http://www.007b.com/wonders_breastmilk.php

Just came across this website outlining the benefits of breastfeeding a baby. I know that breast milk is obviously healthier and contains living cells and immune boosters and whatnot but I'm shocked at the claims formula feeding leads to increased chance of SIDS, childhood cancers, problems in later life such as crohns disease etc.

I'm actually in floods of tears right now, I feel so guilty

Someone please tell me this website is exageratting, I feel terrible. xx

Its a pro-breastfeeding website, so its going to be using language that is going to play-up the benefits of breast milk and enhance the disadvantges of formula. Im sure the facts are true, but as its a biased website its not going to be giving you this information in a diplomatic or scientific way.

With the SIDS thing I think it has more to do with physical contact with the baby rather than the actual composition of breast milk. Breast feeding mothers are generally more likely to keep their babies closer when sleeping, so a mother may notice sooner if there is a problem with the babies breathing etc. Also a babies heartrate is regulated when receiving skin to skin contact, which breastfed babies will more than likely be getting more of than a bottle fed baby.

{sigh}

What an awful website. You can certainly promote the good of something without resorting to hyperbole.

Many, many of us, did not have a baby crawl out and latch on. It's just not that simple sometimes. I wish I had not clicked on that link.

Sometimes when you're formula feeding, you just have to stay off baby sites online, unfortunately.

My story is one of the ones in the "breastfeeding guilt" section above.

You're welcome to join us there for support if you like. I don't know what your journey to formula was; if you tried and were unable to breastfeed or if you chose formula from the beginning.

I am so sorry that you're upset. That webiste is awful. I clicked off of it quickly or I would be a weepy mess myself.

Look, there aren't any "guarentees" in life. I used to work for St. Jude's Children's Research Hosptal, helping cooridnate benefits for children's cancer research. Childhood cancer is horrible, and horrific. No child or parents deserve this and believe me, the latest cutting edge technology and research doesn't know why children get cancer. There is a 15 year old boy in my neighborhood battling a brain tumor right now, and for the love of God it never entered my mind if his mother breastfed him or not. How outlandish!

Love that precious baby of yours and enjoy every minute of it. This kind of grief robs us of precious time. Believe me I know. I was ready to give my baby away and drive my car in the river when breastfeeding didn't work with my older son. It wasn't worth it.

Our rational minds know this. But our emotions and hormones get the best of us. And sites like that are to some extent evil because they prey on those emotions. Don't be their victim!

These statistics only suggest correlations. I dont think Formula causes Crohns disease - it might be possible that if you are already susceptible to Crohns then breastmilk might offer you some protection, that is not the same as saying Formula causes Chrones.

It is difficult cos there's never a control group who is on neither breastmilk or formula - it is always one or the other, so you can't tell if it is that breastmilk is extra good and formula is neutral or formula is bad and breastmilk is neutral or neither of those is true!

There are sooooooooooo many things that are siad to increase/decrease the rate of SIDS too but again they are correlations and not causes - we'd all go mad if we had to do everything based on a correlation. You do the best you can.

Everything Vintage said and more...

I checked out the site and noticed that it was poorly cited, and what as given in the references were often pulled out of context. I've studied epidemiology and think it's sad when people use methods such as these to try to get people on to their side.

My neice died of cancer when she was 8 years old. To think that breastmilk would have saved her is pretty naive, actually.

Why don't the articles mention how many babies would have died if they were not given formula and they starved? Because they aren't honest.

To be honest, I felt awful about formula, too. I was given a pamphlet that was actually even worse than the article you posted. After taking the time to find out what is actually in formula, I feel so much better. For some reason I assumed it was a lot more fake and artificial than it really is. Please don't feel guilty. You're feeding your baby!

Short answer......NO!

Please do not get upset. There are pro's and con's to everything, but formula is not poison!

After some reflection, I took a further look at this entire website and not just the breastfeeding section. I think this is a case of a well intentioned idea that got out of control.

There are some positive messages under the other tabs, about accepting your breasts as they are; etc.

And yes our breasts are designed to nourish a child. But sometimes, breasts, like all of our other body parts, do not work perfectly. My eyes are really bad. They're a nice pretty shade of green; but I can't see 6 inches from my face very well at all without glasses. I've been in glasses or contacts since I was 7 years old. And now my 7 year old son needs glasses. Well, that doesn't make me less of a woman,or a person for that matter. Would it be "better" if I had perfect eyesight? Sure. But I don't. And thank goodness there are glasses, contacts, eye surgery, etc., to step in for people whose eyes are doing what "nature intended."

I think you need to take a lot of the links posted on B and B with a pinch of salt and a bit of common sense. Very few articles quoted are properly medically evidence based and, as people have said, information is presented out of context. You can make statistics and research say anything if you only quote the one line you're interested in and not the whole paper.

Bottom line: Breast feeding has more health benefits than powdered baby milk, yes there is strong evidence for this but that doesn't mean that you're child will become horrendously unwell if you choose not to breastfeed or can't. And you need to think about baby's upbringing as a whole. 1 year of BF is great but if you're going to spend the 15 years after that feeding them McDonalds and letting them sit playing computer rather than eating a healthy balanced diet and getting out for some exercise you're still going to develop type II diabetes and all the rest of it.

xxoo

Oh wow...I have really have had to stay off these types of websites. I didn't choose to not breast feed my baby...I have a very bad chronic pain condition and need to go back on my meds after my girlie is born (I went off all of them for her benefit while growing inside me but can't go without them indefinitely or I will not be able to be a proper mother to my daughter). I plan to get as much colostrum into her as I can and after that it will be formula. You have to understand that a lot of this is fear mongering with not a lot of concrete evidence to back it up. Almost everyone in my family was formula fed and none of us died of SIDS, none of us are obese or less intelligent or healthy (my chronic pain is structural...some body flaw I was born with), no childhood cancers etc. My cousin had to formula feed both her daughters and they are super healthy and intelligent. You wouldn't be able to tell the difference between them and a breastfed child on the playground! (in fact, you never can).

You just do what is best for your baby and realize that, yes breast milk is the ideal food, but it isn't the only healthy option by any means and you have nothing to feel guilty about. It takes awhile to come to terms with it for sure.

The SIDS aspect is very true.