Not being breast fed

I was talking to my A grade biology friend yesterday and Ive no idea how but we got onto the topic of babies health. She said something like its really important that mothers breastfeed there babies, I said that I wasn't (I was told I wasn't) and she was like well it will have affected my future health. She then said that not being breastfed is worse than growing up with parents who smoke :confused:

Im already a hypochondriac but does anyone know what she was talking about im worried :confused:

I can't get to sleep my brain keeps thinking of stuff :rolleyes:

Reply 1

SilverWings

14

You get immunity stuff from breastmilk - it's undeniably the best source of nutrition and health for a baby - simply because it's the most natural thing ever to do.

Not sure if it's worse than growing up with smoking parents - probably just means you're likely to get ill more often, and it affects you more when you are ill [by ill I mean stomach bugs, colds stuff like that - nothing serious I don't think :s:

]

Reply 2

Kolya

17

There is no need to worry. Concentrate on those matters you can change and ignore those that you have no power over :smile:

Reply 3

SilverWings

14

She could drink breastmilk now though!! :smile:

Reply 4

Glory

1

I think the importance of breast milk becomes less of an issue as you get older. You build up your own immunity to things. I always thought brest milk benefits only lasted the first few years of life, until you cant create your own.

Reply 5

pendragon

13

SilverWings

She could drink breastmilk now though!! :smile:

It's never to late to start!

(thinks of Little Britain :biggrin:

)

Reply 6

Anonymous #2

SilverWings

You get immunity stuff from breastmilk

I thought that was only true for like 6 months after you're born, which is why it's about then babies get vaccinated. 6 months of mum's antibodies then you're on your own

Reply 7

ramdom

it's only inportant to breastfeed for the first 6 months for immunity but then you start to make you own antibobies therefore it is worser growing up in a house with smoking parents

Reply 8

tomtheone

2

When you are a baby, it is harder for you to produce your own antibodies, to fight illness. Breast feeding means that the mother can pass some of her antibodies through the milk on to the baby. But after a while or so the child is able to efficiently produce there own antibodies, and so breastfeeding is no longer needed. If you weren't breast fed, the negative effects of this will show up as a baby, and not later on in life, aka, your fine it doesn't matter know.

Reply 9

Akhoza

pendragon

It's never to late to start!

(thinks of Little Britain :biggrin:

)

Lol exactly what i was thinking- bitty

Reply 10

xavier2k3

1

SilverWings

She could drink breastmilk now though!! :smile:

Eugh, that reminds me of that program on a few months ago where there were like 11 year old childrens who were still drinking breastmilk.

regards
--marty

Reply 11

Pandy

10

pendragon

It's never to late to start!

(thinks of Little Britain :biggrin:

)

Haha, oh dear. I remember there was a woman who brest fed all her kids until they were like 10/11. I found that a wee bit old. So did the other kids they went to school with who took the piss as a result.

edit: Snap, what xavier said.

Reply 12

tinkerbellejess

13

I was breatfed for about a week, and then...I started biting...lol, so my mum stopped! There have been links shown between breastfeeding and health, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. I don't think there's anything conrete, as health can be determined by a number of factors

Reply 13

tinkerbellejess

13

Yeah, there was a programme on that, breastfeeding until a ridiculous age, their kids are gonna have an unhealthy fixation with breasts for the rest of their lives!!

Reply 14

Dude

14

SilverWings

You get immunity stuff from breastmilk - it's undeniably the best source of nutrition and health for a baby - simply because it's the most natural thing ever to do.

Thats very true.

My mum breast fed my older sister, but didn't me. And because of it, my sister now has lots of immunitys to various illnesses where as I have hayfever and catch cold often during the year

Reply 15

Zoecb

11

Being breast-fed is an advantage, certainly, but I think your friend is greatly exaggerating. And don't let my mum latch onto any of these ideas. She might think that having breast-fed me makes it justified for her to have continued smoking heavily all through her pregnancy and into my adulthood.

Reply 16

Adhsur

15

I think you are also forgetting the other benefits of it: better emotional development, feeling closer to your mum, and so on. It's almost as much a comfort thing as a health thing I think.

Reply 17

dogtanian

16

There is a bit of a REAL MOTHERS ONLY BREASTFEED!!!!1 thing going on, I think. Yeah, it might be the best option, but blimey, if your child isn't taking to it, or you don't have the time to breastfeed til the age of 1, or heck, you just don't feel like it, you're hardly a bad mother. Powdered milk is designed to feed the little 'uns too, and it isn't like it's bad for the kid. Indeed, it does give the nutrients needed. I'm pretty sure my brother and sister weren't breast fed for long at all, and they're fine. I don't know about how I was fed, because I'm basing this on all the SMA tins around the house.

As for immune systems, yeah, it has a benefit there. But it isn't the deciding factor. Genetics, environment, all that stuff is way ahead on whether they suckled upon their mother's breast in that stakes.

Breast might be best, but formula is more than OK too.

Reply 18

Logan

4

An enormous and still-growing body of medical research demonstrates that breastfeeding is the optimal means of exclusively feeding babies through about six months of age and continues to provide benefits as a portion of a child's diet through at least two years of age. While the dangers of artificial feeding in industrialized countries are not of the order of magnitude that they are in developing countries (i.e., infant deaths ten times the rate of breastfed babies), there are still substantial health consequences to the choice of infant feeding method. For example, the use of formula instead breastfeeding in industrialized countries is associated with:

* More cases, and more severe cases, of respiratory and gastrointestinal infections. (1)
* Lower scores on tests of neurological development. (2)
* Increased risk of allergies and greater intensity of problems from allergies. (3)
* Increased risk of childhood lymphomas (cancer). (4)
* Increased risk of breast cancer in women who were not breastfed. (5)
* Increased risk of breast cancer in mothers who don't breastfeed. (6)
* Increased risk of type I (juvenile, insulin-dependent) diabetes. (7)
* Increased risk of adult intestinal disorders (ulcerative colitis, Crohn's). (8)
* Cardiopulmonary disturbances during bottlefeeding. (9)
* Formula-fed babies must fast longer prior to surgery than breastfed babies.

no wonder so many brits have allergy to even the lamest things(just being sarcastic)

so yeah, its worse than growing up with parents who smoke...

Reply 19

Anonymous #1

OP

Logan

An enormous and still-growing body of medical research demonstrates that breastfeeding is the optimal means of exclusively feeding babies through about six months of age and continues to provide benefits as a portion of a child's diet through at least two years of age. While the dangers of artificial feeding in industrialized countries are not of the order of magnitude that they are in developing countries (i.e., infant deaths ten times the rate of breastfed babies), there are still substantial health consequences to the choice of infant feeding method. For example, the use of formula instead breastfeeding in industrialized countries is associated with:

* More cases, and more severe cases, of respiratory and gastrointestinal infections. (1)
* Lower scores on tests of neurological development. (2)
* Increased risk of allergies and greater intensity of problems from allergies. (3)
* Increased risk of childhood lymphomas (cancer). (4)
* Increased risk of breast cancer in women who were not breastfed. (5)
* Increased risk of breast cancer in mothers who don't breastfeed. (6)
* Increased risk of type I (juvenile, insulin-dependent) diabetes. (7)
* Increased risk of adult intestinal disorders (ulcerative colitis, Crohn's). (8)
* Cardiopulmonary disturbances during bottlefeeding. (9)
* Formula-fed babies must fast longer prior to surgery than breastfed babies.

no wonder so many brits have allergy to even the lamest things(just being sarcastic)

so yeah, its worse than growing up with parents who smoke...

see.

Not being breast fed

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