More Information, not Less, for Success

The decision on how you feed a baby is an intensely personal one, based on several factors.  It's not for anyone to judge.   But that's exactly what has happened.  And now, new research suggests, it's been to the detriment of mothers and babies.  Societal pressure to breastfeed has resulted in misleading information and not enough information on feeding options, all of which can put both moms and babies at risk.  Breastfeeding has become a moral imperative rather than an informed choice.  If you don't breastfeed, you're touted as a bad mother, one who's not giving her baby the best start in life.  We hear about study after study showing the medicinal benefits of liquid gold.  But for every study that shows that, there's another that comes out that says the evidence is inconclusive or unsubstantiated.  But we don't hear about those, do we?  After all, women are born with breasts for a reason, right?  Breastfeeding as the "right" thing to do has become so ingrained we've lost track of an important basic right: the right to choose.

No matter which side of the argument you fall on, what seems basic, is the right to be fully informed.  That includes learning about breastfeeding and formula feeding.   Lactivists have done such a good job heaping on the guilt that many pediatric offices don't discuss formula with new moms but instead try to push only breastfeeding.  For some, touting the "health benefits of breastfeeding" has become overly cliched without being necessarily double-checked.  Has breastfeeding become such a politically correct thing to do that those who are charged with providing us with health information aren't even informed themselves?  Dr. Michael Kramer is a professor of pediatrics, who has advised the World Health Organization and Unicef.  Good credentials, right?  Well, according to Kramer, "The public health breastfeeding promotion information is way out of date." He also says that much of the information used to persuade mothers to breastfeed is wrong.  That's a little scary don't you think?

The result is that those who choose to use formula or can't breastfeed, could be putting their babies in danger because lack of education means lack of knowledge.  An article published last year in the journal, Pediatrics, highlights this point.  It stemmed from a survey by the Centers for Disease Control that  found that many women aren't even given  necessary information about formula like the correct way to prepare it, or things as basic as washing one's hands before preparing a bottle for your baby.

Dr. Sydney Spiesel is a clinical professor of pediatrics at Yale's School of Medicine.  Spiesel says he no longer tells patients that they "should or shouldn't breastfeed" because he's not convinced of the evidence. "For all the benefits that are touted around breastfeeding, when you do a really good study, it's very hard to find the tremendously powerful benefits that people have been claiming."   Importantly, Dr. Spiesel also talks about a mother's psychological and emotional health being as important as the baby's nutritional health.  What works for one family, doesn't for another.  But that doesn't make one mother worse than the other.

In New York, the state senate just passed the Breastfeeding Bill of Rights.   It basically prohibits healthcare providers from talking to new moms about anything other than breastfeeding.  That's a little dangerous ( not to mention pretentious and dictatorial) given what I've just told you, don't you think?  Especially so when you consider the following information from a national survey just released today:

• 83% of mothers make their infant feeding choices before they get to the hospital to give birth.
• 53% of mothers believe the way they feed their baby is not an "either/or" situation and do a combination of both during the first year.
• 75% of new mothers say they should get information on both breastfeeding and formula in order to make an informed decision.
• 82% of mothers who stopped breastfeeding do so because of work demands.
• 81% stop breastfeeding because of a lack of milk
• 76 % stop because they find it too restricting.

When asked if and how government actions could help support breastfeeding:

• 33% said mandate guaranteed paid maternity leaves.
• 17% said they need more support from healthcare professionals after leaving the hospital.
• 13% said more support in the workplace is needed.

Nowhere do these results suggest that women want government to legislate what healthcare providers can talk to them about.

The survey was funded by the International Formula Council.  You might say "well of course those were the results."  But hold your horses.  The results of the CDC survey mirror many of these results.  Just read for yourself.

Not only are new moms entittled to all the information they can get, they want and need it.  Without it, women and children could be at risk.

This is all alot to digest.  And it's certainly worth digging into deeper.  We'll do that in the weeks and months ahead and would love to hear from you about these issues.