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BANG FOR THE BITE
If 10,000 Biter parents avoid purchasing formula for a year, we'll keep half the weight of the International Space Station in empty formula cans out of landfills.
COCKTAIL FACT
The government of Scotland will fine businesses up to £2,500 if they prevent a mom from breastfeeding in public.
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home › tip library › Breastfeeding
Want your kid to have a better shot at becoming a rocket scientist?
The Bite
Break out the full moons. In addition to smartening up your newborn, breastfeeding is less expensive than bottle-feeding, and has health payoffs for both mom and child that are outta this world.The Benefits
- Getting NASA scouts knocking on your door. A study of almost 14,000 kids found that breastfed tots had an average of 7.5 more IQ points than nonbreastfed kids (possibly due to a beneficial chem in breast milk).
- Unearthly health benefits for moms. Women who lactate for two-plus years over their lifetimes reduce breast cancer risk by 24%. Bonus: Fat gained during pregnancy is an energy source for lactation (so yeah - you'll lose weight as you "feed"...about 500 calories a day).
- Galaxy-size cash savings. Moms who breastfeed can expect to save $800 or more per year on formula.
- A cleaner solar system. Breastfeeding avoids the packaging and energy used to make baby formula products.
Personally Speaking
Heather described her friend's ever-enlarging boobs between feedings as being "kind of like the blueberry-pill scene in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."Wanna Try?
- BabyCenter and La Leche League - learn more about breastfeeding.
- Earth's Best Infant Formula - if you can't produce enough milk to breastfeed, go organic with your formula. Also: a formula for toddlers ($13-$17/14 ounces).
Aug 18,2008
Sponsor
All editorial suggestions in this tip are the result of testing and a preference for the tip topic. No advertiser has paid to have its company referenced in the tip. For more information, please read our Editorial Policy.
Why Do I Know These Things?
Everyone has those moments in life where you ask yourself, "How the %#$@ did I get here?" One of mine came while I was sitting at a table full of women during a breastfeeding discussion - and I was the one answering the questions.
During my time as an editor at BabyCenter.com I learned a lot of things I never in a million years wanted to know, but one of the most poignant facts was that there are a lot of extremely staunch advocates of breastfeeding out there. And like our tip says, there are countless benefits to becoming one of them.
But if you're a new mom and the feeding process is just not happening, and you're in severe pain and simply can't go on, DON'T STRESS ABOUT IT. The very most bestest thing you can do for your baby is be happy and loving, and if that requires a bottle of formula, well, your kid's probably going to live. Millions do.
-SF Editor Mike...off to think about boobies...
Biter Comments...
That's a tough tip to hear if you couldn't breast feed your baby for one reason or another, e.g., because she was adopted. And your last bit about "if you couldn't/can't breast feed because of pain, etc., don't stress about it.." Are you kidding me? Of course, anyone would stress after reading the tip! Don't most people know it's convenient, economical and healthy? But if we didn't breast feed do we have to hear that our babies probably won't become rocket scientists?
Yeah!!! It is disturbing how abusive and insensitive some "pro" breastfeeding people can be...I was fortunate to have been able to breastfeed both my children, but I know some women who never could, and the thought of one single person trying to make them feel bad is a shame. Love, compassion and understanding...that's what every baby/child deserves.
Naya,
Why is this tip harsh? I don't feel bad when a tip is about something I can't do.
I am sorry this tip made you feel bad but the rates of breastfeeding in the US and that women are still harassed for breastfeeding in public shows that breastfeeding still needs some press.
Soooo, after successfully breastfeeding my son for 4 months, my milk supply suddenly dropped off. I got lots of advice from consultants, the Dr. and breasfeeding organizations and put up a heck of a fight to continue exclusively breastfeeding until this month (he's now 7 months). I didn't want to supplement with formula but knowing I would have to so that Evan was getting enough to eat was inevitable. I found Baby's Only Organic formula which I love and it does not contain the DHA/ARA supplements that the other formulas contain (even the other organic brands). While touted as a great benefit, those supplements are derived using the chemical hexane (ick, also used in oil/gas wells) to process them. Check this formula out if you're looking for an organic option for your little one!
It does seem a reasonable suggestion to say that if you do choose formula for your baby (either a personal choice or one made for you because your body said you're done) , organic is the way to go. However, all the organic formulas I found came in a metal can, which they have to line with plastic, which then leaches icky BPAs into the formula. The DHA/ARA mentioned by Darlya is important, too. Also, toddler specific formula -- are you kidding me?!?! It's a marketing trick to scare us into believing we need to buy their products for a longer period of time than is necessary.
