… Or the breast pump. The new momma in the house pointed this article out to me this morning. For those other mothers on the go, this might at least remove some of the guilt … from the BBC News. Breast feed babies might be smarter, but it ain’t in the milk according to this study of 5,000 kids and 3,000 moms.
I believe it is standard in the scientific community to have corroboration. I will believe the evidence presented above when the results are other studies which prove the same result.
Right, so now if you don’t breast feed it doesn’t mean that you’re baby’s stupid, it mean that you are!
Anyone have a link to the actual study? I’m wondering how old the kids’ tested were, and if they’d been drinking the newer ARA/DHA fortified formulas, which were made to try to address the IQ problem seen in the past. (As I understand it, ARA and DHA are two fats found in breast milk thought responsible for brain, nerve, and eye development. Formula didn’t have it before 2002. Not all formulas have them yet.) If so, good! It shows that formula is getting closer and closer to breast milk, and that’s a good thing.
There are still lots of other benefits to breastfeeding, of course. But I think only a monster would be happy if formula fed kids were dumber just so breastfeeding could get another notch in it’s proverbial belt!
This will take you to the paper (in pdf) at the British Medical Journal online site (i.e. for papers recently accepted for publication.)
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/onlinefirst_date.shtml
This will take you to the abstract – NOT pdf
After the dust clears, it appears that the conclusion is that the biggest influence on a child’s intelligence is how smart mom is to begin with … good news??
Thank you!
Yes, this is a great idea, “rest the breast” - because the only reason to breastfeed is to gain a few IQ points.
I mean who cares if your kid is twice as likely to die if s/he isn’t breastfed?
Better dead then dumb, right?
why yes, this is a sensitive issue with me, why do you ask?
There’s more to breast feeding than the hope your child will be smarter. It’s good for the immune system, it’s cheaper than formula, it helps the mommy lose weight after birth and facilitates bonding.
Hmm. Well, according to the abstract, these are numbers taken from a 1979 study, so they’re not of the newer formula with ARA/DHA. I am not enough of a statistitian to recognize the methodology, nor do I have an explanation as to why this contradicts other studies done during the same time period. I, too, will have to wait and see whether these results are replicated before changing my opinion that, generally, studies show a few IQ point preference in breastfed children.
naotalbah, I understand your frustration, really, I do. But there are women for whom exclusive breastfeeding is not the best option - women with very poor diets, women who are victims of sexual abuse for whom their breasts are shameful, women who just simply can’t make enough milk, even with supplements and extra pumping, women who have preemies who can’t nurse at all, women who need to work full time to feed their families, women with tubular breasts, or no milk ducts, women who become pregnant before their baby is a year old, adoptive mothers, adoptive fathers, fathers with no partners… Breastfeeding education is important, and it’s important that as many women as possible breastfeed all they can, for many, many reasons. But you will never, and should never, achieve 100% breastfeeding. It’s a statistical impossibility. Given that, research like this is very important to let us know how close our formula is to breastmilk and how it’s falling short so we can improve it for those babies who need it.
All of this is true. I nursed for a year, which necessitated daily pumping as well, and probably the last thing on my mind was whether or not my daughter would be smarter. Probably my main concern was that she would be healthier. Your immune system doesn’t just protect you from colds…it protects you from all kinds of things, including cancer. IMO, anything you can do to make sure it is working in top condition is worth every effort. I probably wouldn’t care if it made her LOSE a few IQ points!
WhyNot, that was an excellent post, and I completely agree with you that developing the best possible formula should be a priority! Even many of us who nursed need to sometimes supplement with formula, and it is important to be sure that it is as healthful & close to breastmilk as we can get it.
Thanks. I’ll admit, fifteen years ago, I was in the other camp. LLL would have been proud of me. Then I had my son, and only managed to breastfeed him for four months, and then only partially, because of recurrant thrush and yeast infections. Over the years, I decided I was just too young and didn’t try hard enough, and I was determined to do “better” for my daughter. Then she was born four months early, and even with 10 times the recommended dose of Domperidone, 3 times the recommended dose of Fenugreek, and Milk Thistle and blessed thistle and nettles and motherwort and a half dozen other herbs (I am, after all, an herbalist) and pumping every two hours, 'round the clock, and I only managed to make about 8 ounces of milk a day. I finally got it up to 12 ounces by stopping the overnight pumping, but that was the maximum, no matter what I did. When the baby was finally ready to try nursing, she wouldn’t latch, even with a board certified lactation consultant. When she finally latched (two months later), she got lethargic and cried all the time and lost 2 ounces in one month (while growing 2 inches), because there wasn’t enough milk.
