I hope the 10% are the ones who would smoke, drink, or do drugs while nursing a baby.
I think it would be good for adults too
There should be a federal tax on baby formula just as there are now federal taxes on medical devices. That’ll fix the problem.
just think how many babies would be saved if they weren’t killed in the womb before they even have a chance at latching onto a nipple
How many lives not could but WOULD be saved if we outlawed abortions. Apparently, that doesn’t bother health folks at...in fact, they like the after-pill.
I understand the statistics involved, but conclusions like “900 lives per year” still seem squirrelly to me.
It’s not easy to breastfeed a baby exclusively to six months. Most of them want some food, especially if they have teeth! I’ve had only one of nine exclusively nursing at 6 months, and he just wasn’t hungry until he was nearly 8 years old and noticed that two younger brother were bigger than he.
I would suggest that instead of pushing exclusive breastfeeding until six months, they should concentrate on promoting extended breastfeeding. Nursing a child from one to two years old is easy, usually - you nurse when he gets up in the morning, before his nap, and before bed. Maybe in the afternoon when you’re all bored and watching the “Hercules” reruns.
My wife breast fed all of ours. We even had an argument about it before we had kids. I said something to the effect that I could never imagine not doing something as natural as breast feeding when it is shown to be so good for the development of children.
What was interesting was that as they neared the 6 month mark they could go 10 days without making a poopy. When I told the doctor, she said that breast milk is the ideal baby food, they can digest it almost completely with no waste. This is how you know that their digestive system is ready for other things.
I've had 3 grandchildren in the past 3 years or so, and I've got to tell you that those Lactation Nurses in the hospitals -- and it was 3 different hospitals in different cities -- are some kind of emphatically nuts. One baby did not want to nurse, nothing wrong with the baby, he just didn't want the breast, and that lactation witch made my DIL feel like a failure as a woman and a mother before she had been a mother for 2 days.
If a mother wants to breast feed and the baby agrees ... fine and dandy. But to push this like they do these days, acting like the world will come to an end if you don't breastfeed the infant, is damaging and wrong. The baby formulas these days are very good and, while not offering the immunities that mothers' milk might, they will grow a youngin' just fine.
Even LIFE Magazine thought it was so cool they ran a full page picture of it--a whole line of women sitting in a factory-like setting, expressing milk into little beakers.
I think breast feeding is fine but way beyond where any damn busybodies have a right to tell people what they "should" do.
I myself was breast-fed. That may explain how I became the infatuating individual that I am today. /humor
God’ perfect food in the perfect package.
Those would be non-aborted babies, I presume.
I can’t help wondering, based on my own experience, how many lives would be save if every parent wiped the baby’s ears out with Tea Tree Oil twice a week. What else do babies die from, other than antibiotic allergy, and how would breastfeeding vs. formula feeding, as opposed to other changes, affect those deaths?
Just make sure they all do it out of view of anyone else!!
Meals on Wheels :-)...I wouldn’t have done it any other way!
I was one of the 12% Both of my girls breastfed till 12 months. Never bought formula. My Pediatrician made a remark once that “we never see you here” LOL....
And some of us just don’t produce enough to keep the kid happy.
Tried 4 times. Thank goodness for similac!!!
A couple of points-
1) When moms do not breastfeed, you and I end up paying the price in terms of higher costs for health insurance. Babies who are formula fed end up making more trips to the doctor than those who are breastfed (not to mention the medical costs associated with the long-term negative helth effects of formula).
2) I have come across so many people who will say “my child was formula fed and is fine.” That may be true. There are also people who smoke, drink, overeat, and frequent tanning beds that are fine. Research has firmly established that breastfed babies are healthier than formula fed babies, so while your child may be the exception, it is certainly not the rule.
3) I have not come across too many breastfeeding “nazis.” But I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a nurse or lactation consultant talking to a new mother and clearly explaining the benefits of breastmilk and the drawbacks of formula. Even at the risk of making some new mothers feel bad for choosing formula, it is worth it to educate those who are ignorant of the benefits of breastmilk. I understand that there are those who medically cannot breastfeed and would never want to make one of those moms feel guilty. What gets me is those who just “choose not to” or are frankly too lazy or unwilling to give up their freedom (yes, breastfeeding takes a LOT of work and you will be glued to your baby for close to a year).
I breastfed my first for 27 months and am breastfeeding my second now. The little one is 10 months. I hope to breastfeed at least through next winter to help get through cold/flu/H1N1/RSV season.