In a message dated 4/22/99 10:13:14 PM Central Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
<< Most of the time a person who understands the risks of failing to feed
their
child human milk will bf. But sometimes not. And in the US at least I don't
think we run substantial risk of undermining bf culture (I wish...) by
saying, This is one of the very few cases where a mother is better advised to
run the risks of artificially feeding her child, because though real they are
fewer than the risks of not doing so. >>
WOW, If I could just once hear an MD use the word RISK and the words
ARTIFICIAL FEEDING in the same sentence, outside this List, it was be a
miracle. I don't believe many people do understand the risks of artificial
feeding, since most HCPs do not think there are risks, and do not speak like
this. There are still MDs out there who recommend weaning if the mom needs
an AAP- approved antibiotic since there are risks with antibiotics and "we
have been using formulas for decades and they carry no risks". ( Direct
quote). Until we really start getting babies nursing as a cultural norm,
every study done on women is done with subjects who are in an abnormal
physiologic state, with breast tissue never fully matured, and hormones never
appropriately shifted during the life cycle. Every baby of these women is to
some degree immuno-compromised. If there were really a way to take into
account the impact of a lack, or incomplete level of breastfeeding I am sure
the morbidity/mortality stats for children who did not have normative infant
feeding, would be significantly higher. Does a child who dies of an
asthmatic attack, or a brain tumor, or loses a leg at age 20 to
insulin-dependent diabetes, or the 30 years old woman with a killer breast
cancer count among the negative consequences of a lack of breastfeeding? or
is it only the more obvious cases that are factored into these statistics?
Until we get more women nursing, more nursing exclusively or close to it, and
for longer, our statistics will be continue to be skewed in directions that
do not show artifical feeding for the true risk it is. No quick or easy
answers here, I guess.
Judy LeVan Fram, Brooklyn, NY
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