I am convinced I did absolutely everything possible, and it just didn’t work. I will bitchslap anyone who tries to tell me I didn’t try hard enough or care enough about the benefits of breastfeeding or the health of my baby. (And, to be fair to LLL, I found their local chapter very supportive when I told them what was going on.) I pumped for 14 months, and still had to provide half her feedings with formula. And you know what? I’m damn glad there’s a pretty good formula out there. Is it as good as breastmilk? Nope. But it’s a hell of a lot better than the recipes in my grandmother’s cookbook (“Take 1 can condensed milk, 1 Tablespoon Karo corn syrup…”) and it got that way because of scientific studies like this - even the ones whose results aren’t what I would expect.
Yep, breast is best. But formula is not rat poison.
Thanks for letting me vent.
[shameless hijack] WhyNot - I took blessed thistle and fenugreek (both together and separately) to try to boost my milk supply, and I think it worked. Then my doctor gave me a BIG lecture about how potentially harmful it was to my baby, and who cares what Dr Jack Newman (a big b/f expert in Canada) and a kazillion other sources say about it being okay. So I freaked out and stopped taking them, and my supply dropped. I insisted he give me a prescription for domperidone but he did not give me an adequate dosage, saying that it hadn’t been proven to not be harmful to babies either. My baby is now almost 1, and she nurses maybe once a day, getting formula and solids the rest of the time. I pump 2-3 times a day, but I’m not getting much that way anymore either. She’s not a big eater, so we are relying on formula more than I would like to. Do you think I should give the blessed thistle and fenugreek another try? Or go back to my doc and insist on another domperidone prescription, with a higher dosage and refills? I’m not asking for medical advice, just your opinion, because I need some ammo here. [/sh]
Wow, WhyNot; you write powerfully. I can imagine what a difficult experience that was for you.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I thought that most of the immune system benefits to breastfeeding applied to the first three months.
Personally, I’m delighted to see this study; I’ve felt a lot of guilt over giving my twins formula. Yes, there ARE twin mommies who manage to tandem nurse; I wasn’t one of them. Although I did give my kids some pumped breastmilk in their first days, I soon needed Paxil for severe PPD and was absolutely terrified of passing it to them (even though there aren’t any studies demonstrating that it’s harmful).
I also suspect, and have no proof of this but it’s just a hunch, that one of the biggest benefits of breastfeeding is that it facilitates responsiveness. When my babies cried, I spouted milk - so I figured this means “crying infant = feed it” **, and that’s how we used formula. Even if they only took an ounce, we always responded, and we never tried to make them finish a bottle just b/c we happened to prepare more than they wanted. Twin moms are often advised to get their babies on a schedule (the hospital nurses lectured my husband on it extensively), with the idea being that it’s easier because the day is predictable. But then I’d have to know what my kids needed, better than they did themselves - what a burden! Much easier to trust their instincts (given that they were growing at a healthy rate).
** Yes, it is important to gradually change that tactic over time, and not stuff a toddler’s face every time s/he cries.
WhyNot, I can totally understand what you went through. I did not have nearly as many problems, my baby was born at term & healthy, but I had a bitch of a time getting her to eat at first, and had to pump & bottle-feed her, terrified the whole time that she would get nipple-confused and never learn to nurse (LLL is helpful, but they do tend to strike fear about this kind of thing…and once she caught on to nursing, I never had trouble switching her back & forth to the bottle…so much for the “experts!”) I ended up supplementing her with formula by the time she was 6 months old, because her weight gain was very slow, (she was dipping below the 5th percentile), and because I was having trouble pumping enough. I kept pumping as much as possible until she was a year old, but I don’t feel the least bit guilty about that formula usage, and I am grateful that we have technology that can help.
My main point in my earlier post is that discovering that one of the benefits of breastfeeding might not be all we though it was is no reason to give up on it lightly!
I have not seen any evidence that either blessed thistle or fenugreek (or Domperidone) are harmful to babies. HOWEVER, your doctor is correct that they have not been extensively tested. The herbs haven’t been tested because there’s no one willing to pay for the studies; you can’t make a lot of money on an unpatentable product. Domperidone hasn’t been tested because its manufacturer isn’t willing to pay for the testing - frankly, I think they know they’re making plenty of money on it as a lactation aid as it is and could only lose out if their testing isn’t as good as their hype.
