UPDATE: The ABA counsellor at the centre of the “formula is a little bit like AIDS” controversy has refused to back down insisting that babies on formula are at serious risk of death.
When we ran this story yesterday, a number of readers accused Sunday Mail journalist David Murray and Mamamia of deliberately misquoting the Australian Breastfeeding Association counsellor who had been accused of telling classes that “baby formula is a little bit like AIDS”.
We can now reveal investigative journalist David Murray spoke to the counsellor (who has allegedly now been stood down). You’ll see for yourselves that the woman in question is far from apologetic for her remarks and insteadrefused to back down.
In a story entitled “Counsellor won’t budge on formula”, The Courier Mail reported:
Doctors blasted the counsellor for “wrong” and inappropriate comments in a breastfeeding education class at the association’s Brisbane office. But the defiant counsellor maintains mothers must be told they are putting babies at risk if they use formula.
“To me babies are important and one death is too many if it can be prevented,” she told The Courier-Mail.
“When we promote breastfeeding you are saving babies’ lives. Every negative word you say about breastfeeding you are condemning babies to death.”
The stance raises questions about the level of training, supervision and control the association has over its counsellors.
The association has received millions of dollars in federal and state government funding and its patron is the Governor-General, Quentin Bryce.
Association president Rachel Fuller said on Friday the statements in the breastfeeding class “in no way represent” the body’s views and she was “following this matter up internally today”.
But when The Courier-Mail spoke to the counsellor late on Saturday, she had received only a brief call warning there “might be a bit of publicity”.
She said she probably would not refer to AIDS again but would instead tell mums that premature babies were dying because the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital lacked a milkbank.
“There is no point in me telling them there is not a death rate, that it’s not a serious thing to formula feed,” said the counsellor, who took 900 calls to the association’s breastfeeding helpline in 2010.
During the class earlier this month she told couples: “AIDS destroys your immune system and then you just die of anything and that’s what happens with formula. It provides no antibodies.
“Every 30 seconds a baby dies from infections due to a lack of breastfeeding.”
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Are there significant benefits in breastfeeding. Yes. One hundred times yes. There is no question. But it is vital that ABA counsellors are educated in evidence-based only facts and statistics, rather than being permitted to engage in propaganda and scaremongering.
The ABA website talks of breastfeeding increasing a baby’s resistence to infection and disease and we have no doubt that is true. But we think it’s time these sweeping statements were qualified. By how much? Does breastfeeding mean your baby is 50% less likely to get an infection? 70% less likely? 5% less likely?
The claims about allergies and higher IQs also need to be qualified. It is time parents were given the full picture so they can truly weigh up the pros and cons of breastfeeding and make the best decision possible for their child.
As Murray points out, this issue raises a red flag to the ongoing supervision, training and knowledge of the volunteers permitted to educate the general public. And if that is too much to expect of a volunteer organisation – that its volunteers are able to convey the benefits of breastfeeding without resorting to myths and exaggerations - then perhaps more questions need to be asked. — Mamamia
If you didn’t read yesterday’s papers, get ready to have your jaw hit the floor.
Yesterday the Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA) were accused of using ‘scaremongering’ tactics following revelations one of their most popular counsellors told a class that, “Baby formula is a little bit like AIDS’ and that a baby dies ‘every 30 seconds” from formula feeding.
Following a tip-off from a concerned expectant parent who had attended an ABA class, News Limited investigative journalist David Murray sent an undercover reporter to a class by the counsellor in question to witness the comments first hand.
EXPECTANT mums and their partners were told baby formula was “like AIDS” during an Australian Breastfeeding Association class.
Couples were also repeatedly told a baby died “every 30 seconds” from formula feeding, prompting a rebuke from doctors.
“Formula is a little bit like AIDS,” one of the association’s leading counsellors told couples in the breastfeeding education class.
“Nobody actually dies from AIDS; what happens is AIDS destroys your immune system and then you just die of anything and that’s what happens with formula. It provides no antibodies.
“Every 30 seconds a baby dies from infections due to a lack of breastfeeding and the use of bottles, artificial milks and other risky products. Every 30 seconds.”
The association has received $4.3 million from the Federal Government during the past five years and its patron is Governor-General Quentin Bryce.
The counsellor is commended in the ABA’s latest annual report for taking the highest number of calls to the body’s taxpayer-subsidised National Breastfeeding Helpline.
Other documents show she helped more than 900 callers in 2010 and was honoured at a branch conference last year.
The Royal Australasian College of Physicians said the baby mortality cited was “certainly not true in Australia” and could be “highly frightening” for new parents.
This post isn’t designed to demonize the ABA. They are a volunteer organisation who are a much-needed and valued resource for families. And they have a large number of warm, supportive, compassionate volunteers.
However.
As an organisation that has received millions of dollars in government funding this story is about calling them to account.The training and supervision of their volunteers needs to be investigated. And it should go without saying that volunteers should be steeped in pro-breastfeeding facts that are evidence-based ONLY.
As an organisation who have and who can do so much good for women, it is time to acknowledge that there is a fanatical, zealous undercurrent to the ABA that is disturbing. And it is undermining all the good they do.
Frightening vulnerable parents into breastfeeding by using blatant lies and propoganda; intimating that formula is akin to AIDS and that babies are dying every thirty seconds is nothing short of a disgrace.
Because for every woman who is nurtured and encouraged and praised for exclusively breastfeeding, there are others, too many others, who are left humiliated, intimidated and ignored – yet whom are seen merely as collateral damage.
Well, sorry but that’s just not good enough.
What is without doubt is the fact the ABA counsellor in question is not alone. We know from past posts on Mamamia (which you can read here and here) that there are many more stories of ABA counsellors who are discrediting the name of the ABA and doing the organisation damage [update: according to the ABA, the counsellor in the story above has been stood down pending an investigation].
We have no doubt the ABA will read this post today. And what we want is for you to share your stories – both good and bad – about your experiences. They need to know the truth about the propaganda that is being spread and the unacceptable behaviour of some of their volunteers. But equally this is an opportunity to show the good that is done by those counsellors who have shown great empathy and compassion when dealing with you and your breastfeeding issues.
Over to you.
Comments
645 Comments so far
It seems information about Breastfeeding is just like the catholic church.. full of absolute bullsh*t. I turned out great (25 years old) and my baby Millie is doing beautifully well. Oh dear… these people need their heads pulled in.
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Admittedly, those comments by the ABA counsellor are unhelpful. But most ABA counsellors are incredibly helpful, lovely women doing their job for no financial remuneration – give the organisation a break (Cantor!)
What needs to be discussed here is NOT the question of why individual mums do/don’t/can/can’t breastfeed, but what the wider Australian community can do to help.
We do know breastfeeding is better (Cantor and Chanteron, you’ve been led down the garden path) but that information doesn’t help mothers breastfeed. As a breastfeeding mother who has succeeded (my son is 16 months and we’re still going) but also struggled (I had many episodes where breastfeeding was difficult) I get really frustrated with the common misconception that ‘information’ and ‘advice’ is the same as support.
We (Australian mothers as a group – let’s band together, ladies!) know breastfeeding is better, but we’re not breastfeeding – and that’s not really our fault. Something systemic is going on here. So I wish that we, collectively, could take the pressure off exhausted, stressed mums and take some time to work our who/what else, behind the scenes, is making it hard for us to establish or continue breastfeeding.
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“Are there significant benefits in breastfeeding. Yes. One hundred times yes. There is no question.”
NO QUESTION ??? OF COURSE THIS SHOULD BE PUT INTO QUESTION!
No, the benefits of breastfeeding are NOT significant, they are in fact, quite minor.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/04/the-case-against-breast-feeding/307311/
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That loooong article cites only three studies directly that say that breastfeeding may not have such significant long-term benefits. There are hundreds of studies on breast-feeding – and that article cites three. It’s hardly overwhelming scientific evidence. And besides, “significant”, in this sense, is highly subjective – a bout of diarrhoea leading to hospitalisation may not be considered severe in terms of life, but it’s significant to the mother and child. There is significant immunity passed on via breastmilk, and a lot of that has yet to be understood. We cannot come close to mimicking a formula which changes daily for every baby, as s/he grows and ages, as s/he comes up against different illnesses.
Referring to a media article which cites three studies is not proof – one cannot examine the methods, the sample sizes, or the reasonableness of a conclusion, and one can certainly not come to an absolute position based on three studies.
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“babies on formula are at serious risk of death.”
That is a BIG LIE. Those associations DELIBERATELY manipulate information. NEVER trust them.
This is ideologic lobbying…
There is absolutely no problem with formula. Bfeeding can only offer minor benefits, that is why most breastfed babies are just as sick as formula fed babies…
On the other had, bfeeding issues can harm the mother/child relationship (mastitis, pain, sleep deprivation)…of course LLL and co would never admit it…
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God this stuff annoys me: I had a perfectly healthy baby with a severe tongue tie. The midwives missed it, the paediatricians missed it and I was a scared new mum who couldn’t feed her baby. I left the hospital not knowing how to breast feed and was told to ‘comp feed’ with formula while I expressed. I expressed for weeks, used nipple shields, cold compresses, creams, everything available. I would express and sometimes get nothing, sometimes get lots – not enough to feed a growing infant. I didnt sleep for months trying to rack my brain as to why I was failing as a mother and couldn’t feed my new born daughter. I went to lactation consultants numerous times for help, they all agreed my daughter could not latch properly but no solutions were given. Eventually the tongue tie was found by a public health nurse months later and my baby was scheduled in that day for a correction. I was in a lot of pain and was incredibly stressed out. My daughter still wouldn’t feed from me even with the correction and all I was left with was formula. Two and a half years on, my daughter is incredibly bright and is speaking in 3 languages. Counts to 30 and can have an actual conversation. Much more bright than some breast fed babies i know. She is hardly ever sick, does not have asthma or any skin problems. She is smart, healthy and happy. Sick of people making out that formula feeding mums are doing the wrong thing when some of us never had a choice. If I had another I would try breast feeding again but wouldn’t hesitate putting another child on the bottle if it all went south again. I desperately wanted to feed my daughter, but I couldn’t. Does that make me a bad mother? Don’t think so. The best thing for a baby is a full tummy and a happy mum!
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Guest above, what a wonderful mother you are. You, like many mothers, do the very best they can for their children. Why would anyone think that you were a ‘bad’ mother? When it comes to formula feeding or breastfeeding or breastmilk feeding, or a mixture of both, it’s really not about good mother/ bad mother. What is comes down to, is mothers being able to receive support and unconditional positive regard.
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Why is this an issue? I was fully breastfed yet I have asthma and excema, however my siblings don’t. Both my son and nephew have excema, my son was formula fed and my nephew was breastfed until he was past two. Explain that to me.
And as for breastfeeding ‘volunteers’ – I’m sorry but I’d prefer to pay someone who actually knows what they are talking about. All the volunteers I encountered, and they were MANY, were unhelpful. The only real help I received was from professionals who took my medicare card, put me on a program and followed up with me. I didn’t suffer mastitis, there were no latching issues, no bleeding, no bruising – however, there was also no milk. Simple as that, there is a medical reason however no point saying it as I’ll only get what I got from the volunteers – ‘You didn’t try hard enough’.
I have one thing to thank the ABA for – giving me a thicker skin.
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It’s about risks. If we are not breastfed this doesn’t mean for certain that we will end up with X, Y or Z, it just means that there is an increased risk (and vice versa).
Independent quality assurance tests demonstrate overwhelming satisfaction with ABA volunteers. They receive excellent, in-depth training (at least 400 hours of breastfeeding education) and end up with a Cert. IV in breastfeeding education and have breastfed at least one child for at least 6 months.
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I don’t care how well they performed in a satisfaction survey (which is probably almost overwhelmingly completed by the faithful followers anyway) – the ABA didn’t give me anything useful other than a complex about my failure to breast feed.
I spent ten months expressing breast milk for a prem baby who couldn’t suck at first and then couldn’t be convinced to give up the instant satisfaction of a bottle for the work of a breast feed.
In hindsight, I’d have been better off formula feeding. I would have had more sleep, and more enjoyment of my baby, rather than constant trying to live up to the ideal of the ABA counsellor and the ABA mothers group. And despite the fact that I was bottle feeding breast milk, I was asked to leave an ABA function by one of their officials because bottle feeding was “contrary to our practices”.
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Caroline, If you spent 10 months expressing for your premmie baby, you are a heroine. What a gift you have given your baby. In all the ABA circles I have been in for more years then I care to remember you would have been supported 100 percent.
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Absolutely agree Katie. Ten months expressing for a premmie is worthy of a goal medal – an incredible effort! From my experience in ABA circles, you would have been supported 100%. Also from my experience in ABA circles, any one who is bottle feeding a baby (no matter what is in that bottle) would have also been supported 100% at any ABA function.
