४ ऑक्टोबर, २००६
Breastfeeding doesn't make kids smarter.
It's just that smarter mothers tend to breastfeed their kids. Why has it taken three-quarters of a century to puncture this myth, when the methodology -- described at the link -- was so easy?
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I think that my poor sainted mother went to her grave believing that if she had just tried a little harder, she could have done it, and we all would have been smarter.
I am surprised though that back in 1923 there was the same socio-economic ties between breast feeding and wealth, intelligence, etc. as there are today. My impression was just the opposite - that back then, it was more a recent immigrant sort of thing.
But now? Money and success really do make it easier, from being able to stay home longer, to having a private office in which to to it.
But note the somewhat conflicting study from the Philippines. So, I don't think the jury is in yet here on the intelligence link.
"Breastfeeding doesn't make kids smarter...a study suggests."
Sorry, Meade. I wasn't breastfed.
If that weren't enough for mothers in the U.K., the European Court of Justice just ruled that women in the UK are not entitled to equal pay when such is based on length of service and women have taken time off to have kids.
I am not an expert on employment law here, but that ruling would be unsurprising here - but is a bit from Europe.
Combining the two, there should be no surprise that the number of women nursing for extended periods of time in the UK drops even more.
Ann,
I think that it was the era - of scientific mothering, Dr. Spock, etc. I also expect that the opposite socio-economic forces were in effect back then. It was only when our generation started having kids that the trend reversed.
I wonder if part of it was our hippie culture - back to nature and all that. That was the first place where I saw it, or, indeed, had ever known anyone to do so. Now, like a lot of things from then, breast feeding is now mainstream, so mainstream that the major debate seems now to be whether covering up is required in public, whether companies should provide facilities for it, etc.
Oh goody -- is it that time of month when we get to criticize mothers for something that is really no one's business?
Hey everyone, remember that this study was done in the USA. Here the cohort of people that breastfeed tend to be older and well-educated. So we can't compare to third world studies of breastfeeding. There the women who breastfeed usually have no other option.
But breast milk is best for baby. The compostion changes as the baby grows. If you have a preterm baby the milk that is produced is different from what term mothers produce.
So, its the right food;
You never leave it at home;
Its always at the right temp;
Less colic;
less diarrhea;
Fewer ear infections;
Less spit up;
and lastly
It comes in such nice containers :-)
Run away! More breast blogging!
another example of not only the public, but in this case also the medical community not being able to distinguish between correlation and causality.
Jeez, the pro-breastfeeding crowd is heavy-handed. Leave women alone. Stop the guilt-tripping.
Ann Althouse said...
Sorry, Meade. I wasn't breastfed.
And I've been told I was (though, who knows, even supposedly breast-feeding mothers can lie, right?)
Oh well, either way, the study would suggest neither of us have breast milk as an excuse.
Here's an idea about why the pro-breastfeeding crowd is heavy-handed and why the myth has persisted for so long: In addition to all the educated, profession women with their own offices and the money to buy or rent a really good breat pump (disclosure: this group includes me and my friends), the pro-breastfeeding crowd also includes a lot of women who stay at home with the kids, feel rather self-righteous about it, and represent another front in the culture wars. Beleive me, these gals even try to me us pumpers feel guilty about pumping-sure the kid gets the breast milk, but somehow taking it from a rubber nipple from a paid childcare worker seems to kill all those little smart molecules normally found in breastmilk.
Drill Sgt beat me to it, but it's one of the most fundamental rules of research (especially social studies) and bears repeating. Let's all say it together:
Coincidence does not prove causality.
Either way, if you're not breastfeeding your kids, you're dumb.
Coco, the LLL people that I've experienced were true Tit-Nazis -- they weren't interested in helping my wife pump, for example, because a real mother stays home, doesn't shave her armpits, and uses cloth diapers.
Maybe I'm using hyperbole. But the sad truth is that LLL tried to put each and every women in one little box. The reality is that every one is different and if they find something that works for them and their kid and their family, that's the excellent outcome you want.
Lo! I did'st suckle the proffered teat
while'st massaging extended feet
t'was no delectable treat
a dalliance n'er to repeat
when she called for foot and mouth to meet
-LDM (lonely donut man)
A better question: why is society so hostile to something that is uniquely female?
Formula is a convenience, but it is tough to argue it is a better choice for babies or mothers than breast milk. No one wants to imagine that it's a problem to leave a bottlefed baby with a care giver for a child's intelligence or any other desirable trait. No stay at home mother wants to imagine that a $7 an hour high school drop-out can do as good a job as she can when caring for the baby.
