Posted on 07/13/2002 3:54:14 AM PDT by chance33_98
Moms Ignoring Breast-Feeding Advice
By Randy Dotinga HealthScoutNews Reporter
July 9, 2002 5:37 PM
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FRIDAY, June 28 (HealthScoutNews) -- The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that mothers breast-feed their babies exclusively for the first six months of life. However, many women ignore the advice, and a new study finds that poor women are more likely turn to formula early than better-educated and richer women.
The findings may sound counterintuitive -- poor women are more likely to choose formula, even though it isn't free -- but they do accurately reflect trends of the last several decades, says Dr. Ruth A. Lawrence, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Rochester.
-----snip
Nearly half of women reported exclusively breast-feeding their babies during the first few months after birth, but 90 percent turned to other sources of food at six months.
Breast-feeding rates were especially low among black women and poor women. A study published last year in the journal Pediatrics found black women are much less likely to breast-feed than white women.
However, three groups of women were more likely to breast-feed exclusively in the first few months of the lives of their babies: those who graduated from college (82 percent), those from a family with a head of household who graduated from college (80 percent), and those with an income well above the poverty level (75 percent). However, even most of those women failed to continue breast-feeding exclusively until their babies were six months old.
-----snip The discrepancy "could be deeply rooted in a culture of belief that mothers cannot provide sufficient nutrition to their babies," she adds.
The popularity of breast-feeding has swung up and down since infant formula was introduced about 70 years ago, Lawrence says.
"The well-educated woman led the march to the bottle, and we saw the first beginning dips in breast-feeding," Lawrence says, as poorer women continued to breast-feed.
However, the situation reversed a few decades later, as the well-educated women began to learn about the benefits of breast-feeding. "They suddenly realized they'd made a mistake," she says. "They realized that [formula-feeding] wasn't the best thing, and they ought to be doing the best thing."
Poorer women, meanwhile, jumped on the formula bandwagon, she says. However, breast-feeding remains "perfect nutrition," she says. "It's specifically engineered for the human infant."
To compare at Sam's club a 3 lb can of formula costs 30 dollars, so that would 13 cans or 39 lbs of Formula.
I think it's got a lot to do with WIC. When a welfare woman sits home all day she has time to breastfeed, "rich" women are having to bring breast pumps to work and go through a lot of inconvenience.
The poor women have to go back to work ASAP-or risk losing their jobs.This means bottle-feeding.It has nothing to do with "commitment", as most of these folks would prefer to stay home with their babies.
Those who don't have to go back to work can afford to look down their noses and make snide remarks about "commitment"- but a lot of these " superior mothers " find themselves wishing for the opportunity to be something besides homemakers once the novelty ( and public adulation ? ) of motherhood wears off.
Many have kids to get the government freebies too. I've lived near a lot of poor and I know some do that ---they even space their children so they can receive WIC and other welfare forever. If WIC quit giving out so much formula, you would see more breastfeeding among the poor. Same with food stamps --if they were restricted to real food ---beans, rice, vegetable and couldn't be used to buy cookies, sodas, candy, cakes, pastries etc you'd see a decline in obesity.
You know, I hear this from time to time, and for me, it isn't true at all. My kids have never had bottles, so there is never anything to retrieve, mix, shake, heat, cool, clean-up, etc. I just pick up the baby and go when I have to leave the house. I look forward to nursing the baby, because that is my opportunity to sit down and relax. Because both hands are free, I can even enjoy some bonus time on FR; like I am right now. :)
I've never had any luck with the jarred foods, either. I use fresh fruits and veggies (steam the veggies well) then purée them in the food processor. Then, I freeze the purée in ice cube trays, and store the frozen cubes in ziplock baggies in the freezer. One cube or two thawed at a time is a serving. It's easy, economical, and my babies ate their first solids well this way.
P. J. O'Rourke, call your office!
That child needs to be yanked away from that mother YESTERDAY!
Generic Formula purchased from Albertsons on sale is about $13.99 for the same size can as the ones at Sam's Club and Costco. I took this into my pediatrician's dietician who said it was just fine and it includes an enzyme that has been found to be an important part of breast milk (Similac etc.. do not have this enzyme.. I am not sure about Sam's Club etc...)
