Breast-Feeding Analysis Nurses Debate

Re: “Analysis Questions Link Between Breast Milk, IQ” (June 10): Breast-feeding and IQ are linked. There are no studies showing that formula-fed babies are smarter or healthier, just as there are no studies showing that cigarette smokers live longer or have less heart disease and lung cancer. Further, breast-feeding is dose-related. For maximum mental growth, breast-feeding for at least a year is recommended. (See “The Association Between Duration of Breastfeeding and Adult Intelligence,” Journal of the American Medical Assn., May 8, 2002.)

LADA S. MARX

Fullerton

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I object to the researcher’s statement that “for working women, it’s incredibly hard to maintain breast-feeding.” Though pumping breast milk at work can be inconvenient and tedious, it is hardly the only inconvenient or tedious task that parents undertake to give their babies the best possible care. The truth is that many working women continue to breast-feed, for good reason: Breast milk is “uniquely superior for infant feeding” (see American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement, “Breastfeeding and the Use of Human Milk”).

JILL BROWN

Los Angeles

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It is a rare situation in which a mother cannot breast-feed. Many hospitals in the Los Angeles area employ lactation consultants to help mothers breast-feed and to eliminate or help with lactation problems. Perhaps women who choose not to breast-feed should rethink their decision and then will not have to feel guilty.

YAFFA STARK

Los Angeles

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What a relief for me to read a balanced perspective on the breast-versus-bottle issue. The breast-feeding extremists have become as rigid and dogmatic as the “scientific” formula proponents were in past decades, and as usual, we mothers are caught in the cross-fire. So now, instead of asking them (or anyone) what I should do, the only question I have is: When will “experts” stop provoking mothers’ guilt to further their own agendas?

ANNE C. LEAR

Whittier