Never mind Breast, does Doctor always know best?
I am presuming (hoping?) that The Guardian newspaper did nor set out to publish an inflammatory piece about breastfeeding but unfortunately, it seems to have fallen into the media breastfeeding black hole.
http://m.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/apr/23/mix-feed-baby-doctor?cat=lifeandstyle&type=article
But more important than yet another media #fail are the ridiculous statements by this 'Dr Smith'. What book was he referencing when he said that the immune benefits cross over in the first few weeks, suggesting therefore that there are no further immunity benefits to be gained by breastfeeding for longer than that?
I blogged about some of the significant milestones in breastfeeding here - http://michelletant.blogspot.com/2011/02/milestones-that-matter.html and honestly doctor, the facts are easy enough to come across if you look.
Then to move along to saying that expressing is faster than a baby feeding directly? While of course there may be individual cases where this happens, he is not to know that this is one of them and she certainly does not allude to that. in the main, babies who are latched on well will be much more efficient at 'draining' the breast and will get more than the mother pumping at that same session instead.
This Doctor is publishing in a respected newspaper and at the very least, should have a responsibility to check that the information they are providing is correct. Statements such as the ones he made result in me thinking about his motives, his funding etc.
Breastfeeding is not a medical mechanical process that can easily be quantified by science. The facts as we know them are that breastfeeding perfectly supplies exactly what is needed, when asked for, for as long as required. Some Doctors can't bear it that exact amounts cannot be pinned down, and their response then is to undermine it, consequently undermining the ability of woman to more than adequately nurture her child.
Wellmeaning advice it might be but I would like to see breastfeeding getting some positive and correct press coverage. Is that too much to ask?
http://m.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/apr/23/mix-feed-baby-doctor?cat=lifeandstyle&type=article
But more important than yet another media #fail are the ridiculous statements by this 'Dr Smith'. What book was he referencing when he said that the immune benefits cross over in the first few weeks, suggesting therefore that there are no further immunity benefits to be gained by breastfeeding for longer than that?
I blogged about some of the significant milestones in breastfeeding here - http://michelletant.blogspot.com/2011/02/milestones-that-matter.html and honestly doctor, the facts are easy enough to come across if you look.
Then to move along to saying that expressing is faster than a baby feeding directly? While of course there may be individual cases where this happens, he is not to know that this is one of them and she certainly does not allude to that. in the main, babies who are latched on well will be much more efficient at 'draining' the breast and will get more than the mother pumping at that same session instead.
This Doctor is publishing in a respected newspaper and at the very least, should have a responsibility to check that the information they are providing is correct. Statements such as the ones he made result in me thinking about his motives, his funding etc.
Breastfeeding is not a medical mechanical process that can easily be quantified by science. The facts as we know them are that breastfeeding perfectly supplies exactly what is needed, when asked for, for as long as required. Some Doctors can't bear it that exact amounts cannot be pinned down, and their response then is to undermine it, consequently undermining the ability of woman to more than adequately nurture her child.
Wellmeaning advice it might be but I would like to see breastfeeding getting some positive and correct press coverage. Is that too much to ask?
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