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Oh this breast feeding issue..it does my head in. I personally was like Jasmine, great with the first and ‘failed’ w the second, and he’s my healthiest!!! But I work in health, and meet many midwives. I also see many jaundice babies admitted to SCU/NICU’s because even after advice from Paed’s, parents will not top up. Personal choice-I accept that, but what do you do when you are hungry, when its midnight and you have the munchies? You go to the pantry, you call a pizza, you jump in the car and go to Maca’s, you make some toast. Now, what does baby do, they cry but the pantry is bare, and you refuse to top up feed? Why can you have pizza and your baby not! Can formula kill, obviously according to the below. But what were the other contributing factors. But so can starvation ( even for the shortest time) which can trigger other bodily reactions and make for one grumpy baby, thus one tired and grumpy mum! People, common sense please. I was raised on condensed milk and have no illnesses, and my older brother was cow’s milk from birth. Or is that why I failed at breast feeding??!!!! As an old midwife once said to me…’line ‘em all up at the school gate and you tell me who was boob and who was bottle’.
Just feed them, and they will grow up…to drain your pockets of money, to hog the telly, to pinch your car and never move out and you will love ‘em!!!!
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In the end, it’s really about parents making their on informed decisions. Informed decisions come from parents being made aware of all the evidence-based information, being provided with options, and the pros and cons. There are risks associated with giving a baby any artificial milk – these risks need to be weighed up against all the presenting set of circumstances.
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Come on everybody, the vast majority of mothers want to do the very best for their babies. We all know the benefits of breastfeeding and we all know that sometimes for whatever reason that its nigh on impossible to do for some mothers. I breastfed my first baby for 12 months without a problem. All good. When my son came along the breastfeeding very unexpectedly became a huge issue. He had a tounge tie (which we had fixed) and a smallish mouth which just meant that it never got off to a good start. I expressed round the clock 3 hourly but this became a nightmare with a 2 and a half year old to look after who had dropped her daytime sleep. Needless to say, the first month of my sons life was frankly a nightmare and the decision to change to formula fairly easy in the end. And you know what? He is thriving! My partner and I were both formula fed – did not even have one lick of breast milk and we both went to university and have good jobs.
I am not saying that we shouldnt pursue breastfeeding research to the nth degree – as Robin Barker has stated, not only does that help the breastfeeders but also the formula companies to update their recipes. But the ABA must take responsibility for their volunteers. I vividly remember ringing the helpline with my first baby after she had started biting me. The volunteer suggested I smack her when she bit me. Smack a 5 month old baby. For gods sake.
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I would say that ABA does take great responsibility for their volunteers.
If anyone wishes to provide feedback/comments about ABA’s services, please notifity the ABA. https://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/contact
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This discussion brings out what breastfeeding discussions usually do – a battle of the zealots vs the rationalists.
it is important to realise the magnitude of the benefits that are conferred by breast milk – thay are much smaller than you would imagine from some of the emotive language here. Let’s take one of Dawny’s citations, for example:
Talayero, J. M. P., M. Lizan-Garcia, et al. (2006). “Full breastfeeding and hospitalization as a result of infections in the first year of life.” Pediatrics 118(1): e92-99.
This paper concludes by saying that extending the length of breast feeding could avoid a percentage of admissions for respiratory or gastrointestinal infections in the first year. But what were the numbers – how many of both groups actually had to go to hospital for infections? The answer is – hardly any – whether breast or formula fed. Amongst 1385 children, there were only 78 admissions. In other words, teh vast majority of children – whether breast or formula fed, had no serious infections. IN addition, the confounding factors – like smoking, older sibs and childcare attendance – had MORE of an influence than the type of milk they were fed.
That information is only gleaned from reading the actual data from the studies.
I am also suprised by Maureen Minchin’s comments. As a historian (not a healthc are provider), surely she must realise that “forumula” wasnot invented by multinational companies – there has always been a need for breast milk subsitutes – whether another mother, a goat, or a “formula” (recipe) for feeding a baby.
Comments about premature newborns and NEC (necrotising enterocolitis) also need clarifying. WHile this is one group where breast milk has a big impact on outcomes, it is the prematurity that predisposes the baby to the condition.
More light and less heat needed in this debate.
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The study that you quote from above (and that Dawny posted) also says: “After estimating the attributable risk, it was found that 30% of hospital admissions would have been avoided for each additional month of full breastfeeding. Seemingly, 100% of full breastfeeding among 4-month-old infants would avoid 56% of hospital admissions in infants who are younger than 1 year.” Is this not significant? I think it is very significant.
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Also, if there were 78 hospital admissions out of the 1385 sample, this means there was a hospital admission rate of 5-6% (5-6 babies out of every 100), and of those 5-6% artificially fed babies predominate. Remebering too that this is a 5-6% of hosptital admissions, many many more babies would have become sick with an infection but just not have been hospitalised because of it – if these figures were included, the results would have been even more significant.
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Formula feeding, not just prematurity, are risk factors for NEC. See http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22469959
Have you read the evidence about infant feeding and SIDS? For eg see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21669892
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Guest above – you may need to read the whole article – not just the brief abstract you linked to – to understand this area better. NEC is exceptionally rare in full-term infants without other abnormalities. We know that breast milk improves the outcomes for pre-term infants with NEC – that is without question, but is a small minority of babies.
As I keep on saying, there is a small benefit to breast feeding for otherwise normal full-term babies in our society – but it is much smaller than what many people realise or promote. The effects of the type of milk are outweighed by other factors such as smoking in the home, childcare attendance or other siblings in the house. It’s not ideology – it’s what the data shows. A 30% difference in a small number is still a small number.
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The links to the abstracts of those articles were put there for the convenience of others to read up on those topics. Reading the full article is even better and certainly provides further insight into the risks of artificial feeding.
Yes, NEC is a condition predominantly seen in premature infants. However, artificial feeding increases the risk of such an infant acquiring NEC. Breastmilk does not increase their risk of acquiring NEC.
Artificial feeding alters the gut of a baby, premature or full-term, and this can increase the risk of a range of conditions (gut and perhaps autoimmune).
We are talking about human babies! Surely any risk, whether large or small, is relevant. And when you look at ALL the risks of artificial feeding, of which there are many, it is very very very relevant – even for full term healthy infants in developed countries.
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For me breastfeeding was not an option I had no other choice than to use formula. When my baby was 2 weeks old I got sever mastitis and ended up in hospital for 8 days with a drip in my arm. Like every mother would I felt really guilty about the fact that my baby was not going to be breastfed. It wasn’t until a doctor told me that it was ok to use formula because my baby needed a healthy mother, that took the guilt away a little! My baby is now a healthy happy 10 month old!
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It sounds as though you had a really tough time in the beginning with your baby. Severe mastitis must have made you feel awfully unwell. For some mothers who develop severe mastitis, continuing to breastfeed or express is part of their treatment to reduce the milk stasis in their breast.
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My son did nearly die after recieving a formula feed. Fortunately, he didn’t. Just like many things in life, there is risk. I did not want him to recieve formula as he was already sick and vulnerable. If I may use an non-aids analogy! Driving a car holds risk, but we still do it. That’s ok. Driving a car under the influence, is unacceptable risk. We don’t always die, but we know it’s not acceptable. Obviously with formula your not putting other people at risk, but I hope you get my point. Giving sick and vulnerable babies formula exposes them to an unacceptable level of risk. Even one babies life is worth saving. Mia…What if it were yours? Would you risk it? really? would you?
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I had a nightmare breast feed experience but well worth the persistence..
One of my nipples bled with my first, everyone told me I was attached perfectly but I knew I wasn’t, resulting in me bleeding, needing to pump every 2-3 hours on a 24 hour clock to bring my milk in, resulting in 20ml only coming out. Not enough liquid gold, so had to top up with formula. Showers where agony, thank god for lanolin and the miracle of breast milk on my nipples to sooth me along the way. I was tired, cranky, first time mum, breast roaring with pain and sleep deprived. I couldn’t go on like this.. I called a lactation consultant into my house as a last attempt at breast feeding.. She had knitted a nipple and taught me how to position baby without pain..
Within the next 24-48 hrs, I was breast feeding pain free.. The milk flowed in the more I relaxed, baby was no longer on formula and I found myself breast feeding wherever I wanted.. I was in utopia.. Finally, the best my baby can get was coming from me.. I often hear Mum’s say I had to bottle feed because I didn’t have enough milk.. Neither did I and I had to work damn hard to get the best for my baby and succeeded.. Yes it is every women’s right to choose and that should never change because formula did have its place, I wasn’t going to let my baby starve while I figured it out.
With my second child, they wanted to transfer me to a boutique hotel because everything was going great. I turned it down and wanted a breast feeding consultant to come instead to make sure I had Ed attached properly. I didn’t want a repeat of what happened the first time and as nice as a boutique hotel sounded, my milk was my priority..
Its not rocket science, breast milk is best, antibodies are vital, especially if that is all the food they are going to need for at least the first 6 months. However, I have very close friends who bottle fed exclusively and they are very loving well adjusted people, so its very important not to liken these choices to aids.. I do get what she’s trying to say but a little too harsh..
So the moral of my story is try.. Don’t give up!!! The best things take work. Get help immediately.. Lactation consultants are here to help you achieve the best possible result for you and the baby so use them. If you don’t like her, ring another.. Don’t give up.. You won’t regret it!!!!
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I urge anyone reading this to keep scrolling down to read all of Maureen Minchin’s posts. She provides infant feeding information that all parents should be told.
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Mamamia writes above “The claims about allergies and higher IQs also need to be qualified. It is time parents were given the full picture so they can truly weigh up the pros and cons of breastfeeding and make the best decision possible for their child.” If anyone would like clarification on any of these things, please ask specific questions and I’ll provide specific answers.
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After following this story for the last few days, I have some very real concerns. These are my opinions, informed by my health professional and peer counsellor roles, but my opinions only.
The breastfeeding counsellor used a misguided analogy. The ABA recognised this and stood the counsellor down. However I believe that she was trying to explain that breastmilk helps develop babies’ immune systems, something that ABM does not do.
Mia, it concerns me that you tweeted that ABA counsellors seem to be giving unregulated, pseudo medical advice. This is a big call by you, since it is based on unproven allegations alone. If mothers are unhappy about any information that they receive from an ABA counsellor then they need to follow the complaints process. Only in this way, can counsellors’ training be updated and processes changed if necessary. Also the counsellor is given the courtesy of a right of reply. It seems to me that many of the complaints arise from misunderstandings. Eg. I remember reading that it was stated by one mother that a counsellor said that her baby suffering from a cold may have caused the mother’s mastitis, as if this was erroneous. It may have indeed been suggested to the mother as something to consider and discuss with her doctor . A baby could have had a secondary bacterial respiratory infection that could have been then transmitted to the mother’s breast if the mothers nipples were damaged. Brodribb W (Ed). Breastfeeding Management in Australia 2012 p168.
Surveys of the Helpline service has shown overwhelming satisfaction. If you are not happy and don’t agree, then let ABA know please, rather than bad mouthing a whole organisation.
Another concern is the misunderstanding by many about who ABA is and exactly what it does. It is not hospital midwives or MCHN’s or lactation consultants. It is a community based, self help group that runs support groups and trains peer volunteer counsellors to support mothers. All over the world it is recognised that peer support is vital for breastfeeding success. Please have a look at the website to find out more.
Part of a counsellors’ role is to refer to appropriate health professionals such as LC’s, MCHN’s and GP’s when a mother requires more help. Sometimes it is not evident that a mother requires this increased level of support with the first contact. Please ring again if what has been suggested is not working for you or if you feel you need more help.
It is also a real concern that some health professionals do not receive enough lactation education in their courses. Brodribb WE et al., have published extensively about the breastfeeding knowledge deficits of Australian doctors. This is particularly concerning, as many mothers rely on their GP’s for infant feeding information.
Another concern has been the level of condemnation this counsellor and ABA have received from some media and some members of the public. Some has been vile. Please people, no more Nazi allusions . The tabloid type headline to this blog is an example of this trial by media.
If a class participant was “shocked “ by what she heard in the class then she could have said so in the evaluation form or contacted the organisation directly. To go to the media and then for a journalist to go undercover to a breastfeeding class seems a complete overreaction to me. It is not a “Milk Wars” as the Courier Mail sensationally headlined. The way babies are fed is a societal and health issue and it is “journalism” like this that feeds conflict between mothers. It helps sell newspapers and increases hits on media sites but does nothing to further rational and civil discussion.
Another concern is that we are being asked to censor evidence based information because people are becoming so sensitive that they think it is a direct attack on them. ABA is not the only organisation in Australia to discuss the risks of formula feeding. Please see the Public Health Association of Australia website and look for their media release 1.8.12. Health promotion campaigns talk about risks all the time. Only when it comes to infant feeding do we talk about the “benefits” of what is the biological norm.
Breastfeeding support services do need to be improved in Australia. We also need more choice for mothers who are unable to breastfeed or provide breastmilk to their babies. This should mean increased availability of affordable and safe donor milk, especially for our premmie and sick babies . We also need far greater transparency from the ABM companies( why is NAN HA making babies sick? ) and a body where parents can obtain accurate independent information about ABM.
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Great post Katie.
Also Maureen below (owing to our different breastfeeding circumstances – as a health professional I do have to be pragmatic in order to help everyone – we may differ on some points Maureen but our aims have always been similar).
For more from me on this issue go to the ABC, The Drum, Monday morning.
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Hi Robin, I look forward to the Drum article. I am so glad that you and Maureen are speaking out.
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Well done Robin on such an eloquent depiction of the truth. Thank you! http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/4237794.html
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I would really be interested in Bec and Mia’s responses to Robin Barker’s article on The Drum and also Maureen Minchen’s posts below.