...and remember, there are 10,000 ways to be a good parent and give your child the best start possible. Breastfeeding is *only* 1 of them (the research indicates that turning off the TV, reading to your child daily, and avoiding "educational" toys that replace parent/child interaction have an much more significant chance of making an intellectual difference).
While I am glad that this controversial subject has been raised I also have concerns. Some information provided when I followed a couple of the links was inaccurate.
The idea that you'd advise (in this blog) a mother that is in extreme pain and not managing to feed her baby the way she has chosen, to "not stress about it" is appalling. The advice should be to make sure you have good support and seek professional help as soon as possible. Maybe a link to the International Lactation Consultants Association www.ilca.org would have been more help at least there a mother could find someone in her area to help. While I did not follow it the link to La Leche League should also help her find support.
Formula is not evil, nor is it the root of evil, it is however fourth in line of recommended food for a newborn/young infant and it does have risks associated with it.
Yes, many formula fed kids can grow to be rocket scientists if they wish and some breastfed kids will struggle with their basic school work - that does not change the fact that artificially fed children will likely never reach their full potential. Then again most of us don't for a variety of reasons.
Exclusive breastfeeding does not guarantee your child will never be sick, it does however normalise the risk both for illness and for severity of many diseases.
The fact that so many women stop breastfeeding because of a perceived insufficiency of milk, despite the fact that over 95% of women in this country can make ample milk for a single baby given adequate support, makes the act of pointing directly to formula instead of help a very disturbing trend.
I should hope this country will evolve to the point that we can readily discuss the risk versus benefit of all choices regarding health care and parenting and then support an individual's choice once and educated decision has been made.
There is no one correct way that works for all. There are recommendations, even strong recommendations and they should be heard and acknowledged. That is not the same as telling us what to do. Nor is it an automatic condemnation of a different choice.
Based on my own personal and incredibly traumatic experience with trying to breast feed my daughter, I can honestly say that I am SICK, sick, sick of all of the negativity surrounding bottle feeding your child.
Yes, I realize "Breast is best!" It was repeatedly pounded into my brain as I'm sure it is every other new parent (you can't watch, listen to or read anything about babies without that message coming up), but it's not that simple people. Whether it's a physical, mental or situational problem, some women just cannot do it. Instead of constantly slapping those women in the face with these totally one-sided articles, why don't you start using this incredibly powerful medium to start pushing for better formulas? It worked for the bottles (BPA), why not shoot for what goes in them?
For anyone reading this who feels like a complete failure and horrible mother every time the subject of breast feeding comes up, take this to heart... formula is not going to stop your child from reaching their full potential. Love your child and do everything that you have the power to do to give them a good, healthy life and their potential will be endless. Giving something that they are fed for 1 year of their life that much power is total extremism. I got rid of all the BPA, I feed my daughter as much organic foods as I can, I use nontoxic cleaners and paints, etc. I also spent the first 6 weeks of my daughter's life attached to a breast pump trying to get every last drop out because I just wasn't producing. You do what you can and forgive yourself the rest! Breast feeding mothers don't love their children anymore than non-breastfeeding mothers, so let's cool it with all the smugness.
For the author of this article, shame on you for being so biased. You'd have been wiser to leave out the little formula blurb altogether. Even me, the formula fed, not full potential reaching gal, knows obligatory statements when I see them.
I didn't really find the article inflammatory at all, I am not sure when we started taking ourselves so doggone seriously!
I commented with my experience because I know how it feels to have people imply that you didn't try "hard enough" to keep breastfeeding. Yes, the support resources are helpful but they can also be extremely judgmental and fancy themselves as the BF police so how about we just do our best for our babies, however that works for us, and stay out of one another's nurseries...and off the author's back. Just hoping we can lighten up a tad...
The study you refer to did NOT take into account the fact that the children that were breastfed were the children of upper-middle class, college-educated women. There is no direct relationship between method of feeding and IQ, period. IQ is determined by genetics and environment, not by food source.
Second, the breast cancer comment is crap, and I'll tell you why. My best friend breastfed her son as long as she could, up until he developed a fatal allergy to milk, and she developed breastcancer shortly thereafter, with no history of it in her family and no behavioral issues that would have made her more inclined to get it. So please, stop spreading fear-based propaganda. New moms have it tough enough as it is - we don't need you making them feel guilty, too.
