Enough with the Breastfeeding Bandwagon

April 6th, 2010. By AbiK

A news article in today’s NY Daily News has this for a headline:

“Breastfeeding could save many babies’ lives, billions of dollars: Pediatrics Journal”

Fine. Those of us who’ve been pregnant at some point in the last few decades would need to have lived in a cave on Mars to have missed the “Breastfeeding is good for your baby!” memo.

And so, yes, here we have another study that’s been done to tout breast milk.

Translation: another study to lend more ammunition to those who would like to see formula feeding labeled as a punishable crime.

I stress here that I agree that breast-feeding is beneficial to babies—I don’t argue that.

But as I had posted about breastfeeding and Reglan, it’s the guilt-trip that those who deem themselves as the arbiters of baby’s health and well-being impose upon moms-to-be and moms who are just hours post-delivery.

This barrage of breast milk goodliness, while well-intentioned, sends mothers—many of whom simply cannot breast feed when left to their own bodily devices—into a state of panic: I’m not lactating…am I producing enough?…how do I know if baby is getting enough nutrition?…

And they turn to drugs—like off-label Reglan—and homeopathy, massage techniques, pumps—you name it—to ensure that baby gets that healthful start. Of course, when it comes to Reglan, the risks could far outweigh the benefits—certainly to the mother, but who knows what’s being passed along to the baby? And just as there is plenty of information online that would lead you to avoid Reglan like the plague, there is plenty out there suggesting that Reglan “works wonders” to help stimulate breast milk production.

What I find rather humorous—if such a topic can be humorous—is that the study, which was published online Monday in the journal, Pediatrics, estimates that breastfeeding could save “billions of dollars”. As you’re sitting there pondering this, you’re probably thinking it’s in avoided healthcare costs, right?

Not entirely.

Sure, a portion of the estimated $13 billion in savings does include avoidance of medical costs. But, according to the Daily News, it also includes “an economists’ calculation partly based on lost potential lifetime wages—$10.56 million per death.”

Yeah, I’m sure that’s what every mom is considering when she opts to breastfeed: her baby’s potential lifetime wages and how they would’ve been affected had she not breastfed.

From a pure health perspective, the study reveals that 900 babies lives’ would be saved each year if 90% of US women breastfed. If we base that on 2007 US Vital Statistics data for live births—which was 4,317,119—then 900 babies works out to roughly .02 per cent of live births. Contrast this with reported estimates of tardive dyskinesia incidence in patients taking Reglan at .2 per cent—and women appear to have a higher incidence of tardive dyskinesia than men.

No one would argue the benefits of breastfeeding; but when the proclamations about breastfeeding approach a level of forced indoctrination that in turn has mothers seeking out potentially harmful methods of inducing lactation, it’s time to back off breastfeeding a bit.

Tags: Breastfeeding, Reglan, Tardive Dyskinesia

This was posted on Tuesday, April 6th, 2010 at 1:54 pm and is filed under Drugs/Medical . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.