One of the reasons that I think the concept of "advantages of breastfeeding" is so inaccurate is because it implies some kind of "added" protection against all manner of disease possibilities that have many, many influences. I like to use the concept of an 8 oz cup that each of us is born with, already filled to an individual level based upon our genetics, our intrauterine life, our spiritual path, etc. Some will be more filled than others at birth--the fuller the better of course. Then, the experiences we have during and after birth, the choices made for us and those we make for ourselves, our environmental and emotional lives, etc will empty or fill the cup throughout our lives. For example, medicalized birth and artificial feeding empty the cup, while uninterrupted birth and breastfeeding may simply NOT empty the cup rather than actually filling it. After all, they are normal behaviours. So, if you have a pretty full cup to begin with, you might tolerate the emptying (ie AF) better than someone whose cup is less full to begin with. Hence, you can have someone who is AF exhibit better health and vitality than someone who was breastfed. OTOH, breastmilk might well fill the cup when it is used as medicine beyond the scope of normal feeding.

So, to look at anyone or any situation and say that breastfeeding did or did not accomplish this or that health "benefit" makes no sense to me at all. Also, I think we have the most absurd expectations that breastfeeding (or human milk) can overcome the damage/risks (or emptying of the cup) that come from environmental toxins, poorly managed stress, poor diet, lack of physical activity, birth and antenatal trauma and so on. The fact is that inflammatory conditions, auto-immune diseases, allergies and other disease related to gut damage (autism for example) are on the rise and we cannot expect that simply feeding babies as they were designed to be fed can counteract conditions we were never designed to encounter or manage.

So, breastfeeding has no hope of saving us from ourselves. We have to pay attention to avoiding all actions that empty our cups--AF, medicalized birth, poor nutrition (esp during pregnancy and childhood), toxins in the body, and the like while consciously taking actions that fill our cups--natural and energy medicine for illness, detoxification, structural work, stress management, exercise,  joyful living, fulfilling relationships--being happy.

A lot of the situations discussed on this thread relate to structural problems, many of which do indeed respond to holistic treatment, including those that are congenital or genetically linked. For example, my 16 yr old daughter snored very badly until she was rolfed at the age of 12. Then she stopped completely and has never snored since. She still has a posterior TT and a high palate, but has excellent teeth and jaw structure. I am certain that breastfeeding her for 5 years  normalized her structure and function immensely and prevented more serious respiratory problems than she had (it had been her area of weakness---no more). My 19 yr old son has a condition that is either congenital or genetic and that seriously threatened his life as a young child. I am certain that his having been breastfed for 4.5 years assured that his immune system was normal and that he was in a strong position to contend with the strain of his long healing process.
Breastfeeding did not make them perfect or prevent the structural problems they had from manifesting. It did give them a normal place from which to begin and I do believe it is normal for humans to be vital and strong--to have a vibrant lifeforce.

I am often stunned that
people think breastfeeding should "prevent" allergies especially given
the allergen risks we now have to contend with. Or those who are
surprised that their bf children have allergies as if the environmental
factors (I include poor diet and toxins especially in this) are not
paramount in such outcomes. For example, all of my children are gluten-free. Breastfeeding cannot prevent the wheat industry from intentionally increasing the gluten content of its crop so as to increase profits. It cannot prevent them from adding aspergillus amylase to flour "to improve its baking qualities", thus triggering awful mold allergies in many people. There are so many more examples, but my point is that we cannot behave as if the food supply and the environment have not become more dangerous and then be surprised by the outcomes.

I think we have an obligation to inform parents that AF is the second significant risk factor they impose nutritionally (the first being a poor diet prenatally), but that every single risk they take drains the cup, from eating processed foods to consuming neurotoxins to trans fats to grain-based diets, to lack of exercise to use of drugs that damage the gut and so on. We have so drastically lowered the bar for what is healthy that we are placing unbelievable blame as well as unrealistic expectations on breastfeeding. I see children all of the time who are blatantly unhealthy because they are being fed garbage (by this I do not mean candy and potato chips--I mean grains and processed foods and poor quality fats and no vegetables and too much food). We have studies that show that parents cannot even recognize obesity in their own children and have no idea what a normal body structure is. I think we have really skewed the conversation to place too little blame on what children are ingesting and too much hope on breastmilk.I think this approach is going to backfire and make breastfeeding seem unimportant. Breastfeeding matters for all of the reasons we all know, but it is simply a foundation upon which parents can choose to build or from which they can tear down (fill or empty the cup)--being realistic about the world in which we live and the possibility that we have a lot less wiggle room than we may like to accept.



Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, CT, USA
Intuitive Parenting Network LLC



             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome