My husband's reply to Betty...

Ahh, but what if it turned out that Parks, Roosevelt, and Hawking were all
breastfed? And what if they wouldn't have turned out so amazing if they were
formula fed? We'll never know, but why take a
chance on your child when the science overwhelmingly shows that breastmilk is
so much healthier?

The one meaningful point of your article was that information about
breastfeeding is class-bounded; its importance must be spread to those who
don't have the benefit of reading about studies such as
this. However, you miss the point of the study entirely; its premise was
apolitical and performed in a culture with a high rate of breastfeeding.
Your trivialization of the average IQ change shows
your ignorance of statistics and mean reversion. That the average IQ among
the participants who breastfed was 6 points higher on average, suggests that
at the margin its benefits are significantly
higher (and, conversely, that formula feeding can be detrimental).

I know the intent of your article was to make mothers feel better about their
parenting choices, i.e., their choice not to breastfeed. However, the premise
is ultimately rather silly. You sum it up by
saying "what your baby needs most will flow from your heart." But of course;
that's only the beginning, or rather, the ending. First, the baby needs to be
fed. Why feed him/her something that is
proven to be unambiguously inferior in study after study after study?



Andrew Coon
New York, NY

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