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Sue, If you share your email or postal address I shall be happy to send you a copy of my next book, Sacred Cows, when it is ready. There is a vast amount about infant development and human lactation and the origins of western disease epidemics that you seem ignorant of, and it will be interesting to see what you think after reading it. Women’s milk does much much more than hand on a bit of ‘passive immunity’. It modulates normal human development after birth in multiple ways. It has lifelong, intergenerational effects – just as infant formula does, only the effects are different: because genes will be expressed differently when different hormones and neurotransmitters and fatty acids and and and are present. The truest statement an infant formula company ever made was the claim on old Cow and Gate cans: “What you feed them now matters forever.” I am writing the book to deal precisely with the ignorance your contributions encapsulate so well, the myths created by 100 years of advertising and lack of rigorous independent regulation and testing by health professionals and governments. The burden of proof of safety and efficacy rests with those who are formula advocates by default because they don’t understand how profoundly qualitative dysnutrition can derange normal developmental processes.
As for asking for the name of a baby: I know several who might still be alive had they been breastfed, and so should every paediatrician who has worked in neonatal intensive care units in this country. (Of that 2-7% of preterm infants who develop sepsis or NEC in western hospitals, roughly 20% die. In hospitals where no formula was given to pre terms, the rates were as low as .05%, and NEC was seen only in the smallest and sickest babies subject o injury. Even some donor breastmilk lowered the risk and with it the mortality.) Every summer the infants under 6 months in hospitals with gastro, and every winter those hospitalised with bronchiolitis, are predominantly bottle fed: some die. Reporters want grieving families for ‘human interest’ stories. No one (other than the parents) has the right to make public the names: but they will become public once the class actions start. I am sure you know that your request is simply a debating ploy, not to be answered by anyone sensitive about what an infant death means to any family. Reassurance that formula feeding was not the cause of a death can be appropriate on an individual basis. Pretending on a population basis that Australian or American or French or Israeli or British babies don’t die for want of breastmilk is simply irresponsible. Affluence is no substitute for physiologically normal feeding. Poverty compounds the harms of artificial formula, but wealth is no protection, though of course survival is more likely if you can access medical care.
And yes, my writing is emotive. We all feel deeply about these things, and emotions are appropriate. It is however, factual. So was Professor Larry Gartner, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Breastfeeding group, when he said, “It’s hard to come out and tell parents that your baby will be stupider or sicker if you don’t breastfeed. But that’s what the literature says.” That’s emotive. That’s true. When that’s true, it needs to be said, and in language parents can hear. If you want to hear emotive language used to manipulate and not inform, try listening to a formula company advertisement!
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What I’d like to know is why the heck are the Formula companies allowed to run ads at all then?
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Because the International Code of Breastmilk Substitutes (WHO code) has not been implemented in full!
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I heard it was a ‘voluntary’ agreement in Australia – so we are very behind the times in giving our mums regulated advice. Feeling very let down by the industry.
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Yes, in Australia we have the MAIF agreement which falls far short of the WHO code. The lack of full implementation of the WHO code is one of the reasons why many think that choosing between breastmilk and formula is like choosing between Coke and Pepsi. Give breastfeeding a go, but hey, if it doesn’t work out, no worries, here is this great product (NOT!!!). The marketing of formula is all around. Whether you’re aware of it or not, there is pressure to formula feed everywhere.
As someone from UNICEF once said:
“Those who make claims about infant formula that intentionally undermine women’s confidence in breastfeeding are not to be regarded as clever entrepreneurs just doing their job, but as human rights violators of the worst kind.”
Why do you think the breastfeeding rates in parts of Asia are plummeting – this is all to do with the marketing of infant formula.
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In many organisations they monitor calls randomly for quality assurance purposes. Considering breast feeding advisers are dealing with some very vulnerable new time mothers maybe they need to start that with the ABA as too many of these comments seem to be highligting very negative experiences. Also think about getting rid of the voluntary service and start paying women in a professional sense for their time, possibly full time call line. This voluntary thing may not be working very well as need to weed out the zealots so a more professional setting with theunderstanding that calls may be monitored is maybe the way to go with proper monetary remuneration. In the context of group meetings maybe there needs to be another ABA perrson or nurse in the back ground montoring the comments of the speaker. May have avoided the unfortunate comments of the brisbane woman to her audience if she knew that some one else was also there. I absolutely do not believe their 98 percent satisfaction rating. A bit of smoke and mirrors there i think. How did they come to that figure.
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Absolutely! Imagine if the government funded an up to date medical and research based helpline with those trained specifically in breastfeeding support. Would be to good to be true. Won’t hold my breath though they have other problems.
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As a display of ignorance and prejudice, this saga has been fascinating. I refer not to the at-worst ill-advised but truthful comments of a heroic volunteer who gives her time freely to thousands of strangers. But to many of the condemnatory comments. Would you think differently if you realised, as that volunteer obviously does, that two of the world’s leading scientists have publicly described not being breastfed as “the most common immunodeficiency” (Professor Lars A Hanson) and infant formula as ‘the tobacco of the 21st century’ (Professor Peter Hartmann), as we can expect successful class actions this century? A baby does die every 30 seconds because not being breastfed –that’s a UNICEF estimate – and a low estimate of roughly 900 deaths every year in the United States has been published. The US CDC said, in discussing bottle-fed American babies, one of whom died while the other was severely brain damaged, “Powdered infant formula (PIF), which is not sterile, has been implicated repeatedly as a vehicle of Cronobacter infection; consequently, the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued guidelines for safer preparation, handling, and storage of PIF.” (Guidelines that industry opposes, by the way, despite a 40-80% death rate in Cronobacter-infected infants in rich countries. And Cronobacter are not the only bugs to worry about.)
Then there are the global deaths from NEC and sepsis (2-7% of all preterm infants, 20% mortality rate), the excess cot deaths in every bottle-feeding culture, the deaths from intractable diarrhoeas and respiratory disease and any other condition considered closely.
Nor is infection the only risk: it’s one of the easiest for parents to control. Deficiency or excess or contamination of nutrients remains a global problem. After at least 3 babies died and more than 20 were brain-damaged in 2003, Israel concluded that tough inspection of all formula imports was needed. Reviewing this disaster in 2012, an Israeli doctor concluded that “apparent history of safe use is not a reliable source for establishing adequate intake.” In fact, when one reviews the history of formula as I have, it is astonishing that so few cases are known about: they occur everywhere, but because of our trust in formula, the connection is often not made in the popular mind. Nor is it with the higher rates of childhood cancers and allergy and later life disease. But the evidence is in scientific journals if you dig deep enough.
Does it matter that numbers of infant deaths are smaller where the water supply is clean, people affluent, and advanced medical help available? What is one unnecessary child death worth? If it is your child, and breastfeeding might have prevented it, what would you feel if you had followed the ignorant mob that assumes formula is totally safe, and savages those who try to help mothers succeed at breastfeeding? Would you be grateful that industry, together with ignorant but vocal parents, have long prevented any hard-hitting truth–telling about risks of artificial feeding such as the planned but aborted US 2004 campaign?
This counsellor was not trying to make any formula-feeding mother feel anxious or guilty. They were not in her audience until others made them so. She was trying to ensure that parents-to-be were motivated to persevere through the many obstacles our society places in the path of successful breastfeeding. The most she is guilty of is not judging her audience well. Others are guilty of selective distortion of her words. That artificial feeding of any kind is “ a little bit like” HIV is factually true in the sense that both will cause immunodeficiency which leaves the infant at greater risk of disease and premature death lifelong. Sorry, but it’s the literal truth.
Companies have marketed their product for a century as being so close to breastmilk as not to make any real difference. Intelligent parents know that is untrue, and make maternal breastfeeding a priority, without feeling guilty if their lives make it impossible. It is volunteer workers like this counselor who understand just how painful breastfeeding failure can be, and who are trying to prevent it by motivating pregnant couples to seek help early and often. Whoever she is, anyone who listens to 900 women a year deserves a medal, not condemnation. How many of those who condemn her care so much about babies and women?
At times there hasn’t been a lot of intelligence on view in this discussion. No one can make anyone else feel guilty. If guilt is deserved, you’re psychotic if you don’t feel it. We all feel regret about many things, and it’s part of being a mother who wants to do the best for one’s child. Don’t confuse guilt with regret. I regret that no one told me that even one bottle of formula in a 1970s hospital would distort my child’s gut flora and damage him for life. I do not feel guilty that as a first-time mother I was ignorant- I feel sad and angry that decades later the same ignorance is obvious. I hope a new book soon to be published will open a few eyes. Meanwhile, borrow Breastfeeding Matters (Minchin) or The Politics of Breastfeeding (Palmer) from your local library and learn a little, please, before adding your voice to those who say formula is fine in developed nations. Maureen Minchin, author of
Breastfeeding Matters: what we need to know about infant feeding
Food for Thought: a parent’s guide to food intolerance.
Could infant formula industry-linked writers be asked to out themselves, please?
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Maureen thank you for this, and you also for your scholarship and fearless and tireless work over the years.
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Thank you Ms Minchin, it is hard to hear but without knowing what’s at stake I can see why struggling through ill-supported breastfeeding beginnings & tiredness & anxiety & pain & sacrifice to establish breastfeeding would seem to hard when we are told formula is a close ‘second best’.
If there’s no ABA, who do I go to to support me in breastfeeding?
My well meaning midwives were too busy, later my doc and baby nurse immediately offered a formula sachet, my LC was an angel but eventually time for medical advice had passed & baby bonus funds were needed elsewhere & support for mothering and simple but life changing information was what I needed. Yes once or twice the counsellors draw a blank but they had up to date info to read from and at least GAVE A CARE. Unlike the rest of the world it seemed… ‘he’ll be right, just give him a bottle’. Show me who’s taking the money and then I’ll listed to non-industry funded advice.
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Ms Minchin, your post is powerful, but very emotive. Despite what Professors Hanson and Hartmann say, babies who are supplemented or formula-fed have almost the same health outcomes as those who are breast fed.
The outcome benefits of exclusive breast feeding, in our society are persent, but they are modest. Other confounders, like household smoking, childcare attendance and other sibs in the house have a stronger influence on the number of infections. Breast milk passes on some passive immunity – it does not “strengthen the immune system”.
A child’s immune system is activated by exposure to antigens (usually infections). Better still if the antigen is presented as a vaccination, so the child doesn’t have to suffer and survive an infection. The misguided analogy to HIV shows extreme misunderstanding of immunity.
I challenge you to provide evidence of one single Australian child who lost their life due to being fed formula.
The benefits that do exist should be stated rationally – but exaggerating them doesn;t help anyone’s credibility.
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Sorry Sue, my reply to you somehow ended up above not below your post. Probably I hit the wrong button… but I have responded.
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You’ve said this several times but have not provided citations for any of the research you are using nor accounted for the research I have provided that shows something quite different to what you maintain. Just saying that something is so does not make it so!
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Breastfeeding is not the best way to feed babies, it is the normal way to feed babies. Due to this, breastfeeding is the benchmark or the control to which alternative feeding methods need to be compared, not the other way around. Formula companies however love the whole ‘breast is best’ mantra as it implies that formula is adequate, safe and a normal way to feed babies. So rather than there being benefits to breastfeeding, which there really isn’t since it is the normal way to feed babies, there are risks associated with not breastfeeding (formula feeding). This is the plain and simple truth.
Not that it is needed (because why wouldn’t giving a baby anything that is not normal for their species do potential harm), but there is a multitude of quality indisputable scientific research that backs up all the risks associated with formula feeding.
Formula is not 100% safe, even in Australia where we have a clean water source. Have you read about necrotising enterocolitis? This is an inflammatory condition of the bowel most frequently seen in premature babies and is a condition that is much associated with formula feeding. What about all the formula re-calls that have occurred throughout history due to it being contaminated with this or that. Powdered formula is a potential breeding ground for bacteria eg cronobacter or salmonella are the most common ones. In fact powdered formula is ‘allowed’ to have a certain amount of cronobacter because it is impossible to eliminate it completely from the powdered formula. There are a host of other risks that formula feeding has – increases the risk of infection (eg gastrointestinal, respiratory, urinary tract, ear), type 1 diabetes, obesity, SIDS etc.
Not informing mothers of the risks of formula feeding is doing them an injustice by not allowing them to make fully informed decisions. People often say ‘Yes, but I was formula fed and I turned out OK’ or ‘I formula fed my children, and they couldn’t be healthier’. Well it’s about playing the percentage game. For example formula feeding increases the risk of gastrointestinal infection. This doesn’t mean that a formula fed baby will get a gastrointestinal infection, it just means that they are more likely to compared to a breastfed baby. Also, reaching our full biological potential cannot be achieved without receiving breastmilk.
Breastmilk provides more than just ‘passive immunity’. It really doesn’t take a rocket scientist to comprehend that human milk helps human babies to reach their genetic potential. Breastmilk contains factors which induce a baby’s immune system to mature faster than if they were formula fed. An example of this is that breast-fed babies produce higher levels of antibodies in response to immunisations (this is also an example of how breastfeeding enhances a baby’s active immune response).
