to state findings in language that links artificial
feeding to increased morbidity [24]) research has begun to
call this belief into question. Although reliable estimates
of an association between breastfeeding and mortality are
difficult to arrive at [25], substantial evidence links
formula-feeding with increased morbidity [26,27] and
mortality [28–30]. In the USA, conservative estimates of
excess mortality due to suboptimal breastfeeding vary
from 911 [29] to 720 [31] deaths per year, with
approximately 400 being due to diarrhea alone [32].
Artificial feeding increases the risk of necrotizing
enterocolitis and death among premature infants [33]
and increases the risk for sudden infant death syndrome
[34]. The UK Millennium Cohort Study [35] estimated
that exclusive and sustained breastfeeding could prevent
53 and 27% of hospitalizations due to diarrheal and lower
respiratory tract infections and partial breastfeeding could
prevent 31 and 25%, respectively.
Refs:
24. Smith J, Dunstone M, Elliott-Rudder M. Health professional
knowledge of breastfeeding: are the health risks of infant
formula feeding accurately conveyed by the titles and abstracts
of journal articles? J Hum Lact 2009; 25:350–358.
25. Golding J, Emmett PM, Rogers IS. Breast feeding and infant
mortality. Early Hum Dev 1997; 49 (Suppl):S143–S155.
26. Bachrach VR, Schwarz E, Bachrach LR. Breastfeeding and the
risk of hospitalization for respiratory disease in infancy: a metaanalysis.
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2003; 157:237–243.
27. Ladomenou F, Moschandreas J, Kafatos A, Tselentis Y, Galanakis
E. Protective effect of exclusive breastfeeding against
infections during infancy: a prospective study. Arch Dis Child
2010; 95:1004–1008.
28. Ip S, Chung M, Raman G, Trikalinos TA, Lau J. A summary of the
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s evidence report
on breastfeeding in developed countries. Breastfeed Med 2009;
4:S17–30.
29. Bartick M, Reinhold A. The burden of suboptimal breastfeeding
in the United States: a pediatric cost analysis. Pediatrics 2010;
125:e1048–e1056.
30. Duijts L, Jaddoe VW, Hofman A, Moll HA. Prolonged and
exclusive breastfeeding reduces the risk of infectious diseases
in infancy. Pediatrics 2010; 126:e18–25.
31. Chen A, Rogan WJ. Breastfeeding and the risk of postneonatal
death in the United States. Pediatrics 2004; 113:e435–e439.
32. Glass RI, Lew JF, Gangarosa RE, Lebaron CW, Ho MS. Estimates
of morbidity and mortality-rates for diarrheal diseases in
American children. J Pediatr 1991; 118:S27–S33.
33. Lambert DK, Christensen RD, Henry E, Besner GE, Baer VL,
Wiedmeier SE, et al. Necrotizing enterocolitis in term neonates:
data from a multihospital health-care system. J Perinatol
2007; 27:437–443.
34. Vennemann MM, Bajanowski T, Brinkmann B, Jorch G, Yu¨cesan
K, Sauerland C, et al. Does breastfeeding reduce the risk of
sudden infant death syndrome? Pediatrics 2009; 123:e406–e410.
35. Quigley MA, Kelly YJ, Sacker A. Breastfeeding and hospitalization
for diarrheal and respiratory infection in the United KingdomMillenniumCohort
Study. Pediatrics 2007; 119:E837–E842.
Maybe ABA can use the refs above to help put
together a rebuttal to the dreadful Brisbane
Courier Mail article which seems to be demanding
"evidence" that formula-feeding is risky. It
is! And the article is outrageous. But maybe
we shouldn't be surprised. We have to remember
too that publication at the end of August is no
doubt timed to counteract all the positive press
emanating from World Breastfeeding Week.
Anyway, my best to ABA, of whom I have very fond
memories, and hold in high esteem, and to the
Brisbane counsellor, who needs the unqualified
support of her organization in the face of what
has clearly been a case of entrapment!
Pamela Morrison IBCLC
Rustington, England (who loved living in Brisbane 2003 - 2005!)
----------------------------------
Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2012 17:48:31 +1000
From: Barb Glare <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Aus lactnetters: what's happened here?
Hi, Heather,
Pretty much, what the article from the Brisbane Courier Mail said. An ABA
counsellor at an ABA Breastfeeding Education Class (for pregnant couples)
is alleged to have said that "Breastfeeding was a little bit like Aids in
that it undermines the immune system...(you can read it all) In the class
was a reporter who had gone "under cover" to report on this.
The ABA counsellor has been stood down pending an internal inquiry, and a
social media hate fest on breastfeeding has been unleashed (any support is
welcome) Mumma Mia has been particularly rabid.
Ironically 2 weeks ago it was reported that Nestle had changed the recipe
of its NAN formula and there were masses of reports that the formula had
been made ill from drinking the formula. Nestle insisted that there was
no problem with their formula and that some babies just couldn't handle
it. They gave parents a gift certificate as compensation and offered no
explanation or recall.
Any support for ABA who is welcome
Barb
IBCLC Australia
On 30/08/12 11:25 AM, "LACTNET automatic digest system"
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Aus lactnetters: what's happened here?
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