There's a lot of speculation out there about feeding a baby too soon, with a spoon, and feeding it rice/oatmeal/etc. They say it causes obesity and diabetes, but where are they getting this information? IF they are getting it from looking at our generation, and even our parents' generation, it doesn't correlate. We're obese/diabetic because of our current lifestyles, not because of what we ate 30+ years ago! Genetics does play a role; as I've said before, my brother and I were fed exactly the same way as babies and yet he turned out slim & fit whereas I'm morbidly obese. His parents were small and thin, my parents were average and stocky.
I even read an article just now about a "study" they did on 92 spoon-fed babies vs 63 breast-fed babies. 10 of the spoon babies were overweight, and 9 of the breast babies were overweight. First of all, they clearly stated that all the children were within a "normal healthy" weight range - so these "overweight" children were probably just the top 10 and top 9 of their groups. Second, 10 out of 92 (10.87%) is significantly less than 9 out of 63 (14.24%), which to ME would indicate that the breast-fed children were actually the ones who had a "problem"! In fact, I have a friend whose son was born 10 days after 4L, and is considerably larger than him.
Due to the complications from my C-section, I only nursed 4L for about 10 days, while her son has been nursed the entire time. Using that as anecdotal evidence, in combination with the aforementioned "study", I'd say breast-fed babies do tend to be larger - and it makes sense! They get all the nutrients, calories, antibodies, etc etc etc EVERYTHING from the mother, and who knows what she's eating (I don't mean my friend here, cuz she is healthy, but I mean other mothers that I don't know!). Spoon-fed babies are fed specific amounts at a time, leaving no question as to how many calories they are actually getting and from where those calories are coming.
Obviously, I'm not a doctor or scientist, and I only took one nutrition course in college. That being said, I do read a lot, on both sides of the argument (whatever the argument may be!), and I have my own experiences to draw from. Personally, and I know others who agree, I think that nobody really, truly knows wtf is going on with babies, and it's all just speculation. Thirty years ago my parents were told to put me on my stomach to sleep, along with millions of other babies, and we all lived. 4L HATED sleeping on his back, and now that he's old enough to roll around on his own, he sleeps 99% of the night on his stomach. Babies who sleep on their backs still die from SIDS, because nobody knows what causes SIDS. I would be willing to make a bet that in less than ten years, we'll be back to formula is the best and sleeping on the stomach is correct. I can picture it now, doctors telling insanely obese/diabetic mothers that their milk is just too diseased/fatty/diabetic/etc to feed to a newborn, and that formula would be safer. Right now there's a big push for ADHD medications/diagnoses, and I think that in less than ten years the medical field will agree that it's lazy parenting because they'll have moved onto the next thing that Big Pharm wants to hawk.
...And that's my blogpost for the morning. Now we're off to baby laptime at the library, cuz one thing is for sure- books will never be bad! (Unless you're CS Lewis in Fahrenheit 451... ok, gotta stop there!)
4 comments:
I agree 100% my first born was bottle feed she had sooooo many ear problems every one said well if you would breast feed you wouldn't of had that problem....well the second I breast feed for two week and I HATED every minute of it......you have to do what is right for you and your baby.....my kids were both off of the bottle by the age of 10 months and eating full table food by the 9 to 10 months....and they are both ok.....I used baby powder which is a no no now and babies just don't smell like a baby.....I too put both of my children on there tummy's to sleep........now the kids all have to be on there back and all of the kids now have a flat head! We were told to turn their heads to the right one night and the next to the left..I did not use the bumper pads because I was afraid they would get under them and unable to get out.....that was just my choice....I also put no blankets in their beds for a very long time....I always say how in the hell did my kids live?? lol.....
I think people just want to find an external cause for their short comings instead of looking within. Sometime in the last 20 years we've quit taking responsibly for our actions. We are so concern about what is new and different, that we have lost most of our common sense... Granted I did breast feed for the first year, but I had doctor recommend guideline of times of when to start your baby eating what foods. We started our son eating table food as soon as we could....He is tall and lean. I don't think he has an ounce of body fat. I don't that when he starts eating actual food is the issue. It's what you are feeding them.
Sorry something else. The SIDs thing totally drove me nuts when little man was a baby. He refused to sleep on his back. Everyone told me to wrap him up tight in blankets. That just pissed him off more. I finally realized that if I let him sleep on his belly he would sleep all night....My doctor even told me that if he's breathing fine watching him at first and if there is no sign of trouble to enjoy the rest.
It's just amazing the things people come up with. I wonder what the Neanderthals and Cave People would think of how we've "evolved"...!
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