That's the issue at the heart of this isn't it? Assuaging the guilt of working mothers and/or reaffirming the value of stay-at-home moms who already feel like second class citizens.
Bottom line, if breastfeeding is so great for kids (and I believe that it is) and moms, then there needs to be more respect and societal support for it. Let women stay home and give the kid what it needs and then let her go back to work unpenalized.
If you fed your child chicken nuggets or macaroni and cheese for every meal would you take offense when someone else fed their child a balanced meal?
That depends. Are they constantly trying to guilt me into feeding my child a balanced meal?
My wife was recovering from a C-section and didn't have the energy required to breastfeed pretty much continuously (1.5 hours to feed the girl enough, with the requirement to start feedings 2 hours apart).
Yes, all three of my kids have eaten like this. After reading all the literature, which insists they should eat for ten minutes a side, every three hours, it was a little bit of a shock. I've had lots of well-meaning suggestions as to what I'm doing wrong, but fortunately (sort of) my first baby was preterm and never latched on well so although we did make an attempt at breastfeeding for 6 months we also bottle fed that whole time, and she took just as long drinking from the bottle as from the breast. So I didn't panic with the second one when she ate so often and for such a long time. Now I just expect it.
La Leche League is full of nuts, and I say that as someone who loves to breastfeed. I've contacted two different chapters with different problems, and in both cases the people I talked to were nuts (in other words they had an extreme view of what constitutes successful breastfeeding and expected everyone to conform, no matter their challenges). The second time I called, looking for an OB recommendation since we were in a new place and I wanted an OB who was breastfeeding-friendly, the lady kept talking and talking, trying to persuade me that I shouldn't wean my 19-month-old but should tandem nurse with the new baby.
My sister, who is a family practice doctor, had her first baby last year. Her baby also needed to eat for much longer periods of time and more often than the usual "10 minutes every three hours" and because she wasn't expecting that she gave up breastfeeding very early thinking she was having a problem. Now she warns her patients to expect that it might take more time.
Lots of the breastfeeding challenges have relatively simple solutions, especially if you have time to implement them (like letting the baby nurse for long periods frequently), but it's hard to get that information. LLL could help if they weren't so over-the-top.
I was breastfed on falsies.
I suppose that explains alot.
I should add that I totally understand giving up on breastfeeding, especially if you have extra challenges like a difficult C-section or a preterm baby. Knowing what I know now, I probably would not have persisted in trying to breastfeed my first baby. Because of our challenges, even with the help of a lactation consultant it was an unsuccessful effort that took over my life for six months. I even had a spreadsheet to track how much formula she was getting versus how much breastmilk (pumped), and I would feel terrible when the chart showed too much formula.
All of these parenting issues, not just breastfeeding, seem to bring out the cattiness. I suppose it's because most of us feel a little insecure about what we're doing and so we get defensive if someone makes a different choice. Breastfeeding is probably just the most noticeable because it is more visible than some other parenting choices.
(And yes, I'm breastfeeding as I type this. The current baby is 1 and I can now use both hands while he eats! Do I get a prize for that???)
The smartest women are those who manage to avoid the conundrum by staying childfree.
The smartest women are those who manage to avoid the conundrum by staying childfree.
That's an ugly sentiment. Heaven forbid that a smart woman become a breeder!
If genius runs in your family, why don't you know about regression to the mean?
The health advantage to children for breastfeeding over the bottle is, while statistically significant, rather marginal; it only shows up in large populations.
Imagine, if you will, two mothers of active male eight-year-olds.
Mother 1 feeds her child the six ounces of grains, 2.5 cups of vegetables, 2 cups of fruit, three cups of milk, and 5.5 ounces of meat/beans a day strictly in accordance with USDA nutritional guidelines.
Mother 2 feeds her child 5.5 ounces of grain, 2 cups of vegetables, 2.5 cups of fruit, 3 cups of milk, and 6 ounces of meat a day.
Tell me, how much pressure should mother 2 be put under to conform to the expert guidelines?
Certainly, the diet is not the official ideal, but anyone who would harass Mother 2 with the dequivalent of the New York Times headline "Breast-Feed or Else" certainly would be considered to lack a sense of proportion.
"Why has taken three-quarters of a century ... ."
I can think of all kinds of reasons why people wouldn't credit the idea that intelligence is heritable.
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