Blessed thistle wouldn’t be my first choice unless it was in a blend with other stuff - it’s just not a great galactagogue on its own. What it does do well is stimulate the appetite of a new mom who’s run down and not eating enough to make good milk. Fenugreek has a very long history of being used to increase milk production, and it’s pretty good at it, most of the time.
Now, I personally feel pretty confident using traditional herbal preparations in the traditionally prepared manner, and this includes blessed thistle tea and fenugreek tea, seeds or capsules. My feeling is that if they were, in fact, dangerous, this would have been noticed at sometime in the past 1000 years that people have been using them. Now, sometimes this theory prooves false, especially when herbs are combined with modern medicines. But, most of the time, I will accept a long history of traditional use as an indication of safety, when double-blind placebo controlled trials are not available. Not everyone does - you have to make up your own mind about that. (Note: if you start radically changing the plant part or processing - say, acetone based extraction of kava leaf, when the traditional processing is water based extraction of the root - then all bets are off. Changing the way you process something changes the final product, and just because it came from the same plant doesn’t mean it’s the same medicine.)
For what it’s worth, my dad is a Pharm D. specializing in NICU care, and he could find no theoretical reason why Domperidone would be harmful to a nursing baby. Reglan, another anti-reflux drug that can increase breastmilk, is actually a common treatment for GURD in micropreemies, so you might see if your doctor is more ammenable to that one. (It’s main side-effect, unfortunately, is depression, which contraindicated it in my case, given my history of depression.)
The thing is, at nearing a year, it might be too late to get your daughter to nurse more just from a behavioral standpoint. 12 months is often when babies start to wean naturally in our culture, and to cut down their nursing dramatically in all cultures. Not only do they start to like food more, but they start to run and walk, and a bottle or a handful of Cheerios moves with them, which they like. Toddlers often don’t want to stop what they’re doing and nurse, and if you don’t have a strong pattern of regular nursing established, it may be too late. If I were in your shoes, I’d concentrate on feeding her a wider variety of foods that might interest her - like avacadoes, salmon and tuna for their fantastic fatty acids and plain whole milk yogurt and cheeses for their calcium and magnesium.
*Standard Disclaimer: Nothing in this post is intended to diagnose, treat or prevent any disease. I am not your herbalist. Herbalists are not licensed professionals in my state. For all you know, I took a weekend workshop on flower arranging and call myself an herbalist. *
jumps down off the soap box
I don’t know about thistle but fenugreek is a common ingredient in Indian food. If it were unhealthy for babies I should be good and dead by now because my mother dumps the leaves and seeds in everything.
In what form were you guys taking fenugreek? As a pill or something? You can buy boxes and boxes of it at any Indian store. I’ve been imbibing half these herbs people are just figuring out have important medicinal properties since…well, birth.
Sorry, maybe if this is some sort of herbal potion I’d be suspicious too-not of the fenugreek but of whatever else they were adding. I’m just surprised your doctor didn’t recognise such a common food flavouring as fenugreek.
Yeah, exactly. It’d be like discovering ginger is good for upset stomachs or someth—hey, wait a minute! (One of my favorite herb classes to teach is called “Stealth Health: The Medicine Chest in Your Kitchen, or, How to get your kids and husband to take their herbs without complaints!” It’s all about culinary herbs and spices used in medicinal ways.)
The most common form of fenugreek for lactating women is capsules, which is just ground up seed stuffed in a gelatin or vegetarian capsule. It’s also available as a tea, which I don’t think is as good (they tend to sneak leaves and stems in there, as well as the medicinal seeds). Some places sell the seeds whole in the spice aisle, but you have to eat several spoonfulls, ideally chewing them or grinding them first and not everyone’s willing to do that. We likey our pills and capsules.
Why Not,I am most assuredly not trying to bash formula feeding - there are many reasons why formula can be necessary, which unfortunately includes the many, many mothers who need formula because they don’t have the information and support they need to learn to breastfeed, and lose their milk as a result, as well as the ones that you mentioned (although I don’t consider working full time, in and of itself, a barrier- I certainly managed).
I just don’t like to see the implication that formula should be anything other than a second choice product available to women who cannot nurse their babies. I am fond of the idea of formula as “medicine”- lifesaving and necessary in many cases, but not the norm. And there should be no shame in using a medicine when needed, but a great deal of shame for a society(and not the individuals) that overprescribes and causes dependence.
I agree that the best possible formula is in the world’s best interest. I just chringe at what the marketing will be like.
And fessie all of the immune factors in breast milk are still there the whole time. While the child’s immune system begins to make some of their own at 3 months, the mother’s immunities continue to protect the child as long as the nursing relationship continues.