Here's the letter I wrote to the Washington Post concerning their
editorial:

Dear Editor:
When examining who benefits from breastfeeding, your recent article
could certainly benefit from some more investigative reporting.

Several studies do in fact note direct and indirect positive impacts of
breastfeeding on human intelligence.  Premature babies fed human milk
for only 3 weeks scored significantly better on intelligence scores at 7
to 8 years of age -- an improvement from breastmilk equivalent to the
harm that would be identified in another line of research as caused by
lead poisoning.  By decreasing the incidence of ear infections,
breastfeeding has an indirect impact on intelligence -- children with
hearing loss due to repeated ear infections show increased learning
difficulties at school age.

When mothers access their own individual situations to determine if they
can begin or continue breastfeeding, many times they only examine the
direct time required to express milk or breastfeed the baby.  However,
because babies who are not breastfed have higher rates of illness,
mothers may in fact merely be shifting their time investment from
preventive well-child care to sick child care at the physician's office
and emergency room.

Furthermore, the direct costs involved in the purchase, preparation and
feeding of artificial baby milks can easily run into the thousands of
dollars, decreasing the working mother's earning potential.

For the corporate perspective, several studies have demonstrated that
mothers who are supported in breastfeeding often return to the worksite
sooner, have a greater level of job satisfaction and loyalty, and have
less time away from work for illness of themselves and their children.
Such corporate savings from decreased employee turnover and absenteeism
greatly outweigh the costs of implementing a system allowing women to
incorporate breastfeeding- related activities into their working days.

Workforce participation for women often results in grief and sadness at
having to be away from their cherished children in the first place.
Breastfeeding has been documented to help mothers separated from their
infants give them an additional sense of connection.  In fact, when
asked, many breastfeeding mothers respond that the effort of
breastfeeding is well worth the rewards of healthy, happy children.

Please let us end this paternalistic debate on guilt and instead focus
on how we can support women to be the best mothers they can be.

Sincerely,

Doraine Bailey, MA
Working mother who breastfed  for 22 months.

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