It isn’t a pretty topic but I think we need to be honest about it. It is time we face the facts and start being clear about what we are doing to our babies when we give them formula and not breast milk. Formula is dumbing them down. Why isn’t anyone talking about this?
Yet another study has come out this one done at Boston Children’s Hospital showed that the longer a baby was breastfed the higher their IQ score. The study followed 1300 babies and tested their IQ at 3 and 7 years old. This was no tiny study and the results are no small thing.
Sadly they just tracked if baby was breastfed to a year and one has to wonder who much better the IQ tests might have been had they been breastfed to the recommended at least two year mark the world health organization gives us.
Some are saying that this means breastfeeding increases IQ. But is that really the truth in all this? Is that how we should be talking to our society?
For over 2 million years humanoids have been breastfeeding their babies. It is what is natural, it is what is normal. What is not normal and natural is formula.
Shouldn’t people be saying instead that the alternative to breastfeeding is making our babies less intelligent?
It is a cold truth, and one many of us will not admit to. Mothers will say their formula fed baby went to Harvard. They will do everything they can to act as if their child didn’t some how miss out. They will say what they have to so they don’t feel badly. And who wants to feel badly? But we need to look at the facts even if we don’t like them.
Before you get the pitch forks out and hunt me down let me say that I gave my babies formula. Yes, I did. The reasons don’t really matter though right? We all have reasons. I am going to share mine though so you can see that I don’t share all this news lightly. I was 19 and had been married over a year when I had my first baby. Breastfeeding was a disaster and I didn’t know any better. I had no knowledgeable support. I cried every time baby latching on and would bleed badly. When baby was 6 weeks old I flew to see family across country, there my mother insisted I stop torturing myself and just formula feed the baby. So I did. It is what she did with me and so it went. My next baby I knew better so I did better, but it was also a disaster, not only was his latch wrong, but he was failing to thrive. I had help but in the end it didn’t matter I had hypoplastic breasts, while large, I never fully developed enough tissue inside to have a full supply. So my baby was breastfed till 6 months. My next two babies got more breast milk than the two before because by then I knew even more about it and while I needed to supplement, I was able to keep up what supply I had to also give to them. I learned that some was better than none. I am one of the very rare women who “can’t” fully feed my babies the natural way. The fact is that by the numbers, many who say they can’t do it actually can and just didn’t have the support to know better or say it simply to avoid the issue that they choose differently.
If it had been clear on the can of formula saying “This product may lower a babies natural IQ they would otherwise get from breast milk” would I have thought more about it? I mean cigarettes have warnings and people still smoke. We want the best for our babies though, it is biologically in us to want the best for them. Formula isn’t the equal alternative to breastfeeding that we want to think it is and breastfeeding isn’t just some slim chance our baby might have a higher IQ. Breastfeeding is the normal and natural way to help a human baby thrive, the alternative almost seems like robbing them of their birth right. By all means formula keeps some babies alive but we have to be honest that in most cases it is a choice.
Some will say that we have enough mothers guilt as is, why talk about this and add more? It isn’t about us mothers though, it is about the babies, the future babies. We can’t change what we have already done, we can however educate ourselves and our children so that they know the truth. The truth is that formula is making human beings less intelligent.
With more people formula feeding than breastfeeding, what could formula feeding do to human beings generation on top of generation? It isn’t a pretty question but like so many others, it is worth asking.
Im so glad that you are talking about this! My mom never even attempted to breastfeed me or any of my siblings, it just wasn’t the cool thing to do when we were babies. My son is 3 and didn’t stop nursing round the clock until he was 2.5 and now his baby sister is 3 months old and is nursing as well. It has been MUCH more difficult this time around and there were a times when I thought I would have to give up. However I was blessed to have some wonderful mom friends who pumped their milk for my baby until I could get some help and improve my breastfeeding relationship with my new baby.
I am very sorry to hear about your hardship nursing this time you have though honestly made my day sharing how you rallied such great support for yourself and baby with friends pumping for you. You did what you had to do to make sure baby got the best. I know that it isn’t easy to get help. We move so often and nursing my babies has always been so hard and not a single doctor was educated on breastfeeding and every single one of them pushed for formula because that is what they are schooled on. Our country is getting better the newest CDC report says, but it is just a start. Thank you for not letting the hardship get in the way of the facts!
Great post! And…I just read a study that fluoridated water is harmful to the IQ of children, particularly infants. So babies fed formula mixed with fluoridated water are getting a double whammy. All of their nourishment is tainted with fluoride so it is getting way over the “prescribed” limits in it’s tiny developing body. I was very blessed to have a sister who was a Le Leache League leader 30 years ago when I had my children. I had no problems with my first and nursed her until my supply dried up at age 2, but my larger second baby was a great deal of causing pain and bleeding. I got help and did better, but for some reason fought constant mastitis for the first 6 months. My Dr., who is a big advocate for breast feeding,said no one would blame you if you stop, but I couldn’t stand the thought of not breastfeeding. Fortunately the mastitis finally went away and I was able to continue for another year. The value of breastfeeding is so multifaceted, that I think the medical field is only beginning to understand it.
Your right, and I remember reading a study on that just last week as well. Most people though I don’t think even know they have fluoride in their water or that it is harmful to them and their children. We did our whole country harm while the rest of the world watched in shock and we are still doing in many places. If we can do this on such a wide scale with such little science behind it what else can be done widely that isn’t good for us?
Thank you for sharing your breastfeeding success and struggles, mastitis is no small thing to over come. I am glad you had support! While I have moved often as a military wife I sadly have yet to come across a Doctor trained in how breastfeeding works and every single one thought the answer was formula. I guess it is a good thing as it keeps our specialist lactation consultants fed, but insurance does not tend to cover them in our country.