And, since some of the ‘big guns’ in breastmilk, (SIgA, lactoferrin and lysozyme) are found in the urine of breast-fed babies, this is evidence of breastfeeding inducing local immunity in the urinary tract of a breast-fed baby (hence a reason why formula fed babies have a higher incidence of UTIs) – an example of active (not passive) immunity, since a baby cannot absorb these substances from breastmilk into their gut.
Also, breastmilk is not sterile – this is not an accident – it is for good reasons. Bacteria isolated from the breastmilk of perfectly healthy mothers help to stimulate the baby’s immune system to grow. Bacteria that colonise the baby’s gut during and after birth are safest if they are from the mother because she can provide the baby with a defence against them through her breastmilk. Hence, surprise surprise, mothers and babies should be together after birth and the early postpartum period as frequently as possible.
Science is only just starting to unravel some of the things that have been in breastmilk for eons. One relatively recent discovery is that breastmilk has stem cells in it –Stem cells! Surely these play a role in the development of a baby’s bodily organs and functions – to enable a breastfed baby to reach their genetic potential.
To read more about this and see references refer to pages 133, 140-141 & 598 of the latest version of Riordan and Wambach’s Breastfeeding and Human Lactation (which is a fully referenced textbook).
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Breastfeeding also provides active immunity – any quality up-to-date evidence-based breastfeeding text will tell you this – see pages 133, 140-141 & 598 of the latest version of Riordan and Wambach’s Breastfeeding and Human Lactation.
Also, re artificial milk putting babies lives in Australia at risk…why do you think human milk banks are being established? Read the research on Necrotising Enterocollitis for evidence about just one of the stark risks of artificial feeding.
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To say that “babies who are supplemented or formula-fed have almost the same health outcomes as those who are breast fed” is complete ignorage and is not in line with the multitude of scientific evidence or simply biology. Just go to pubmed and perform literature searches using relevant keywords.
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Maureen, your views on guilt and how vulnerable mothers might feel about some of your words sound like a justification for expressing judgemental and derogatory views. Perhaps that is not how you meant it, but that is how I am reading it. The distinction you draw between regret and guilt seem like semantics and a mum whos baby needs formula in order to thrive won’t feel any better being told the risks of formula along with being told that she’s only feeling regret and not guilt.
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Anon Guest, I have helped mothers choose and use infant formulas without pretending to them that there are no risks or that this won’t matter. Knowledge of the multiple risks and how to minimise them is essential to making artificial feeding as safe as it can be in those areas that parents can control. I judge formula as deficient by comparison with breast milk, not mothers, who are all trying to do the best they can in their own situation. Truthfulness about risks does not rule out helpfulness about practical needs. Every mother baby pair is unique and so is the help they need.
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I can’t work out whether you are serious or not but regardless what horrible and untruthful things to day. I’m speechless really…
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Really, from reading all these comments and just knowing many new Mums myself, it is really rather obvious that the vast majority of mothers want to breastfeed and try their darndest to do so. Unfortunately, it can be very complicated for many women and not as straight forward as we are led to believe. I remember thinking before I had any experience with Motherhood, “Oh well, we are women, we have boobs, our bodies know how to do what they are supposed to; it’s NATURAL” (oh how the idealist has fallen, lol). But it’s the same with the notion of giving birth ‘naturally’, isn’t it? We all (should) know that that is myth for many as well. Human bodies aren’t uniform in their perfection… haha. In fact, I don’t know one person who doesn’t have have some kind of recurring health issue of some kind.
This debate is kind of null, isn’t it? Or am I being naive again? Most women earnestly try breastfeeding. Many succeed, and many have struggles too painful to continue and have formula to fall back on. Yes, maybe their kids won’t have the same dose of maternal antibodies but fortunately we live in a society with modern medicine and a great standard of living and public health and hygiene so it’s not really a big drama for most, is it?
I breastfed my second baby until he was 12 mths instead of the 20 mths I did for my daughter because he became a biter of mammoth proportions, no matter what I tried and it became a wholly painful and unpleasant experience for about 3-4 mths. Thank goodness he took to formula very quickly and without much outcry.
Anyway, I give credit to all the Mums who ended up using formula for having tried breastfeeding and finding it not suitable. I just don’t get what all this fuss is about….
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I just saw this on another website…
Media Statement – 29 August 2012
The Australian Breastfeeding Association has launched an internal investigation into the alleged comments made by a counsellor at a Brisbane Breastfeeding Education Class. These comments reported in the media are not the view of the Association and the counsellor involved has been stood down from all duties. In addition, the Association will conduct an internal review of all its Breastfeeding Education Classes to ensure presenters are following the approved curriculum.
The Australian Breastfeeding Association’s objective is to provide mothers with practical mother-to-mother support, enabling them to establish a loving relationship with their babies through breastfeeding and educate the broader community that breastfeeding is normal. We support all women to make informed choices about infant feeding.
Our organisation is run by over 1,100 trained volunteers who devote their time to helping mothers breastfeed their babies through counselling and community education. We have a rigorous training process and require our volunteers to be signatory to our Code of Ethics.
Last month alone over 5,000 calls were taken by 412 volunteers on our Breastfeeding Helpline. A recent independent study found a 98% satisfaction rate with this service.
We provide mother-to-mother peer support 24 hours – 7 days per week. Volunteer counsellors, who are mothers in their own homes, contribute around 40,000 hours per year to help families in Australia.
Parents are entitled to have accurate information to make their own decisions about infant feeding. We know that almost all mothers in Australia want to breastfeed their infants but we also know many of them do not reach their goals or national targets.
All mothers should feel supported along their parenting journey, and the Australian Breastfeeding Association offers help in many ways, including the Breastfeeding Helpline and local Breastfeeding Support Groups.
The Australian Breastfeeding Association supports all mothers no matter how they feed their babies. We would rather assist a mother to wean with support than to have her do it all on her own.
In the interest of improving our service we welcome feedback via our online contact form.
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Many people seem to confuse the issues of formula use in impoverished communities with the very different conditions in our society.
There is no doubt that formula use can be dangerous in a society where there is no access to clean water, or it poverty makes the family have to dilute the formula, causing malnutrition.
These conditions are not relevant in 2012 Australia.
There are real health ouotcome benefits to breast feeding in Australia, but they are much smaller than many people belive. The robust studies, done in developed nations, tend to find that six months exclusive BF moderately reduces the amount of (mostly minor) respiratory and gastro infections in the first twelve months – all other things being equal. However, there are other (bigger) confounders – the presence of older siblings in the family, smoking in the home and child care attendance have a greater impact than the type of milk used.
There is no good evidence for an effect on the range of other long-term benefits claimed for breast feeding.
Breast feeding is great when it works well, and can prevent some infections in some babies during the first year. Formula-fed babies with no exposure to other children with viruses and no smokers in the house are likely to do just as well. The transfer of antibodies from the mother depends on what the mother has been exposed to, and only gives short-term passive immunity – it does not “strengthen the baby’s immune system”. The only way for babies to develop their own immunity is to be exposed to the antigens themselves – preferably through vaccination rather than having to suffer and survive all the infections.
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Sue check out the study abstracts below, I think you are mistaken. Infant feeding practice has a minor impact on frequency of infections but a large impact on severity of infections- hence big differences in hospitalisation rates between exclusively breastfeed and fully formula fed infants.
The information on the immune impact of breastmilk on the development of the immune system and protection afforded be breastmilk is also incorrect. Antibodies are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to factors in milk that help prevent and fight infection. Have you heard of glycan decoys for a start? Do you know what impact infant feeding has on the growth of the thymus gland?
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Hi Dawny,
Thank you for your informed comments. The general public and a lot of medical professionals unfortunately are unaware of the importance of the immunological components of breastmilk. Breastmilk’s part in developing babies’ immune systems was what this counsellor was probably trying to portray in a rather clumsy analogy. By the way the study that you mentioned in passing earlier about the breastfeeding knowledge deficit of Australian doctors was, by Brodribb W, Fallon A, Jackson C, Hegney D 2008. They were published in the “Journal of Human Lactation” and the “Australian Family Physician” among others. Regarding the risks of formula feeding, this media release came out for World Breastfeeding Week this year wwwphaa.net.au/documents01812Australian mothers and babies are missing out on gold.pdf
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Dawny – I have read many, many studies in this area. It’s not correct to say that there is a “big impact” on the severity of infections unless you know the absolute numbers, which are quite small.
“Antibodies are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to factors in milk that help prevent and fight infection. ” The sum total of all the factors is shown in the outcomes – which are relatively minor and temporary. I’ve read about the range of so-called “bioactive factors” in human milk. But it still comes down to this: the combined effect of all the constituents of breast milk only confers a minor health outcome benefit – and temporary.
I am not saying there is no advantage to breast feeding – there is a moderate and temporary reduction in infections – all other things being equal. But the outcomes in formula fed babies (in our community) – especially in the absence of the confounders – is almost the same (and, after the first year, indistinguishable).
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Can you provide the citations please. I’d be interested to see this research. Did your “many studies” include the ones I provided below? I disagree that the outcomes are anywhere close to the same when it comes to frequency of severe infection. Keep in mind the issue of quality of definitions of infant feeding in research, lousy design gets lousy results.
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Dawny – you are spot on about lousy design giving lousy results – that’s why it’s important to read the wholepaper and critique the methodology – not just the abstract. I’ll provide some commentary on the more robust studies when I get more time. Perhaps you might want to do the same in relation to your citations: what they looked for, how they measured, that the nature of the illnesses was, how many cases there were….etc. This will help everyone reading assess the merits of the various papers.
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Sue I have read these papers and warned that limited info could be gleaned from abstracts. The ones I cited are well designed studies. If you could perhaps just provide the citations I can have a look for myself.
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Hi Dawny – I’ve been following your posts with interest and have found them very informative. I do have some questions for you (hope you’re still following this story!?)
Before having my third son I had always accepted that not only is breast best but it is best by a country mile. However, when I had my third son I was struggling with BF and during many a late night / early morning it became my mission to devour as much as I could about the benefits of breastmilk. Now I realise that many could argue that I had an ulterior motive and it suited me to find research which showed the benefits of BM greatly exaggerated, nonetheless that is the conclusion I came to (incidentally as mentioned before I went on to successfully BF my son).
Anyway that is the background to my interest. These are the questions I have for you:
Have you in your research ever read Joan Wolf, Hannah Rosen or looked at the studies by Professor Michael kramer and Professor Carlsen. I don’t have time to paraphase their findings (just google to get some good summaries of their work) but I did find their findings compelling and I wondered what you thought about them? I think one reason I found their findings so credible was that it just seemed to fit in with what I and so many others have observed in society which is in the circles I mix with FF babies appear just as healthy as BF babies (I know that isn’t a compelling argument – but given the huge emphasis BF gets I suppose you expect to be able to notice some difference and I just can’t)
As discussed in earlier post – socio economic status and different – more vigilant parenting is argued by some as one of the reasons BF children may be healthier (rather than BM itself). I’m also interested in the reverse, however so far haven’t seen any studies on this. It is well known that women of lower socio economic backgrounds are more likely to FF – I would have thought that different parenting habits (in some cases less vigilant parenting) as well as less money may account for some of the higher incidences of more serious infections you mentioned in above post. EG some of these households are more likely to smoke, have unhealthy diets, may not have the same access to medical care / medication (ie get infections diagonosed much later), may have to return to work earlier etc. Are you aware of any studies that look into this?
Last question. The most common reason women cite for stopping BF is low supply. Along with most women on this forum I have read the persistent information which is given out from ABA, Robin Barker etct etc that says to the effect that ongoing low supply is a fallacy. I find this really difficult to believe – given that it is consistently given as the main reason women stop BF. While there may be a few women who are uneducated about the ways of increasing supply – I think most women know that it is supply / demand, additional rest etc etc and I think most women go to extraordinary lengths to increase their supply before finally realising that their baby has to eat! Just wondering what your thoughts are on this? For what it is worth I believe that ongoing low supply is more common than ABA and others aknowledge.
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Hi Steph,
Yes, I’m familiar with Hannah Rosen and Joan Wolf. I think that both provide a good commentary on why breastfeeding can be so difficult for many mothers and why they feel ripped off about being told to breastfeed and then not provided with an environment within which that is possible (esp in the US). However, neither of these women are scientists and they don’t provide a good summary of the research nor understand how to put the big picture together from the research.
Michael Kramer is a very good scientist and has been involved in a study I alluded to earlier. A RCT of breastfeeding support that resulted in different levels of breastfeeding enabling some comparison of the impact of infant feeding on health and development in a way that avoided the need for adjusting for factors like age of the mother, socioeconomic status etc. I wouldn’t say that his research show that infant feeding practices have little impact? Prof Carlsen? You mean the guy that looked at hormone levels and women’s feeding practices? He got some press a few years ago as a result of a press release but he’s not published anything on infant feeding and health outcomes that I am aware of (but certainly I could have missed it!)
On socioeconomic status and infant feeding outcomes- studies will always adjust for this- without such adjustment the difference are much, much, much larger.