Katrina, what is recommended before formula, since you say formula is fourth in line? I mean, besides breast milk, obviously. We use a sort of homemade formula of goats milk, distilled water, molasses, folic acid, probiotics, and a little cod liver oil (in addition to all the breast milk I can manage to make)
Breastfeeding does provide some health benefits for mom and baby and is *definitely* cheaper than formula, but I think today's tip was overblown.
Only babies with a certain gene get an IQ boost from breastmilk, and breastfeeding is NOT a diet.
I gained very little weight when pregnant with my daughter (something to do with throwing up for 4 months, I think). I gained more than 10 pounds breastfeeding--I felt like I was starving the whole time! And I know I'm not the only one...
Breastfeed if you can, but bottle feeding is nothing to feel guilty about. Some of the smartest people I know were bottle fed.
I would like to object to the comment about not being able to produce enough milk in the tip. I think the suggestion should be if you feel you are not producing enough milk seek the advice of a lactation consultant. If you choose not to breastfeed your child for whatever reason then choose organic formula. I hear too many women say they didn't produce enough milk. I haven't really asked why they think that because I'm not trying to make them feel bad. But I think too many women give up without seeking help first. There is too much controversy and misinformation surrounding breastfeeding. The human race would not have survived this long without it and I think a lot of the information has been lost. You didn't hear about these problems until doctors got involved.
Don't want to add fuel to the fire, but there are some other options that have not been mentioned:
* breastmilk banks (link for Human Milk Banking Association of North America: http://www.hmbana.org/)
* lactation induction in the cases of adoption or second-parent nursing
I was happy to see this tip but I did not like the comment that if it is painful you should give up. If it is painful then something is wrong and a mom should be able to find help. Instead of help we are bombarded with marketing from formula companies and bad advice everywhere even from nurses in the post-partum ward. Many women do not "have enough milk" because they try to nurse on a schedule instead of allowing the baby to get the supply up by nursing more frequently, and when one supplements with formula or other foods it also diminishes the supply. The problem is that even this simple info is not known to most people because the formula companies (which are, mostly, pharmaceutical companies) have done an excellent job over the past few decades convincing so many people that breastfeeding is too difficult or even inferior. I'm astonished at how many people really do not know that breastmilk is the best nutrition. Anger should never be directed at the moms who were not successful at breastfeeding, but we do need better structures to give women support to get through those first, sometimes difficult, weeks.
I am disappointed to see this website publish what it did about breast feeding. It makes me question other information I have read on here. Yes, breast is best - it is the best, most natural, most intentional food there is for your baby. BUT there is no good evidence that it can make a child smarter. Even someone with a tiny bit of training in research methods knows that correlation is not causation. There are so many other variables that come into play and drawing that conclusion is just plain wrong and spreading it to people who may not have the critical thinking skills to question it is irresponsible. What a baby eats is important but what is more important is that the baby's basic needs are met and that the baby's caregivers respond to him/her with love, consistency, patience and gentleness. THAT is what is important. While it is important to get the message out that feeding your baby breast milk is good for them, it is also important to tell people not to criticize their children, not to shame them in front of others, not to spoil them rotten, not to stick them in front of a TV all day and so on..... Where is the press for that stuff????
I am really glad you did a piece on breastfeeding and the link to LLL was great-so much good information. Actually there IS good evidence that mother's milk contributes to intelligence and they know this because they controlled for other factors like mother's education and all that. This is not to make people feel bad it is a fact to use in making an informed choice.
Moms who want to breastfeed and then can't for whatever reason deserve everyone's support. It is very tough and emotional. It doesn't help to have a glib little piece about being smarter then say "but don't worry if YOU can't do it". Of course people will worry! Breastfeeding is good for the health of both mother and baby, it is natural, and better for the planet than a manufactured food.
And Louise all those other things are important too! I think most of us are doing the best we can. And nobody does it all perfectly.
For the person who asked about 4th choice. Doctors consider the best food for a baby mother's milk directly from the babies own mother ( your body makes milk designed especially for your baby's needs.) Next best is milk from the baby's mother pumped and fed in a botttle, after that donated milk ( screened for virus ect of course) and in 4th place commercial formula.
I am a staunch supporter of breastfeeding but I agree that better formulas would certainly fill a need for families that need or choose to use them. And to close my long winded piece in parenthood things do not always go as planned- would be nice if people were more supportive of each other. That does not change the fact that mother's milk is the best food for babies without question.
PHOTO ALBUMS
Posted by: Stacey | August 18, 2008 at 06:14 AM