The Breastfeeding Nazis Strikes Again

(Yes. This is coming from a person who breastfed in bathrooms and all sorts of dark corners to avoid "looks" and be modest. And now I'm posting a picture of my large boob. I know. But isn't it funny how my boob is bigger than her head? And seriously, it's natural, so let's all get over it.)

I saw this information on an AOL newspage and thought it sharable. Mind you, I'm a breastfeeding nazis. Both my girls have never had more than 5 oz. total of formula in their diets. (And even then I only gave it because my milk hadn't come in and they had lost over 1 lb as newborns... yes, both of them. Talk about freaking me out!) I breastfed Christina exclusively (and when I say exclusive, that's no formula and no bottles of pumped breast milk) until about 8 months and then introduced solids. I kept breastfeeding her, with no bottles, until she was 23 months. When she was 1 year I gave her soy milk also, but naps and bedtime were always nursing.... or when she was sick. Maria is 14 months and still going strong. I nurse her about 3-4 times throughout the day and night and she also drinks soy milk with meals now. No bottles.

Now, am I a healthy person who can produce milk? Yes. Do I realize some women can't produce milk? Yes. Am I trying to rub this information in their faces? No. I have better things to do. I share this because I think if more women who were capable of breastfeeding, fed their babies longer and exclusively breast milk the world would be a better place. Interestingly enough, this article is one study that helps my theory.

Breast-Fed Children Smarter, Study Finds
By Will Dunham, Reuters Press

WASHINGTON (May 6) - "A new study provides some of the best evidence to date that breast-feeding can make children smarter, an international team of researchers said on Monday.Children whose mothers breast-fed them longer and did not mix in baby formula scored higher on intelligence tests, the researchers in Canada and Belarus reported."

"About half the 14,000 babies were randomly assigned to a group in which prolonged and exclusive breast-feeding by the mother was encouraged at Belarussian hospitals and clinics. The mothers of the other babies received no special encouragement...The children were monitored for about 6 1/2 years."

"The children in the group where breast-feeding was encouraged scored about 5 percent higher in IQ tests and did better academically, the researchers found.Previous studies had indicated brain development and intelligence benefits for breast-fed children."

"But researchers have sought to determine whether it was the breast-feeding that did it, or that mothers who prefer to breast-feed their babies may differ from those who do not.The design of the study -- randomly assigning babies to two groups regardless of the mothers' characteristics -- was intended to eliminate the confusion."

" MOTHERS WHO BREAST-FEED ... ARE DIFFERENT. "Mothers who breast-feed or those who breast-feed longer or most exclusively are different from the mothers who don't," Dr. Michael Kramer of McGill University in Montreal and the Montreal Children's Hospital said in a telephone interview."They tend to be smarter. They tend to be more invested in their babies. They tend to interact with them more closely. They may be the kind of mothers who read to their kids more, who spend more time with their kids, who play with them more," added Kramer, who led the study published in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry.

"The researchers measured the differences between the two groups using IQ tests administered by the children's pediatricians and by ratings by their teachers of their school performance in reading, writing, math and other subjects.Both sets of scores were significantly higher in the children from the breast-feeding promotion group.The study was launched in the mid-1990s. Kramer said the initial idea was to do it in the United States and Canada, but many hospitals in those countries by that time had begun strongly encouraging breast-feeding as a matter of routine.The situation was different in Belarus at the time, he said, with less routine encouragement for the practice."

" Kramer said how breast-feeding may make children more intelligent is unclear."It could even be that because breast-feeding takes longer, the mother is interacting more with the baby, talking with the baby, soothing the baby," he said. "It could be an emotional thing. It could be a physical thing. Or it could be a hormone or something else in the milk that's absorbed by the baby."Previous studies have shown babies whose mothers breast-fed them enjoy many health advantages over formula-fed babies.These include fewer ear, stomach or intestinal infections, digestive problems, skin diseases and allergies, and less risk of developing high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity.The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that women who do not have health problems exclusively breast-feed their infants for at least the first six months, with it continuing at least through the first year as other foods are introduced."

Breastfeeding Sites I love

http://www.waba.org.my/index.htm

http://www.kellymom.com/

http://www.llli.org/