I don’t think we know how many mothers can’t make enough milk for their baby. Low milk supply is the number 1 reason around the world for weaning. Certainly some women just can’t make enough milk (because of health conditions, of issues with the baby’s suck etc), some can’t make enough milk given how they must live their lives (eg working), some can’t make enough milk because they are unwilling to breastfeed in a way that would enable them to make enough milk (eg restricting feeds) and some think that they don’t have enough milk when in fact they do (misinterpretation of infant behaviour). I have a “wonderful” letter from the Medical Journal of South Africa from the 1980s? in which a doctor described how black women were able to fully breastfeed but that white women were physiologically different and unable to. An interesting letter was written in response from someone citing the experience of Cecily WIlliams (who first raised the issue of how bottle feeding was killing babies in the developing world with her pamphlet “Milk and Murder”) who was imprisoned as a POW during WWII. She assisted starving white women to feed their babies in these POW camps- women who previously would have been unlikely to be able to do so. I guess that’s the impact of having good support! Dunno if I’ve answered your question or not. I feel like there may be an increase in the incidence of insufficient glandular tissue in mothers but I don’t know whether that’s real or I’m just noticing more.
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Hi Steph, there is more understanding about insufficient glandular tissue and other reasons for low supply. ABA counsellors are aware that this could be a possibility and will refer on to LC’s. By the way, there was an article about IGT in the latest ABA Essence magazine. However, there is also a lot of perceived low supply. This is often because there is little understanding of normal baby behaviour eg babies need to feed 8 to 12 times a day or more, normal unsettled cluster feeding times and wonder weeks. Also many mothers worrying when their breasts become normally softer or when their baby’s feeds become quicker, when their weight slows down or when they start waking up more at night. These may not be indicators of low milk supply but many mothers think so.
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My baby and I had a rough breastfeeding relationship. She fed for two hours and would fall asleep for 20minutes, wake up screaming and start feeding again. it was horrific. She slowly gained weight but was never above the bare minimum. By three weeks the weight gain was even worse and the MCHN started recommending supplementation.
I’d actually needed to pump in the hospital to try and build up supply, but when I asked for information about pumping to take it home with me I was refused because I was now ‘exclusively breastfeeding’ and shouldn’t be doing anything that might ‘damage the breastfeeding relationship’. Exclusive breastfeeding lasted only a few days before I sent my husband out to buy a pump to try and keep building up my supply. An attempt to manipulate a mother to ‘exclusively breastfeed’ by withholding information is a tactic that should be well and truly banned, IMO.
I rang the ABA to get advice on pumping, since the hospital had refused to give it to me, and got told over the phone that the reason babies often had dark green frothy poos was because the contents of the nappy were old. Well I knew that wasn’t the case, so I thanked her and hung up. I probably should have complained but had enough on my plate and never did.
I had one of the leaders tell me to pump for a few minutes before feeding my baby so that she got more hindmilk to try and help with the green frothy poos – I know that she was trying to give options but once again it was a case of ‘thanks’ and move on. Unhelpful because what was happening was that my baby woke screaming and I was not going to let her scream while I pumped for a few minutes. I realised that there really no answers for me beyond supplementling with a bottle and since I was having problems finding time to pump, it was probably going to be formula. I didn’t even ask them about supplementing with formula and I’m glad that I didn’t because I don’t believe that they should be talking about the risks of formula either. It is up to doctors or nurses to go through that with mums, as they can also give information on the baby’s condition.
So I have used the ABA in the past and found them to be mostly useless for technical information about breastfeeeding. I did do their course prior to giving birth and thankfully it wasn’t as extreme as the one the journalist went to.
But I don’t see the point of the volunteer breastfeeding ‘counsellors’ to be honest, when there are now lactation consultants that can help with breastfeedng issues as well as evaluate mum and baby’s health. How can a counsellor get an idea of the baby’s condition over the phone? there is no way and nor should they be. Nor should they be undermining the recommendations of doctors and nurses (eg ‘which weight chart are they using’? which is what I got asked – instead maybe suggest someone gets a second opinion if they’re not sure about why their doctor is making recommendations).
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The government took away a lot of funding from lactation consultants, so now a lot of patients can’t afford to see one privately, and in some places the wait to see someone publicly is up to 6 weeks.
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Well that’s one massive barrier to breastfeeding right there that the ABA would/should be getting involved with. But don’t public hospitals also have a lactation consultant? And don’t breastfeeding mothers still have access to that support for several weeks post-birth?
The lactation consultant we hired privately was much more helpful and professional than the ABA volunteers (as you would expect) and also went through formula feeding with us (without scaring us with ‘formula risks’ since it there was obviously a bigger risk to the baby not getting enough nutrition). Which is why I guess I found the ABA so unprofessional in contrast as the lactation consultant was much more careful not to undermine professional medical advice and to make sure that my baby was able to get enough milk (even though some of it was from formula). I comp fed her for six months, which I understand is generally seen as a ‘breastfeeding failure’ because I was unable to ‘exclusively’ breastfeed for six months. I put in a huge amount of effort to do that.
I actually regret it to be honest and wish I’d just formula fed virtually from the start. It’s what happened to my second baby when my supply showed similar signs of being poor (and that was extremely depressing to face at the time) and he’s a happy, sunny and healthy little boy. And I was a much happier mum and enjoyed holding and cuddling my baby so much more without trying to pump and feed all the time.
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Yep, sorry that’s what I mean. It can take up to 6 weeks to get in to see a lactation consultant through a public hospital.
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“I comp fed her for six months, which I understand is generally seen as a ‘breastfeeding failure’ because I was unable to ‘exclusively’ breastfeed for six months. I put in a huge amount of effort to do that.”
I certainly don’t see that as a breastfeeding failure. What a great effort you made under extremely difficult circumstances. I respect that in hindsight you feel you would rather have made a different choice, but I think you should feel very proud of yourself nonetheless.
I really hate the use of the word failure in connection with breastfeeding. No woman is a ‘breastfeeding failure’, and it’s very sad that anyone should ever feel that way.
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The reason I am not proud of my effort at breastfeeding was because it was all about me and how I viewed myself as a mother. I did the ABA course while pregnant and learnt about breastmilk having growth hormones, anti-bodies and fats that helped the brain to develop and lead to a higher IQ. I also saw myself as being a breastfeeding mother and thought that hard work could do it.
It was mostly about me and my ambitions for my newborn baby. And to be honest those benefits I now believe to have been exagerrated and to be marginal at best and possibly due to confounders – at any rate – my baby did not care about some theoretical IQ point or 3 but just wanted a full tummy.
I spent an hour each night attached to the breastpump, when I could have been doing some exercise, reading a book or doing something I enjoy for myself. The twenty-thirty minutes I spent attached to the breastpump during the day I could have spent cuddling my baby or doing some gardening or cooking a healthy meal or calling my mum for a chat. The actual outcomes for formula fed babies are really not large enough to have justified that kind of effort. At best I felt like a ‘better’ mother for it. At worst I ignored my baby and my husband and my own needs while I pumped.
I don’t feel that there was anything to be proud of in all of that. If anything I’m proud of the fact that I changed my once rather arrogant opinion of what made a good mother into one that could look at a thriving happy baby and a thriving happy family and say that it was due to the best type of mothering around without wondering about the actual specifics of how baby was been fed/put to sleep/carried around etc.
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Hi Guest, the suggestions you were given were appropriate and have been helpful for many mothers. If this wasn’t working for you then there are other suggestions that you would have been offered for your over supply problems if you had called again. The weight charts she mentioned are the WHO Growth Standards which more accurately reflect the way breastfed babies grow. Again she was spot on. A link to them can be found on the ABA page.
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Thanks for the post-diagnosis Anonymous but the problem was actually undersupply not oversupply. Turned out I had an underlying condition causing chronic anemia that in all likelihood caused the undersupply.
The part about green frothy poos being just ‘old poos’ was wrong and was bordering on medical advice and should not have been advice given over the phone. I do understand that the second counsellor was trying to be helpful and I appreciated that she was trying to give me options even though I found it impractical to implement. The first was not helpful and was trying to undermine the decision to supplement.
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I am currently full time breat feeding my 4 month old. My husband and I are healthy adults and we live in a smoke free house. My baby has had severe vomiting, bronchiolitis and is now covered head to toe in eczema. I’m off foods like dairy and wheat (under dr supervision) and we are trying to boost his immunity through supplements. I have friends with formula fed babies, same age and none of these issues. The main comments I get from people are ‘but he’s breastfed – he shouldn’t have any of these problems’. Except for the Pro breast feeding nurse who said ‘imagine how bad he’d be if he wasn’t breastfed’.
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I exclusively breastfed one of my children for 6 months. I didnt breastfeed my other children for much beyond a few days because of various difficulties. I bet you would never guess the breastfed baby had excema, alergies and caught chicken pox as a tiny baby and my kids who were bottled fed were fit and healthy babies with no alergies and no contagious diseases!
Mums please dont geel guilty about bottle feeding, you are doing the best you can.
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There’s simply now way of knowing the answer to that last statement, because you can’t turn the clock back and find out.
The answer would be one of two things:
He could have been worse off
He could have been better off
Of course the pro-breastfeeding people are going to go for Option A.
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EB I wrote a long comment but it’s disappeared I had a very similar experience to you but remember atopic conditions such as eczema and allergies can often be genetic which is the case for my daughter. Even when you do everything “right” they can still happen. Formula most likely wouldve had the same if not worse effect. You’ve done the best you can. Good luck.
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Dear EB, find a 2ndhand copy of the 1992 edition of Food for Thought (google abebooks or fishpond) or any book by US allergist Doris Rapp and you’ll get some help you need from that. Meanwhile, know that you are not alone, Most of the mothers with miserable or allergic babies that I see prove to have been comp-fed or formula-fed babies themselves three decades ago, ditto for fathers, and the problem for the baby in this generation has begun in utero. We are what our mothers and grandmothers ate, alas. The good thing is that when these mothers find what is making the baby react, and eliminate it from the family diet, both parents usually lose problems that they did not know were symptoms of their own food hypersensitivity, and gain lots of energy. Of course your baby may also have been comp-fed in hospital. Whether or not any child has symptoms is the result of complex interactions between genetic and epigenetic influences: genes and the environment interact, and feeding is only one of the interacting variables. Parental chemical exposures, diet, and levels of omega 3 fatty acids, and much more besides can all be involved. Susan Prescott’s book, The Allergy Epidemic, is well worth reading too, although the community early end of these problems is less well represented in that than the later referred problem end of the spectrum.
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Perhaps this is the issue needing to be raised rather than comments which instill fear into expecting mums.
It’s common knowledge Breast is Best and breastfeeding can save millions of dollars in reduced healthcare costs and keep the breastfeeder and her child healthier
Consider the multi-million dollar cost to our health care system for not using better strategies to enable mothers to learn how to breastfeed. If women were allowed just a couple of extra days in hospital following the birth of a child this could potentially save millions of dollars. (A Google search will verify this statement, say if you type in cost savings to healthcare ..)
The importance of breastfeeding is well known, but the practise of it isn’t and this has major costs for our healthcare system: reduced immunity of infants, the corollary being increased illness and links with childhood obesity, asthma and allergies. Not to mention an increase in the incidence of cancers for women who don’t breastfeed.
If women were ALLOWED to stay in hospital for more than 2 days following a vaginal birth then the the number of women who breastfeed would probably increase. And therein lies the potential massive cost-saving to our healthcare system.
How and why?
Because following birth it takes three days for a woman’s “milk to come in” (that is for the breasts to fill with milk in preparation to feed a baby) and it’s at this time that the majority of women, who give birth naturally, are discharged from hospital and the process of trying to breastfeed can be thwarted because you haven’t had the time to learn how to do it and it takes time and practise. So many women who may have been open initially to the idea of breastfeeding give up because they haven’t been shown how and given the level of anxiety surrounding the birth of a child, it seems easier to just give the child formula, but the costs are big in the long run to both the health of the child, the mother and healthcare costs. Our taxes.
I am a 45 year old mother to a 3 and a half year old. I was fortunate to spend 6 nights in hospital following the birth of my son. I say fortunate because it’s a maximum of 2 nights in the public hospitals. Because I was in a private hospital and having had a caesarean, the extra time enabled me to learn how to breastfeed. And this extra time is the critical factor.
I still breastfeed my son morning and night and consequently I can count on one hand the number of colds he’s had. He has had no respiratory infections and only 2 ear infections in 3 and a half years. And further my health is excellent.
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Actually, the hospital I gave birth in offers four nights stay as the “norm”. If you have a difficult delivery you stay longer. I spent two nights in hospital, and then was moved to a hotel that had an arrangement with the hospital, and spent a further two nights there (where I had much more time with a midwife).
Unfortunately, it didn’t help one bit with my milk, or with breastfeeding issues. I was prescribed motilium there and then as it was totally obvious I didn’t have enough milk, and had lots of one on one time with midwives trying to increase my supply. I also visited the newborn support drop in three times a week for six weeks. Supply never caught up and we still had issues.
Don’t think that everyone who doesn’t breastfeed didn’t get enough time with midwifes / lactation consultants etc.
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Phoebe – you said
“Consider the multi-million dollar cost to our health care system for not using better strategies to enable mothers to learn how to breastfeed.”
There are some advantages to breast feeding in terms of the number of respiratory and gastro infections in the first year – but we are talking about relatively mild infections – not necessarily hospitalisations.
How do you figure the “multi-million dollar cost to our health care system”?
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I think she’s refering about the other health benefits to not only a baby’s immune system but to mothers as well for eg the higher risks for Ovaian, cervical and breast cancers in women who don’t breastfeed, obesity in adults whom where bottlefed as infants ect.
