You do the Hokey-cokey and you turn around...


Thanks to Fiona and all the BF support community on Facebook, I heard about this issue despite having a poorly son who just wanted to sit & eat oranges today (before you ask, he is older than 6 months!!).

I look forward to reading the careful research and discourse of UK bloggers such as Analytical Armadillo and How Breastfeeding Works on this issue... and in the meantime here are a few things I've noted down about today.

{LATEST: Analytical Armadillo has come up trumps again - it was a long labour, but well worth it! See also How Breastfeeding Works, a short & snappy piece from Motherwear, and also from Nancy Mohrbacher.} 

{MORE RESPONSES, Feb 2011- from the BMJ?  An observation written by an Associate Editor of the BMJ, C. Martyn - cheerfully named 'Lactation Wars' has not been well-received.  No other responses as yet from the BMJ. More details below.}


In between snuggles & snoozes, I saw yet again how the media can take one aspect of scientific research and twist it to suit a plan, just in time to meet a deadline.  Slap on a headline that neatly ties it all together and off it goes.  PUBLISH.


What a shame that it doesn't help the public - those folk the papers are claiming to inform.

Resources on which we relied BEFORE the publication of this review.
This KellyMom info page (Why delay solids?) seems more up-to-date then the paper being discussed.
Also great advice on Baby-Led Weaning here, and note too that La Leche league uses the term "the middle of the first year" for the timing of introducing solids. This is because they understand that all children are different.

Do note that Marianne Monie, Chair of the nationwide Breastfeeding Network, made a timely point about the risk of swine flu: “The evidence supports introducing food when a baby is developmentally ready at around 6 months. Introducing food or infant formula before that time increases the risk of infections.  Questioning the wisdom of the six-month guideline at a time when babies are at risk of catching swine flu is unfortunate, because exclusive breastfeeding reduces the risk of secondary infections that can be serious enough to need hospital admission. Parents should not feel pressured into rushing their baby onto solid food. Waiting until around six months gives another two valuable months of additional protection against chest and stomach infection." 

I'm glad I'm not a Health Visitor this month!  It will be very hard to explain the complexities thrown up by this - in a busy clinic - to a busy Mum whose only info source so far has been Breakfast TV with Clare Buy-My-Book.

 
Peer-Reviewed
The original "paper" on which all this fuss was based was not NEW research, indeed it was asking for further research. (Here you can see it in full for yourself.)
It wasn't even a meta-analysis (study of many different research papers on a topic) - it was just a review of some pieces of research, and this page from the NHS itself discusses the quality of those papers.  I used to work with papers lke this all the time; they are very variable in their quality.  (Not usually in the BMJ, though - perhaps January was a slow news month.)

And here's where you may already have guessed the facts:
3 out of the 4 writers of this Analysis have been funded in the past by Formula Companies (discussed by one of the authors at 1hr 14m on the iPlayer link).
Remember ladies, there's no profit for anyone if you use your own milk to feed your children.


Companies selling jars of baby-goop must have seen a big drop in sales in the last 10 years (for the 4-6 month old stage)... but goodness me, they shouldn't be allowed to get away with putting down Breastfeeding.
In addition our much-prized the BBC, Grauniad etc should not be assisting them with poor journalism (The Daily Mail: we expect it there!!) See below for links to content on this in all the major papers.

The BMJ itself seems to be backpedalling, perhaps under pressure from its rational readership... and yet here on Lactivist is a copy of the original BMJ (pre-publication) press release which has been so widely 'misinterpreted'... See also this BMJ reply page, where some ask for the authors to make a public statement in order to make things very clear.

Before we all get too hett up, let's remember to release shoulder tension!


Hear from some of that Great British Public here:
  • on the forum of the BLW pages "Being a mum is cr*p at times. You do what you think is best and then somebody comes along and changes the advice."  (It's really bad enough when your child changes everything just when you think you've got the hang of it all... but now this, too!)
  • Also a thoughtful blog piece from Baby Led Weaning - "The stuff I know about."
  • "I'm waiting for a call from my Mother-in-law now.  She'll be telling me that Breast isn't best after all and that I'm not doing right by my (very healthy, EBF) child".
  • "Some studies have also shown that breastfeeding for six months does not give babies all the nutrition they need." - (What, no details about the nutrition of the mother?). 
  • Nicky Lawrence ranted at the irresponsibility of the media.
  • My favourite Welsh Doula has written a blog post on this, asking for parents to listen to their children.
  • Emma Pearce on FB told us about a doctor on BBC Wales this morning who "made sense - talked a lot about how this is an "idea" and not evidence and how you can't go changing guidelines everytime someone has a new idea... is on listen again about 7:15 am (so 1:15 into the breakfast show)"
  • feanelwa commented on the Guardian piece: "What proportion of these mothers tested were themselves anaemic? How many were on starvation "diets" to "lose the baby fat"? What comes out depends on what goes in."
  • Much better: more positive articles in the Guardian from Joanna Moorhead, and later from Sarah Ditum.
At lunchtime discussion on Radio 2 (listen again here from 1hr 9mins) featured a call from the Lactivist, Lisa Cole, and clarified some issues (fortunately Jeremy Vine was away - he hasn't been pro-BF in the past, as I recall).
Lactivist, by the way, has a big sale on BF promotional articles like these... and shared a lovely new version:-





Some of the professional bodies attempted to answer the media outcry:
  • FSA, Food Standards Agency discussed the concerns over allergies: "while the evidence base remains uncertain, suggestions to revise the current government recommendations are premature and are likely to only cause confusion to parents".
  • The NCT had extensive coverage of this issue, not sitting on the fence at all. 
  • Lakeshore Medical Breastfeeding Medicine Clinic "Those who are proposing the intervention hold the burden of proving the risks or benefits of that intervention. Those of us who believe in physiology do not need to continue to prove it works better than anything designed to replace it. The BMJ authors would do well to remember that."


    BMJ response: 
    Already discussed above the BMJ's initial response to this issue, passing responsibility on to the press (who only read the press release...)
    But there was a later response, an observation written by an Associate Editor of the BMJ, C. Martyn - cheerfully named 'Lactation Wars' (11/2/2011). It has not been well-received.  No other responses as yet from the BMJ?
    • Replies to the observation from BMJ members are listed here, and also in the original Replies thread (here). 
    • Dispelling Breastfeeding Myths writer answered in her blog (seems that C. Martyn only read the first paragraph or two of her first response, before dismissively branding her & other bloggers a Fundamentalist.)


    So what's the answer!!?
    Breastmilk is still recommended for babies of 0-6 months... and then breastmilk should continue as part of the diet for a minimum of 2 years.  You can find out more about following your baby's cues when deciding to wean onto solids from the pages linked here. (Also shared on the links page)

    Links to the headlines, January 2011



    And Finally
    The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition is to review infant feeding and is due to report later this year. (2011)  I look forward to reading about it and not having to switch off the radio this time.

    Final words go to Mama Pear, who begs "Please don't let me die a Lactivist"!!
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