TO all of the breastfeeding enthusiasts out there... Yes, I have to work. But even for the first few months when I was on leave it was horrible. We went to the lactation specialist every day for a week. My 9 lb. 13 oz. baby was losing weight and becoming SO FRUSTRATED with nursing that they had my husband hold him up to the breast and latch him on. If not, he would turn away from me and cry.
I tried the nipple shields, the supplemental feeding tube that you hang down your breast so that the child can get something to eat while still getting the "bonding" part of breast-feeding. So.. I pumped, and pumped and pumped. This includes feeding your child for 20-30 minutes per feeding and then pumping for another 20-30 minutes at least! There is no..."sleeping between mom and dad" and just rolling over when the child is hungry! We live in Washington. This is "Le Leche central". If you don't breast feed your child you are really looked down upon! (not to mention hippy central where there is no discipline, are no rules and getting your child on some sort of feeding/sleeping routine is practically child abuse)
So... to all of the BREASTFEEDING enthusiasts out there, I absolutely think you are right in maintaining that breastfeeding is the best way to nourish your child. But let us stop short, please, of deciding that bottle-fed babies are not properly bonded. And also, try not to look down your noses TOO much at me when I am not whipping out the boob to feed my children. I am NOT lazy and you don't know the whole story just by "catching" me with a bottle!
FLAME AWAY!!
(ps.. perhaps I am just too dumb though, I never completed my college education and we don’t make that much money. Although, we do have a $250k house and own both of our cars.)
Cindi tried her hardest to breast feed Matthew in the hospital. Due to a severe RH incompatibility her peditrician ordered her to stop nursing. It about broke her heart not to be able to do so. Matthew had to have a blood tranfusion to correct his bili-rubin count and had to spend several days in Nic-U. Cindi had Matthew C section. Because I love my daughter-in-law, I spent 24/7 at the hospital with her and Matthew while my son, her husband worked.
Cindi never finished high school, has a GED and is a certified nurses aide. I'm proud of her for rising above an abusive drunken father to accomplish this.
She is a very caring mother, she puts Matthew's needs above her own. Never leaves him alone, when she went back to work she made sure he had a good loving older lady to watch him instead of just dumping him in daycare.
Cindi's abusive father always put her down as being worthless. I on the other hand never fail to praise her when she makes right decisions. And I don't critize her when she makes lesser ones. It is NOT my place to critize how she parents unless she were to put Matthew in danger. And considering how much she loves him, I seriously doubt she would do that.
I love my daughter-in-law she is like the daughter the Lord didn't bless me with.
Sorry you misunderstood what I wrote.
My gripe is with the high sugared formula, not wonderful my daughter-in-law.
As an L&D nurse, let me tell you, most of our WIC moms aren't returning to the workforce, they weren't in it to begin with. (No, that's not all of them, I was on WIC with my firstborn.) When I ask why they are choosing to bottle-feed, most have no true reason. With a little time and information, at least half change their choice before my shift ends. How sad that in the 7-8 MONTHS of prenatal visits they do not receive this info.
Most people do NOT realize that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastmilk for infants for the first year and rates it AS IMPORTANT as the decision to seek prenatal care, provide immunizations, and using car seats. The AD Council is trying to put out a campaign that will open some eyes, but the formula companies are trying to stop it. Formula companies provide instruction and posh conferences to physicians and hospital personel that encourages the use of their products (big surprise, huh?).
Free magazine ads and daytime TV commercials promote the use of artificial formulas as an appropriate and equally nutritious choice. Unfortunately, this is often the most influential information many of these women receive. Hopefully, someday, America can join the rest of the world in educating it's citizens.
The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative ( BFHI ), launched in 1991, is an effort by UNICEF and the World Health Organization to ensure that all maternities,whether free standing or in a hospital, become centers of breastfeeding support. There are over 15,000 institutions in the world, but just over 20 are here in the US, you know "the best nation in the world". Funny how in countries all over Africa (which is one of the first places one thinks of when talking of "impoverishe") there are over 1400 institutions. Sounds like the US is just backwards to me!
I don't remember being put on a breastfeeding ping.
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