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What would the ABA counsellor do if she couldn’t breastfeed?? Give her child unscreened milk from a donor, and actually risk communicable diseases or “resort” to formula?
It scares me the to think how many people this counsellor has spoken to in her role at the ABA.
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Hi Siobhan,
I can’t talk for ABA counsellors but I know women in the community are using screened donor milk as well as ABM.
Interestingly, Norway has been using raw human milk safely since their first milk bank was begun in 1941. ( Grovslien & Gronn 2009). This information is cited in Thorley V Human milk use in Australian hospitals, 1945-1985. Breastfeeding Review July 2012
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It drives me mental. They should be promoting breastfeeding as a great thing, but not bad mouthing formula.
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Dear Member,
That’s what has been done for 100 years, and because the companies position their products as “so close to breastfeeding”, it has promoted infant formula. Industry actually said in the 1960s that the best way to sell formula is to promote breastfeeding – and hand on heart declare that formula should only be used “when breastfeeding fails or is insufficient”, knowing full well that in western society women will have problems, and will switch to formula if they think it totally almost the same as breastmilk. Breastfeeders go on to formula, not the family foods and water that they once used to, and which WHO still suggests. The subliminal message of “when breastfeeding fails” is that it will, for almost everyone. Babies being breastfed from birth for a short time is probably industry’s preferred option: it’s less clear that later problems relate to formula feeding. Much of the research showing formula to be relatively harmless includes in the ‘formula fed” group babies breastfed for weeks or months, then formula feeding at the time of the study, while the “breastfed” groups include babies formula fed in hospital, and so with abnormal gut flora (central to lifelong health), then breastfed at the time of the study. It took a lot of effort to get researchers to start trying to compare babies fed from birth the product they are drinking at the time of the study, and it still doesn’t often happen. That clear difference when babies are exclusively breastfed is what drove WHO to make its recommendations.
SO: should we stop talking about the risk of formula (Or better still, get authorities other than WHO to start?) We never stop talking about other avoidable risk behaviours linked to infant harm, because awareness of risks not only motivates some people to avoid the behaviour, it also reduces the risk. When no one thought child car seats important, there were more deaths. Not many, but enough to make car seats mandatory for everyone despite the cost and inconvenience. If people don’t realise that infant formula powder is not a sterile product, they won’t pay close attention to any changes in texture smell or taste that might indicate dangerous microbes are present, or they might use the tepid water that industry suggests they do, and not kill any lurking pathogens. To minimise formula risks you need to know they exist. In relation to microbial risks check out http://www.who.int/foodsafety/publications/micro/pif2007/en/index.html; the UK Health Department also produces a guide: http://www.dh.gov.uk/health/2012/08/guide-to-bottle-feeding/
In my experience, the rewards of persevering with breastfeeding -through months of pain and active discouragement by those who couldn’t understand why I’d bother when formula was so good these days- are phenomenal. I’d rather rhapsodise about what it has meant to me, about how it taught me to be a responsive mother, about what it meant to my kids, about how useful it was to have the perfect food for a sick child, the perfect gob-stopper at other times…all the joyful and funny things long term breastfeeding brings. I’d rather not have to talk about risk. But it is simply irresponsible not to, alas. Those who don’t share some of the responsibility for needless harm.
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This is a reply to Lon (who left a comment further down but I can’t seem to reply to her individually!)
Lon, my son Fin was losing weight so the Paediatricain suggested we top him up with formula while I breastfed. So yes, my milk came in and I was successfully able to breastfeed him which I loved. I understand why you’re stressed but just remember that there *is* lots of help available and often it’s about finding that one midwife or LC or whoever that you click with if your goal is to breastfeed.
As for stories on Mamamia, here are just a few of the positive stories about breastfeeding we’ve done in the past which may help:
http://www.mamamia.com.au/parenting/you-can-breastfeed-in-public-really-you-can/
http://www.mamamia.com.au/parenting/tara-moss-getting-rid-of-the-breastfeeding-taboo/
http://www.mamamia.com.au/news/breastfeeding-military-mums-in-uniform-whats-so-offensive/
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Bec, I’m wondering if you (and others) are at all curious about why the ABA counsellor in the article might have compared formula feeding to AIDS? I think that it was a terrible thing to do but I also think that I can guess what point she was trying to make. I’ve added it into my list of things not to compare formula to. It trumps the other.
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Bec – I am so sorry you went through what you went through with the ABA. I worked as a nurse in mental health units, and I also worked as a nurse in maternity (personally, I got bored working in maternity). I’ve three healthy kids (all breastfed). I’ve nursed in Turkey, Germany, Peru, Vietnam, Chile, India/Nepal, Cambodia, South Africa. I guarantee you, that in parts of the world women are grateful to have just SURVIVED the birthing experience. Some of the women in developing nations are so malnourished that they don’t produce milk – ever. They would be sickened by the comments and the bullying tactics made the ABA and their counsellors (I speak generally, because from my experience with maternity back here, they are bullies).
Some years ago I had a new mum who was exhausted and fragile after a rather difficult birth. The constant bullying and brow-beating by the ‘breast is the only way’ crowd were disgraceful. This poor women was pushed into post-natal depression, and then slit her wrists. She died (leaving a note saying that she didn’t want to be a “bad, worthless mother” – which were the words of the breast-is-best-bitch). So a husband was left without his wife, a newborn without his mum. The particular tit-nazi tried to get rid of the note before it was found (she was dismissed thankfully). The tit-nazis are ferals, disgusting and so ill-informed it’s not funny. My husband who is an OB/GYN won’t work in Australian hospitals as he’s fed up with “breeder interest groups” and the mentality of agenda driven mantras. We’re moving back overseas – none of our girls want to have kids in Australia (she said to me that the lies she hears about breastfeeding v bottle, natural v caesarean, stay at home or work) have put them off being a mother in this country.
Sad. But personally, I’m glad I no longer have to work or nurse amongst these ABA twits in my line of work. It’s just their egos in play. I feel sorry for counsellors such as the one who spewed up the “aids” comment. Do they work at being ignorant, or does it come naturally? Chin up!
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Goodness me! I hope you are a troll. it would be really scary if you really were a nurse.
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As the mother of 3 boys I have heard all the debates previously. The fact is some women who would choose breast feeding over formula CAN’T breast feed!!!! I tried will all 3 of my babies and had no milk with the 1st or 2nd, with the 3rd I finally had milk but my baby was rapidly loosing weight and I was advised for his health he needed formula feeding. Now I have 3 gorgeous, healthy, happy boys who are very intelligent. Women should do what they need to do to have happy, healthy babies!!! Making mothers feel inadequate doesn’t help anybody!
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I had a premature baby who was in intensive care for a long time. I was told by NICU doctors that if I could express breastmilk for her to be tube fed it would help as formula fed, very premature babies are at a higher risk of developing necrotising enterocolitis (a terrible condition with a high mortality rate). In this situation, yes, formula feeding can increase the risk of infant death.
HOWEVER, most expecting mothers will not be faced with a tiny, sick baby in intensive care. This kind of scare mongering is entirely unhelpful and irrelevant to the majority of the population of pregnant mums. Your healthy little bundle is not going to die as a result of formula feeding.
Encourage women to breastfeed – don’t try to terrify them in to it.
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I have had mixed experience with the ABA. My first child was premature and spent over 3 weeks in special care. I don’t think as a first time mother I would have been able to breast feed with the limited information you receive pre and postnatally. If we want to increase breast feeding rates in Austrialia I think hospital stays need to be longer and more support given to mothers who want to feed.
Hats off to those who can feed as I was unable to with my 2 subsequent children.
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I think this story and the many stories below highlights a need for a bottle feeding advise line…. perhaps this will limit the deaths!
I know that despite being encouraged by my ABA representative to top up with formula and eventually was told to exclusively formula feed. However, once I stopped going to he breast feeding clinic I had no-one to ask advise from and I am sure many people were similar.
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“perhaps this will limit the deaths”
Don’t worry, bottle feeder – they are mythical “deaths”.
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While I whole heartedly agree with this article – that provide the correct information, and represent an organisation – and that this must be managed by the organisation, I did think that the following was an interesting statement made…
“But it is vital that ABA counsellors are educated in evidence-based only facts and statistics, rather than being permitted to engage in propaganda and scaremongering.”
Later, statistics and evidence was also quoted to be needed.
If only all the articles aimed at home deliveries earlier this year had the same parametres used. Often the articles interchanged between low-risk and high-risk or had vague mentions that all home births were dangerous compared to hospital births. Three cases were presented where deaths occured – and yes, these are vital to report. But no mention of the number of safe births occured to weigh against, nor the number of deaths in hospitals that could have been avoided. Furthermore, information relating to traumatic births were barely touched on either.
I felt those particular articles were in the form of “scaremongering” as mentioned above.
I agree – lets not use scaremongering tactics MM, but lets not use them across the board perhaps.
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For my two cents worth: A. The ABA counsellor sounds bats*** crazy. B. Sometimrs we dont have a choice. I wanted to breastfeed, all my adult life I had believed that’s what I would do. Then I had my son and my breasts were simply too small, I had insufficient glandular tissue to exclusively breastfeed. The guilt and sheer torture I put myself through by only being able to breastfeed for 6 weeks was horrendous (he was having comp formula feeds at every feed). We hadn’t even considered formula feeding, then our son was born and we didn’t have a choice. What we also didn’t have was any information – formula feeding was never mentioned in antenatal classes, or in any antenatal apointments. We felt lost and unsupported. He’s now 7 months, thriving, giggling and just generally gorgeous. And that’s what’s important
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I had a terrible experience with the ABA (Melbourne). My first baby was in the special care nursery for three days because I was in ICU – I couldn’t feed him and he was bottle-fed for those first few days. When I was able, I began trying to feed, with on again and off again success. When I contacted the ABA for help I was told that I “should have done the right thing from the start”! Huh… Too bad I was clinging to life at the time.
It’s worth noting that I have fed four babies and I’m fully supportive of breastfeeding but not at the cost of a mother’s physical or mental health.
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Kateinkew I had a similar experience to you. I gave birth to a healthy baby boy but I myself ended up in ICU straight after giving birth clinging to my own life. Unable to breath on m own in a induced coma pumped continuously with drugs I finally woke after 3 days. In that time my son was in special care being fed formula. Unable to move and get out of bed the nurses tried to get me to breast feed. I was very hesitant to as I was pumped up with drugs but they kept forcing me to try. The following day my son stopped breathing, turned blue, where the hospital called code blue. I sat there and watched as they tried to revive my son, fearing the worse. After a few minutes he finally breathed on his own. I told them from the start that I shouldn’t be breast feeding because of the drugs but because the hospital only believes in breast feeding my son could have had brain damage because of lack of oxygen or even worse be dead. When I told them to check my records to see what drugs I was on the ABA were shocked as to how much I was on. Do you think I got an apology but instead I was told by the ABA I was a terrible mother because I didn’t want to take the risk and that I wanted to formula feed my son. Disgusting
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I would like to point out something. Alot of people in the past would NOT of been breastfeed. I would say up until say 30 odd years ago it would of been about 50/50.
To say that breastfeed babies have higher IQs or didn’t catch colds blah blah blah…in the grand scheme of things…I think we all turned out pretty okay. People…get a grip.
If a baby cannot breastfeed for whatever reason I cannot see for the life of me what is wrong with formula. It’s better the baby has something close to breastmilk or follow some obsessive dogma and become malnourished. I know what I would rather have.
Stop worrying about the absolute in’s and out’s of everything. It takes alot more than breastfeeding your baby to make a good mother. Alot more.
Just sayin’.
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Personally I find the counsellor’s comments to be completely dangerous. Of course I don’t deny the incredible benefits of breastfeeding – as a new mum they are drummed into us as soon as the health system discovers were pregnant. And with good reason, I understand. I set out with full intentions of breastfeeding exclusively until 6 months, and was devestated when my 2 day old baby bit me while feeding, setting off a train of breastfeeding problems from the very start. I persisted until she was 12 weeks old, using the services of the ABA, the hospital and anyone I could get my hands on. Nothing worked and I grew more and more depressed. My baby is now 9 months old and ABOVE the 97th percentile for growth in every area, feeds herself, can say 3 words and is almost walking. She has had one cold and so far no allergies. I am sorry to those who feel so strongly that Formula kills babies, but I will not feel guilty or scared that I put my baby on the bottle. I only hope that no new mums with PND read the Sunday Mail
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If you really want some stats.
Comparing exclusively breastfed infants to those who are fully formula fed
Formula fed infants are:
3-5x more likely to be hospitalised with respiratory tract infections
3x more likely to die from SIDS
5-10 times more likely to develop NEC (this is for premmie babies)
Have a 3-8 IQ deficit (this is not a lot but adding it in because you asked)
NEC is fairly commonly fatal and certainly a milk bank in every NICU would save a significant number of lives.
You asked….
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I agree with you on the issue of necrotising enterocolitis. The three months I worked in a special care nursery, three babies died from it, it was by far the most common cause of death. It was why that particular hospital set up a milk bank in the first place, because the formula fed babies were 10 times more like to get nec than babies that had breastmilk (I’m getting my stat from a 2001 study by the Paediatric Clinicians of North America on PubMed).
