I have tried something new recently due to the 'talks' on here and I think that it has made a great impression. Mother parents give supplements because they fear their milk is not good enough. So when I talk with parents I talk about research and the corrected way to understand it. Breastmilk does not make babies healthier. Breastmilk is a natural process anything that is natural can't make you healthier. I relate this thinking to smoking and not smoking. A person who chooses not to smoke doesn’t become healthier by choosing not to smoke. By not smoking they are at their baseline of health. Smoking on the other hand is not 'normal/natural' so by choosing to smoke a person decreases their health. Formula is not 'natural/normal'. So infants who are feed formula have a decreased risk of health. Just like smoking the more formula a child has the potential for their health to decrease increases. 

When you explain this to parents you can see the light bulb clicking on - they really get it. I mean the evidence has been there all along but the way it has been broadcasted makes breastmilk seem like - 'if you can do it then do but hey don't worry because formula isn't bad'. But just changing a few words or explaining it in another scenario makes a difference.

Jessica Callahan RN, IBCLC
NC, USA

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