OK, I don't want to argue about it
because it's not my place to, and I don't have a strong opinion either way. But you're a scientist... There is no study on anything like this that is able to separate out the actual effect of breast milk with the million other social-economic effects that are going to interfere with the outcome. You can't just take a couple of thousand mothers and lock up for a couple of years them in the controlled environment necessary to have any hope of relevant data.

I don't think it's bad. Logic suggests it's probably good, of course, but there's not any solid evidence and certainly nothing to vaguely back up the level of shit that the fanatics at the extreme end sling at anyone that dares question their choices.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 29 May 2012, 10:47, 2 replies, latest was 12 years ago)

There was an article in the Guardian this weekend that said pretty much precisely that.
Still it gives us another weapon with which to judge people.
( tangledupinblue hairy badge with moving eyes, Tue 29 May 2012, 10:50, Reply)

Oh, totally.
Yeah, I saw that article. Was interesting.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 29 May 2012, 10:52, Reply)

Sure, there's never going to be that controlled an experiment
but that's the same for many, many things and I think the evidence that is coming out of the studies is indicative of breastfeeding being beneficial. Inferences can be drawn. Scientists aren't always working with cut-and-dried binary results. And fanatics are fanatics - I don't really care how other people feed their child; I care how I feed mine. I wouldn't get worked up over formula feeding but I did raise an eyebrow at the women I saw pouring coke into her child's sippy cup last week.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Tue 29 May 2012, 10:56, Reply)

Oh, I know
but some things are easier to isolate than others, and this is one of the harder ones.

It's about nothing other than personal choice, of course. I just find it interesting the totally out-of-proportion response it generates from some sectors, tbh, and that some people think they have the right to preach about something they don't have any evidence to back up.

Although I think you'd have been justified in fucking cokemum's shit RIGHT up.
( the mighty badger Aphrodite, on a bar stool, by your side, Tue 29 May 2012, 11:06, Reply)