Volume 177 - Issue 9
In reply: Is breastfeeding best practice?
Author: Patricia McVeagh
Med J Aust 2002; 177 (9): 525-525. || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2002.tb04934.x
Published online: 4 November 2002
Published online: 4 November 2002
In reply: I thank Neate for her comments and for challenging the need to ask "Is breastfeeding best practice?". I appreciate her sentiment that there is more to infant feeding than nutrition and health.
However,
while there are mothers who don't find breastfeeding pleasurable or easy and are deciding how long to persist;
while there are mothers who opt not to exclusively breastfeed for six months or to wean before a year of age;
while mothers' advisors prescribe solids or complementary feeds or weaning for myriad problems without evidence for effectiveness beyond a placebo effect;
while some believe that the disadvantages of not breastfeeding only apply to infants in developing countries;
while there are commercial interests promoting products that undermine exclusive breastfeeding;
while the Australian government has not fully implemented the recommendations of the World Health Organization Code and subsequent resolutions;1
while health professionals are receiving "educational material" implying that a new additive makes commercial infant formula more like human milk; and
while the scientifically minded among us just need to satisfy our curiosity,
we need to know to what extent it matters if an infant is breastfed at all, breastfed exclusively, or breastfed for longer periods.
Thank you for challenging the question. The weight of the evidence is such that the real question is not "Is breastfeeding best practice" but "By how much?".
References
- International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk substitutes. Geneva: World Health Organization, 1981, and subsequent resolutions. Available at: <http://www.who.int/nut/documents/code_english.PDF>. Accessed 24 September 2002.