Breastfeeding bashing

Today, breastfeeding really hit the headlines. Four scientists reviewed the research and studies on breastfeeding and weaning, and came to the conclusion that it might be best to start weaning breastfed babies onto solids at around 4 months, instead of 6. One of the reasons being that iron levels may be starting to fall, and therefore exclusively BF babies may be at risk from anaemia (even though other studies have proved that the iron in breastmilk is much more easily absorbed than that in formula). They also said that BFing til 6 months could increase the risk of certain allergies and coeliac disease - though many other studies have pretty conclusively proven that BFing reduces the risk of developing allergies, asthma and ezcema, as well as diabetes and obesity.

The media really jumped on the bandwagon and published the most amazingly inaccurate headlines - for eg. "breast may NOT be best" and "exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months may HARM babies"...with talk of "new research". In actual fact, there had not been any new research, and it turned out that 3 of the 4 scientists who wrote the review were being paid by infant formula and baby food companies. So perhaps they were just a little bit biased. Also, they only reviewed around 30 studies that have been carried out over the past few years, whereas the World Health Organisation, when coming up with the 6 month guidelines, reviewed over 3000. What these scientists wrote was an opinion piece, and for some reason the media jumped on it and twisted it to show breastfeeding in the worst possible light.

The thing that annoyed me most was that one of the scientists said that very few babies would have been harmed by being exclusively BF for 6 months, because so few parents in the UK actually followed the guidelines anyway. Well, as a parent - one of the 1% - who DID follow them, what am I supposed to make of that? I only need to take one look at my healthy, rosy-cheeked, smiley little girl to know that she hasn't been harmed. So I'm not overly worried. It does upset me seeing BFing being attacked though. I had such a hard time BFing Jamie, and really fought to keep going because I believed it was the best thing for him. I'm so glad I persevered with it though. With Daisy it's been easy and straightforward right from the beginning, and I absolutely love BFing her. I hope to continue for as long as she wants.