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Hi Dawny
I would really like to see the research that backs up those claims.
Do you have some peer-reviewed research links?
Also when you say exclusively breastfed, what time frame are we talking about? The first six weeks? The first six months? Could you clarify?
Cheers
Bec
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Sure Bec. I’ll paste in some abstracts (though you really need to read the methods to understand the studies fully- infant feeding research is notorious for poor definitions of feeding leading to questionable results). I’ll do each as a separate comment because when I’ve tried to paste in multiples the browser shuts down.
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Talayero, J. M. P., M. Lizan-Garcia, et al. (2006). “Full breastfeeding and hospitalization as a result of infections in the first year of life.” Pediatrics 118(1): e92-99.
OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to assess the effect of breastfeeding on the probability of hospitalization as a result of infectious processes during the first year of life METHODS: We followed 1385 infants from birth to age 1 year between 1996 and 1999. Recruitment and data collection were done at the 6-month well-infant visit under the National Child Health Program. Full breastfeeding, hospital admission, and other relevant variables related to the delivery, infant, mother, health services system, and sociologic aspects were recorded. The statistical analysis included Kaplan-Meier test, Cox regression to obtain the hazard ratio, and the adjusted attributable risk. RESULTS: Full breastfeeding at discharge after delivery and at 3, 4, and 6 months of age were 85%, 52%, 41%, and 15%, respectively; 78 hospital admissions as a result of infections were recorded (38 respiratory tract, 16 gastrointestinal tract). Mean age at admission was 4.1 months. After estimating the attributable risk, it was found that 30% of hospital admissions would have been avoided for each additional month of full breastfeeding. Seemingly, 100% of full breastfeeding among 4-month-old infants would avoid 56% of hospital admissions in infants who are younger than 1 year. CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of the present data, we conclude that full breastfeeding would lower the risk for hospital admission as a result of infections among infants who are younger than 1 year within an industrialized country.
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Thanks Dawny. I really, really appreciate you taking the time to provide us with some clear facts that point out the great benefits of breastfeeding.
A number of mothers have been told that not breastfeeding will mean they get breastcancer. Obviously that’s an extreme exaggeration, but do you have any stats on links with breastfeeding and breastcancer?
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We have pretty high rates of breast cancer in Australia because of our tendency to have few babies, to have them later in life and to breastfeed them for a short time only. Short durations of breastfeeding have a relatively small impact on risk of breast cancer but longer term there is a big impact. I’ll paste in a study below, women who breastfed each of their children for 2+ years had half the risk of breast cancer as those who breastfed for 6 months. However, these are population studies, no one can predict what will happen for any individual mother.
Zheng, T., L. Duan, et al. (2000). “Lactation reduces breast cancer risk in Shandong Province, China.” American Journal of Epidemiology. 152(12): 1129-1135.
Results from studies of western populations investigating lactation and breast cancer risk have been inconsistent. To examine this issue, the authors conducted a hospital-based case-control study in Shandong Province, China, in 1997-1999. A total of 404 cases and an equal number of controls were included. Detailed information regarding lactation, menstruation, and reproduction was collected through in-person interview. The authors found a significant inverse association between duration of lactation and breast cancer risk. For women who breastfed for more than 24 months per child, the odds ratio was 0.46 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.27, 0.78) when compared with those who breastfed for 1-6 months per child. A significantly reduced risk of breast cancer was also found for those whose lifetime duration of lactation totaled 73-108 months (odds ratio = 0.47, 95% CI: 0.23, 0.95) and for those who breastfed for > or =109 months (odds ratio = 0.24, 95% CI: 0.11, 0.53). The test for trend was statistically significant for both mean duration of lactation per child (p = 0.02) and lifetime duration of lactation (p = 0.00). Further stratification by menopausal status resulted in the same conclusion. These data suggest that prolonged lactation reduces breast cancer risk.
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That’s very interesting. I assume the number of women breastfeeding past the two year mark is fairly low in Australia?
That said it’s a long bow to draw to say that women who don’t breastfeed will be diagnosed with breastcancer. As you say, nobody can predict that and even if you did breastfeed for more than 2 years, you still have a 50% chance of being diagnosed.
Thanks again for these links, Dawny. I genuinely appreciate them.
Knowledge is power. Ideally we want all women (including new mothers and ABA volunteers!) to know the full facts and to make an informed decision from there.
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No Bec, it is most certainly not possible to say that because someone has not breastfed that they will get cancer nor is it possible to say that someone who has breastfed for a long time will not get cancer. It’s all population risk stuff.
BTW it is not correct to say that if you breastfed for a long time that you would have a 50% chance of developing breast cancer, rather if you breastfeed for a long time you have half the chance of someone who breastfed for a short time (or conversely someone who breastfed for a short time only has double the risk of breast cancer as someone who breastfed for a long time).
I agree, that knowledge is power so that parents can make informed decisions. I would be interested to hear how you and your readers think that could be best achieved? It’s really, really hard to communicate clearly on issues like this without people feeling hurt and angry.
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Bec – it’s really important to place all these risks in context.
The most powerful risk factor for breast cancer is having the genetic pre-disposition – which can be screened for. The second most powerful is age – breast cancer, like most cancers, is still much more common in the older population. Smoking is also a contributor. A NIH study looking at modifiable risk factors found that the three most important modifiable factors were alcohol, physical activity and BMI.
So, yes, breast feeding has an association, but it is by no means one of the major risk factors.
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Citation please!
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Easy to find, Dawny – just look up “breast cancer risk factors” on a reputable medical site.
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Quigley, M. A., Y. J. Kelly, et al. (2009). “Infant feeding, solid foods and hospitalisation in the first 8 months after birth.” Archives of Disease in Childhood 94(2): 148-150.
Most infants in the UK start solids before the recommended age of 6 months. We assessed the independent effects of solids and breast feeding on the risk of hospitalisation for infection in term, singleton infants in the Millennium Cohort Study (n = 15,980). For both diarrhoea and lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI), the monthly risk of hospitalisation was significantly lower in those receiving breast milk compared with those receiving formula. The monthly risk of hospitalisation was not significantly higher in those who had received solids compared with those not on solids (for diarrhoea, adjusted odds ratio 1.39, 95% CI 0.75 to 2.59; for LRTI, adjusted odds ratio 1.14, 95% CI 0.76 to 1.70), and the risk did not vary significantly according to the age of starting solids.
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Hauck, F. R., J. M. D. Thompson, et al. (2011). “Breastfeeding and reduced risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: A meta-analysis.” Pediatrics 128(1): 103-110.
Context: Benefits of breastfeeding include lower risk of postneonatal mortality. However, it is unclear whether breastfeeding specifically lowers sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) risk, because study results have been conflicting.Objective: To perform a meta-analysis to measure the association between breastfeeding and SIDS.Methods: We identified 288 studies with data on breastfeeding and SIDS through a Medline search (1966–2009), review articles, and meta-analyses. Twenty-four original case-control studies were identified that provided data on the relationship between breastfeeding and SIDS risk. Two teams of 2 reviewers evaluated study quality according to preset criteria; 6 studies were excluded, which resulted in 18 studies for analysis. Univariable and multivariable odds ratios were extracted. A summary odds ratio (SOR) was calculated for the odds ratios by using the fixed-effect and random-effect inverse-variance methods of meta-analysis. The Breslow-Day test for heterogeneity was performed.Results: For infants who received any amount of breast milk for any duration, the univariable SOR was 0.40 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.35–0.44), and the multivariable SOR was 0.55 (95% CI: 0.44–0.69). For any breastfeeding at 2 months of age or older, the univariable SOR was 0.38 (95% CI: 0.27–0.54). The univariable SOR for exclusive breastfeeding of any duration was 0.27 (95% CI: 0.24–0.31).Conclusions: Breastfeeding is protective against SIDS, and this effect is stronger when breastfeeding is exclusive. The recommendation to breastfeed infants should be included with other SIDS risk-reduction messages to both reduce the risk of SIDS and promote breastfeeding for its many other infant and maternal health benefits.
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Bachrach, V. R., E. Schwarz, et al. (2003). “Breastfeeding and the risk of hospitalization for respiratory disease in infancy: a meta-analysis.” Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 157(3): 237-243.
OBJECTIVE: To examine breastfeeding and the risk of hospitalization for lower respiratory tract disease in healthy full-term infants with access to modern medical care. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE, personal communication with researchers, the OVID databases, Dissertation Abstracts Online, and BIOSIS. STUDY SELECTION: The titles, abstracts, and text of studies from developed countries were explored for breastfeeding exposure measures and lower respiratory tract disease hospitalization rates. For summary statistics, we required 3 inclusion criteria: (1) a feeding contrast of a minimum of 2 months of exclusive breastfeeding (no formula supplementation) vs no breastfeeding and (2) study populations that excluded sick, low birth weight or premature infants and (3) reflected affluent regions; 27% of studies met these criteria. DATA EXTRACTION: We abstracted data from all relevant reports. DATA SYNTHESIS: Data from all primary material (33 studies) indicated a protective association between breastfeeding and the risk of respiratory disease hospitalization. Nine studies met all inclusion criteria, and 7 cohort studies were pooled. The feeding contrasts in these 7 studies were 4 or more months of exclusive breastfeeding vs no breastfeeding. The summary relative risk (95% confidence interval) was 0.28 (0.14-0.54), using a random-effects model. This effect remained stable and statistically significant after adjusting for the effects of smoking or socioeconomic status. CONCLUSION: Among generally healthy infants in developed nations, more than a tripling in severe respiratory tract illnesses resulting in hospitalizations was noted for infants who were not breastfed compared with those who were exclusively breastfed for 4 months.
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I don’t have time to put the refs for NEC in now but may be able to later. I should say that exclusivity of breastfeeding is not as big a deal for IQ as it is for infection and that matters in reading research.
The Dept of Health don’t put $$$ into supporting breastfeeding out of the goodness of their hearts but because it makes a difference to their bottom line in treating illness. Australia is not a developing country (or at least not mostly- those who live in remote Australia may feel differently) and so we don’t have the same consequence associated with formula feeding that they have say, in the Philippines. Very, very few babies die. But the needs of babies are the same everywhere and it is a decent water supply and a good health system and easy availability of medical treatment that means that the choice or necessity to formula feed in Australia is nearly always one without serious long-term health consequences for the child.
That’s not to say that what was reported in the paper was not really stupid, hurtful and uncalled for.
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Dawny thank you SO MUCH for spending the time to provide such excellent research for us all to consider – much appreciated!!
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Dawny
I have greatly appreciated all your comments on this post today. Thank you so much. You have helped shed light on the facts.
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Thanks for supplying all the research. It is definitely important for all women to have access to this type of information so that they can make an informed decision. However, I do believe it is just as important for women to be informed of the following:
* Information needs to be presented so that it makes sense to women’s everyday life. Just using statistics without any context does not have any real meaning or relevance. Eg The risk of Sids is extremely low (eg 1 in 2000) – even if you double or triple the risks it is still going to be extremely unlikely that your baby will die of SIDS, particulary if you follow all the other guidelines. I find this a far more useful way of understanding risk rather than just statistics by themselves.
* There is also ongoing debate about whether some of the benefits ascribed to breastfeeding are a result of the milk itself or the context of the feeding. Ie it is well known that better educated women of higer socio-economic backgrounds are more likely to breastfeed. Many experts believe that some of the increased health benefits may be a result of more vigilant parenting rather than the actual qualities of breastmilk. I am not an expert so I don’t have a clue – but I think women deserve to know that there is some debate about the above.
* Finally I think it’s really important that women know of the risks to their own mental health and sometimes their families (including babies) of continuing to breastfeed wheh there are insurmountable difficulties.
I know this might seem really paradoxical, but for myself once I had actually researched all of the above information it actually helped me to continue to breastfeed when I was really struggling. It took all the pressure off as I knew that if I had to, I could use formula and my baby would be ok. Whereas before I was absolutely convinced that if I didn’t breastfeed my baby, whom I loved more than anything in the wolrd, they were at huge risk of possibly ill health for life.
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Indeed, I’ve discussed some of this in another post- you are right the likelihood of the outcome is just as important as the magnitude of increased risk.
There is some controversy about some of the adverse outcomes ascribed to early termination of breastfeeding but for the examples I provided are pretty rock solid.
I’d be interested in your ideas for how to communicate on these sorts of issues in a way that is not confusing nor upsetting nor patronising to mothers.
I agree entirely that infant feeding is just one part of caring for a baby and that the whole picture should be looked at in decision making. I do however, think that it needs to be factored in that breastfeeding is not necessarily something that makes mothering harder in the longer term, rather easier. We’ve got quite a bit of evidence that breastfeeding assists mothers to care sensitively for their baby and that especially for at risk dyads this can be really important. But there’s no doubt that breastfeeding can be stressful and difficult and that in some cases stopping might be the very best decision for everyone.
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Dawny, thank you for taking the time to post all of that data. It was very informative.
As for how to communicate this information to women, I don’t think there is one ‘correct’ answer. I found that the information I was provided during pregnancy was very ‘dumbed down’. I guess any literature produced has to be accessible by all and so is simplified so that anyone can understand.
