ar Jay:

I'm not sure whether or not you were being facetious, but if not, I certainly understand 
your initial reaction to the Medela video.  It follows standard lines of "Breastfeeding is 
best....." with all the lovely shots of mom and it is creative with the grocery store breast 
milk cartons.  

As others have already pointed out however, it is the BUT that comes after breastfeeding 
that is the clincher.  In the past, it was "breastfeeding is best, but formula is just as 
good".  In no less than an American Academy of Pediatrics published book "Mommy 
Calls", by a celebrity pediatrician, Tanya Remer Altmann, MD, FAAP you get the following 
two statements...

"Breastfeeding is truly best" p18.

and then

"Plenty of Ivy League students and SUCCESSFUL VENTURE CAPITALISTS (can't help 
capitalizing that one since I'm in NYCity) were formula fed as infants and keep up just 
fine with their breastfed counterparts." p 31.  

Hmmm, did she never hear of "drop out bias" and would you ever say that about 
carseats? I call this one a logical inconsistency.

Even worse is the logical fallacy of Mark Weissblum, MD in "Health Sleep Habits, Healthy 
Child" p 76 where he claims "Formula-fed babies grow up to be just as healthy as 
breastfed babies".  

Hmmmm, how about the whole American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement on 
breastfeeding and human milk that lists 7 acute diseases and 8 chronic diseases as well 
as death as the risks of formula feeding?  (They don't even Voldermort this one --- the 
still couch it as "benefits of breastmilk")

So, the formula industry has shown the effectiveness of "Breastfeeding as best, but...." 
advertising in getting even MDs who should have solid training in evidence-practice to 
lose all sense of logic.

Then, there was the "Best for baby, best for mom" statement from the DHHS.  This was 
flipped to Best for Mom, Best for Baby which then led to the excuse if mom is too 
stressed then formula feeding is the answer and it really is best for her baby. 

Now, we have Medela using the same strategy.  Listen carefully to the zinger at the end 
that Morgan already posted about:

"when you choose to breastfeeding you are doing what’s best for your baby, when you 
choose Medela products you are doing what’s best for you both". 

I see no evidence to support the contention that it is better for mothers to pump than to 
breastfeed.  Many mothers who have struggled and had problems that required the pump 
can tell you all the reasons why that is very challenging for them and why they would 
have preferred to breastfeed.  

Marsha Walker's comments a while back reminded me why Breast was Best was initially 
important.  There was a time when that was not believed and the same sort of 
discrediting of the research and the researchers when on then.  Now we are in a different 
era where the initial message has been twisted through logical inconsistencies and 
fallacies.

Best, Susan Burger

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