Breast feeding compared to smoking.

avalanche

I mean they advise women who smoke to breast feed as the benefits of breast feeding outweigh the fact that smoke chemicals pass to the baby in the milk.

Which chemicals are transferred through breast milk and what are their effects?

avalanche

Ten again I don't think that not breastfeeding deprives babies of anything that cannot be made up for in later life.

Do you have any evidence to support this belief which runs contrary to the majority of research into this?

Reply 25

cottonmouth

It's a fact that middle-class mothers are more likely to breastfeed their children, so it follows that these kids, with middle-class lifestyls, will get all of the perks that lifestyle comes with.

Although you're right, I think there's far more to it than that. Why are the middle-classes more likely to breast-feed? What would happen if the lower-classes were more likely to breast-feed?

Reply 26

flump

No one seems to have mentioned benefits to mothers which are also worth considering.

flump

No one seems to have mentioned benefits to mothers which are also worth considering.

well I guess because it's not relevant to the original question. It's about which situation is the more harmful to a baby - being formula fed, or having a mother that smokes.

Reply 28

flump

PinkMobilePhone

well I guess because it's not relevant to the original question. It's about which situation is the more harmful to a baby - being formula fed, or having a mother that smokes.

OK, I had forgotten the first post just looking at title it seemed relevant to look at it from a mothers point of view, and I think that breast feeding would definitely be better for the mother than smoking. Also I suppose a healthy mom if better for the baby.

Reply 29

Renal

Which chemicals are transferred through breast milk and what are their effects?

Do you have any evidence to support this belief which runs contrary to the majority of research into this?

I don't know what chemicals are transferred nor their effects.

Why do I need evidence? Lets for arguments sake go with the majority of research which suggests that breast feeding really does result in lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure, higher intelligence etc etc. (although studies conflicting this tend not to get published)

How do you lower bp and choleterol? Excersise and diet. As for intelligence they say a diet of fish can increase it lol. So unless you show me some evidence which proves that lifestyle and the choices we make do not lower bp, cholesterol, obesity, intelligence then not breast feeding doesn't deprive the child of anything that cannot be made up for. Why do you think pre mature babies are healthy adults? It can't be put down to an healthy start can it..

flump

OK, I had forgotten the first post just looking at title it seemed relevant to look at it from a mothers point of view, and I think that breast feeding would definitely be better for the mother than smoking. Also I suppose a healthy mom if better for the baby.

Well yeh, breastfeeding does have many benefits for the mother. It lowers the risk of her getting ovarian cancer or breast cancer in later life. It helps to shrink the cervix back to normal after birth as well. Good stuff :smile:

Reply 31

alio~

9

PinkMobilePhone

Well yeh, breastfeeding does have many benefits for the mother. It lowers the risk of her getting ovarian cancer or breast cancer in later life. It helps to shrink the cervix back to normal after birth as well. Good stuff :smile:

You know I respect you for not rising to all this debate lol a lot of breast feeding mothers suddenly jump on people who put breast feeding down in any way. I wouldn't mind a baby but I can just imagine the whole pregnancy thing being a nightmare and during the birth I think Id die :eek:

lol yeh the pregnancy and birth are not fun, but you put up with it because, well, not much else you can do really haha.

Breastfeeding...ehh well I know what it's like to both formula feed and breastfeed, so whilst I know that breastfeeding is the best thing, I also know that formula isn't liquid made by demons in the very depths of hell :wink:

So I can look at it from both points of view. I think that people should, if possible, try and breastfeed if they can, as it's obviously the better option, but if for whatever reason they can't, well no big deal, the earth won't open up and devour the mother for being a bad parent or anything, and the baby will still be just fine and dandy.

My daughter I only breastfed for 3 months, then I got gastro enteritis and I couldn't eat for a week. I couldn't get out of bed for days I was so ill. So that's when we put her onto formula of course, and then after that she wouldn't take breastmilk any more, she only wanted formula (plus my milk supply was then so low there was barely any point trying), so that was the end of that.

I felt gutted about it for a while, but then as she thrived just fine on the formula, I eventually stopped beating myself up about it, and realised that I wasn't a bad mother, it was just one of those things. Formula isn't poison :smile:

Reply 33

avalanche

I don't know what chemicals are transferred nor their effects.

So how can you talk about the chemicals which are transferred when, for all you know, there aren't any.

Why do I need evidence?

Because without it, it sounds like you're making it up.

Lets for arguments sake go with the majority of research which suggests that breast feeding really does result in lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure, higher intelligence etc etc. (although studies conflicting this tend not to get published)

Yes they do. I just assume you haven't read them. They are even included in some of the meta-analysis.

How do you lower bp and choleterol? Excersise and diet. As for intelligence they say a diet of fish can increase it lol. So unless you show me some evidence which proves that lifestyle and the choices we make do not lower bp, cholesterol, obesity, intelligence then not breast feeding doesn't deprive the child of anything that cannot be made up for. Why do you think pre mature babies are healthy adults? It can't be put down to an healthy start can it..

Your grasp of basic scientific principles, let alone complex multi-factorial biological processes is clearly lacking. You are an idiot if you think that only environment or only genetics or only breastfeeding can affect something, this is medicine it is not fully understood (this is not an excuse for you to pretend to understand it) and it is not black and white.

Reply 34

It seems to me that your grasp of understanding English is lacking doctor, or at least understanding me. My whole point was that many factors influence adult health, like I said exersise and current diet are 2 of them. Ive no idea what made you assume that I mean that only one factor is involved, either you misread my post or Ive worded it badly. What I am saying is that I find it hard to see how lack of breast feeding (in the majority of cases) deprives babies of anything in the long term which cannot be made up for. You can show me loads of studies which conclude that breast fed babies have lower adult weight and blood pressure, but like you know exersise and life style (along with countless other factors) are well known major contributors to lower bp and BMI, therefore if you were not breast fed, as long as you live healthy, you are hardly at a disadvantage compared to someone who was.

That was the only point I was trying to make. Hope I explained myself clearer. Research is crazy these days there are studies concluding that being born in a certain month lowers adult depression, waste of money.

Reply 35

avalanche

You can show me loads of studies which conclude that breast fed babies have lower adult weight and blood pressure, but like you know exersise and life style (along with countless other factors) are well known major contributors to lower bp and BMI, therefore if you were not breast fed, as long as you live healthy, you are hardly at a disadvantage compared to someone who was.

Why do you suppose clinical trials have controls?

Research is crazy these days there are studies concluding that being born in a certain month lowers adult depression, waste of money.

Schizophrenia, not depression. From that it was found that aetiology involves maternal respiratory infection. Complete waste of money... :rolleyes:

Reply 36

Fluent in Lies

2

Some people are allergic to breast milk, so it's not always best :cool:

Reply 37

Renal

Why do you suppose clinical trials have controls?

Schizophrenia, not depression. From that it was found that aetiology involves maternal respiratory infection. Complete waste of money... :rolleyes:

How effective are these controls though, there are probably lots of variables we don't even know about. The effects of long term breast feeding are always going to be impossible to prove surely. Just imagine if for some imaginary reason you took an adult who was formula fed to court to find out if he would have been any healthier if he had been breast fed im sure they wouldn't have enough decent evidence to confirm that he would have been. Ok thats stupid but you know what im getting at lol.

These are the type of studies which, along with some breast feeding studies, I think are a waste of money

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3622817.stm

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1965464

Reply 38