I would have appreciated being given summaries of the studies you quoted rather than just a list of ‘do this, don’t do that’. I like to understand why I am choosing or avoiding a certain course of action and immediately second guess any advice given to me. However, I have friends who like to have information simplified and condensed in to a list of instructions for them to follow.
I breastfed my son for 13 months until I fell pregnant and my milk dried up. I was gutted. I also had a premmie daughter who I expressed milk for as she had to be tube fed. To be honest, my biggest influence in motivating me to breastfeed was my mother. She is passionate about that benefits of breastfeeding and supported me in any way that she could.
Just wondering, what is your professional background?
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Thanks guys. I’m talking to the team at the moment about finding a way to present this information in a clear, easy to understand way.
I am 100% for encouraging breastfeeding. I’m also 100% for respecting the choices of women and not judging them.
I’m going to start scouting around to see if I can find someone who might be interested in writing us a post.
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That would be great Bec. Good luck! I think you might find it difficult- perhaps have some sympathy for the breastfeeding counsellor who got it so terribly and catastrophically wrong!!!!!
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Id love to see a positive article on breastfeeding showing all the benefits and perhaps where women can go for assistance or common issues encountered. Maybe some women don’t realise there are natural products you can take to encourage milk production or medication?
Bec, I hope you don’t mind me asking but I know you previously wrote about how hard a time you were given when wanting to top up with formula after your baby was born early. Did your milk end up coming in? It’s something I worry about having a problem with, with my next baby.
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I think this is a great idea Bec, and a really constructive approach.
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Fantastic. Thanks for putting in such an effort. If people read nothing else, at least look at the conclusions.
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It pays to remember that saying something is 3-5 times more likely to happen doesn’t mean a lot if you don’t know what it is 3-5 times of.
The risk of SIDS in the USA is 0.5 per 1000- now without know how many are bottle or breast fed it is difficult to surmise the actual increased risk.
if the risks are not severe to start with the increased risk won’t be that high either.
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Excellent point.
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With some things the numbers affected are very small (eg childhood cancer or SIDS) but the adverse outcome has a big impact so some decide that that is worth doing much to avoid. With others the adverse outcome is not as severe ( eg hospitalisation with gastro or RTI where death is rare) but because the numbers affected are quite large but some consider that is worth doing much to avoid.
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Dawny – there is solid evidence for a modest reduction in respiratory and gastro infections in the first eyar – but only following six months’ exclusive breast feeding, and the numbers of infections are small. There are more powerful confounders at play, though, like household smoking, presence of older siblings and childcare attendance (all of these have more effect on infection rates than breast feeding)>
There is also good evidence for the benefit of breast milk in reducing NEC in premature babies.
There is NO solid evidence for an effect on IQ
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Citations please. It’s about 5% of infants who are hospitalised in infancy with RTI or gastro- not small numbers at all! As I’ve said previously the big impact with infant feeding is not in the number of infections so much but in the number of serious infections. And yes, I made the point that exclusive breastfeeding is quite different from mixed breast/formula feeding where the rates of serious infection are often not very different from exclusively formula fed. The IQ data is actually pretty strong. We have have some RCTs in that area which is very unusual in infant feeding study.
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No, Dawny, the IQ data is not “quite strong”.
Doing an RCT is not enough – it’s how the study was conducted. First, the resarch question has to be solid. The, the methodology has to be appropriate for the resarch question – appropriate power (numbers), selection and exclusions, appropriate measurements, elimination of confounders, appropriate data analysis, discussion of limitations.
Can you take us through the research that you feel is “solid” in this type of detail so we can assess the validity of the findings?
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See http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2007/9789241595230_eng.pdf pages 36-39 for evidence about breastfeeding and intelligence. Included are meta-analyses which are considered to be at the very top in the hierachy of levels of scientific evidence.
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Services that support feeding in general would be better- Help breast feeding or help choosing a formula if that isn’t working out.
it is heart breaking not being able to feed- I spent 6 weeks failing at it with my daughter- She was losing weight and I was bleeding. the lactation consultant even told me to give up.
I chose to use a shield and express to keep my milk up and it did work but if you were working or bus with older children you wouldn’t have time to fed and express all the time. it was very gratifying when we did find a way to make it work but I got a dose of that shame and disappointment when I thought I would have to quit.
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When pregnant with my first child over 3 years ago, I made sure I joined the ABA and went to their breastfeeding class as my sister had been unable to breastfeed. It turns out my sister doesn’t have sufficient glands/breast tissue and would pump for an hour to get 0.2mL… That’s right, 0.2mL). After seeing her struggle and her daughter become malnourished before any professional entertained any notion of formula feeding my niece, I was terrified I would be unable to breastfeed as well.
I was gobsmacked when, through the entire class, it was repeated over and over and over again that EVERY woman can breastfeed and it is simply a ‘supply and demand’ issue for those who supposedly can’t! I finally got up the courage to challenge this at the very end of the class: it was only at this point that the two counsellors present admitted (very quietly) that yes, some women are simply unable to breastfeed. They then talked over me and moved on to the next question, obviously uncomfortable.
I lost almost all respect for the ABA that day and did not contact them when I had problems with my daughter latching. A community lactation consultant was *wonderful* and had my daughter feeding properly with no nipple shield at 7 weeks, despite my daughter being very ill and sleepy.
My experience was in Canberra.
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I dont condone what thiis woman said BUT I dont want to throw the baby out with the bathwater either!!! I dont think the ABA is perfect BUT I do think it is a wonderful organisation who have given tireless, caring and wonderful support to breastfeeding mothers for decades!! Lets not forget them too…. I am seeing a lot of very harsh critisicm in the comments – and thats ok – but I wanted to also chime in and say how GRATEFUL I am for the *free*, caring and informative and very helpful advice I have gotten from the ABA whilst breastfeeding my two kids. Many amazing ladies donate time and resources purely to help babies and mamas – and for that I am grateful! They might not be perfect but they do an awful lot of good. Just wanted to add that in xx
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Disappointing but not surprising to me that the lady in question is unrepentant. It ties in with the experience I had with the ABA (and the experience of the majority of mums on here). They are one-eyed in the extreme.
Well I can’t spend the time today that I did yesterday reading and commenting on this piece but I shall definitely be keeping an eye on the ABA and I await the outcome to their investigation.
I hope the ABA have read this piece and the comments and I hope they take them onboard and ask themselves some questions but I won’t be holding my breath.
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My husband was bottlefed, he’s 6 foot 3, has an honours degree in economics and is rarely sick (apart from the odd dose of man flu!).
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OK but that doesn’t prove anything. anecdotes aren’t evidence
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Um…yes it does.
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What my healthy husband isn’t evidence that bottle feeding is ok? What is then?
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Ok here’s why it’s not evidence. I was formula fed. I have had a lifetime of GastroIntestinal issues. I am short. I have asthma. Do these facts prove anything….no they don’t. We are talking about 1 person’s experience. To extrapolate one person’s experience to claim that formula is either OK or not OK is ludicrous. That’s why scientific method insists that large numbers of people are involved in studies before anything can be proven. If you disagree, feel free to take it up with the scientific community.
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Yes…but where do you think these figures come from??? Thin air???? They would get these figures by interviewing and following people like her husband over a very long period of time to draw these conclusions.
Myself and my 2 brothers were bottle fed. I have had no health issues WHATSOEVER. No allergies…fully developed, above average IQ blah blah blah.
Christ…you would think formula was akin to the Ebola virus by the way some people carry on
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*bangs head against table* see Dawny’s responses above for real research. yes, there are lots of people for whom formula caused no problems. For a small percentage, it does. FACT
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Mamamegan darl…you can bang your head on the table all you like I would rather pull out my own toenails out than read Professor Dawnys’ research. Christ almighty. No wonder people go mental over this kind of thing. How can a normal lay person possibly interpret what she had to say????
But that said…like I said…research ORIGINATES by studying people like myself and that ladies husband. FACT!!!!
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I had a fairly dissapointing experince with the ABA. When I fell pregnant with number 3, baby number 2 was only 12 months old so I rang the ABA for advice on the best way to wean my son over the coming months so that by the time the new bub came he could be weaned. The very unhelpful advice I was given was that there was no need to wean him at all but I should simply tandem feed both my new born and my toddler at the same time. I was even sent out brochures on how to make this happen. Now I get that this is possible and I’m sure some women have successfully and very happily manged to tandem feed but that was not the help I was searching for. Keeping in mind also, he was over 12 months old, eating solids and old enough for cows milk.
My personal circumstance and the help I needed were not taken into account at all. I had zero support, a husband who worked away for long periods of time and was struggling with severe morning sickness, exhaustion and had two other young kids to look after. The thought of tandem feeding made me shudder.
The stupid irony is not one of my kids ever needed formula, I managed to breastfeed my 3rd child until he was over 2 and I honestly really enjoyed breastfeeding. But at the time when I needed support and advice I was at worse made to feel guilty and inadequate for not wanting to tandem feed and at best no better off than when I started. In the end I did what I think ALL mothers should and trusted my own instincts, did what worked for me and had my middle son fully weaned by the time he was 15 months old, in plenty of time for the new bub to arrive.
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She needs to be hauled over the hot coals IMO.
I’d also like to tell her about a friend of mine who has had 4 kids and 2 of them were actually seriously allergic to her breastmilk. Those kids of hers were more at risk of death by having her breastmilk than by their caring mum switching them over the bottle.
Gggggggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
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How can a baby be allergic to breast milk, but not formula??
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Easy. Different proteins. Who’s talking bollocks?
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a good friend of mine had the same issue. Her 2nd girl would take the breast milk, and when did she would vomit straight away and be up all night cranky and tired and in pain from what the breast milk was doing to her.
A week on formula turned everything around and she is a perfectly healthy girl, just allergic to breast milk!!
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Usually these children have to be put on a very hydrolysed prescription only formula. They cannot switch to an ordinary formula.
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Yes, that’s what happened to this particular friend. My point was just that even though we all breast is best etc… for some, it’s not.
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What a load of crap as a neonatal nurse for over a decade before emigrating t Australia I can assure you babies n formula do not die every 30 seconds!!
I am no longer a practicing nurse (AU government won’t recognise my BA Hons Child nursing degree and vast experience as I didn’t do Adult nursing) but I still help parents with my brand of newborn clothing http://www.fourzero.com.au.
Education is important and breast feeding is wonderful if it works, if it doesn’t a baby will thrive on formula too. There is no right or wrong and babies definately aren’t dying in the first world because of formula! I really hope this organisation is reprimanded and retrained. Shameful remarks. There are wonderful lactation nurses in the community to turn to for support.
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Neonatal nurses are seriously awesome. We need more of them too!
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This is just so, so bad. I don’t have kids yet but I really really want to one day. At this stage I like ot think that I’d like to breastfeed, but maybe I’ll change my mind. Maybe, like thousands of other women and some of my best friends, I’ll have the best of intentions to breastfeed and have no milk. Whatever the scenario, I’ll be damned if I’m going to be made to feel guilty about it. This woman is dangerous.
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What a beat up. Yeah, so the ABA had a loony on their books. Big whoop! Frankly, loonies are everywhere and not an indication of an ideological standpoint taken by the whole membership/organisation.
I had a loony midwife attend to me up at the public hospital. She tried to convince me that I did not need to have my blood pressure recorded, I should go home and drink herbal tea instead, despite the fact that I was in hospital that night to have my blood pressure monitored because I had been found to be at risk of pre-eclampsia. Should we then assume from that that all hospital midwives are crackpots?
I was a member of the ABA when my child was little. The counsellor’s were terrific and helped me through a number of issues including oversupply and refusal.
I’m very grateful for their help, which they did in their own time without receiving any payment.
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Sam, I don’t think the article was written as a beat up on the whole ABA.
One “loony” teaching a class can do a whole lot of damage. She is in a position of power over the mothers in her class. As an authority on breastfeeding, they take her advice usually without question because she is supposed to know best.
Any person in a position of authority has a responsibility to ensure that the information they dispense is true and accurate and backed up by academic studies, whether that person is an ABA counsellor, school teacher or medical doctor.
Mothers have a hard enough time, constantly feeling as though they’re failing at some aspect of life or another. If they work, they’re neglectful, if they don’t work, they’re lazy. If their child doesn’t make friends easily, they’ve failed, if their child isn’t gifted, they’ve failed. Now, if they aren’t able to breastfeed, they’re condemning their child to a life of lacklustre intelligence and major health problems.
It’s important that articles such as this are discussed and the truth be made public, lest mothers who have been taught by this woman suffer emotional stress and trauma if they can’t nurse.
Yes, breastfeeding is optimal, but if you can’t do it, you don’t need to suffer the guilt of feeding your child something that is “kind of like AIDS”.
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As one of those mothers who really made no milk, I get so offended by this. We are upset enough that our bodies are not working like they should, as so now we are bad mothers because of it? I really feel the ABA are breastfeeding Nazis sometimes. Give helpful and useful advice on how to successfully breastfeed, absolutely, but do not scaremonger people.
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Do these “counsellors” have any idea of how very very cruel they are to mothers with babies who can’t breastfeed? I have absolutely no doubt that their blind ideology is a significant contributing factor to rising rates of post-natal depression. They certainly contributed to mine. Please please stop being so judgemental – and the same goes for midwives who make equally cruel and unthinking remarks to Mums who have emergency casears instead of delivering the baby “properly”.
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