There was an article recently in the British Medical Journal titled “Six months of exclusive breastfeeding: how good is the evidence?” It was an opinion piece where 3 of the 4 authors are, or have recently been employed or received funding from baby food and formula companies. The media in the UK grabbed hold of this article and in true media style, went rampant with the sensationalist headlines and anti-breastfeeding rhetoric. The same day, Unicef & the WHO, amongst many other organizations and respected authorities worldwide had refuted the claims and recommendations.
The thing is, there are a lot of women who aren’t going to see what Unicef or the WHO, or any other entities had to say on the matter, whether it’s because they just don’t know that anything was said to the contrary because it’s not on the front page of their daily paper or the nightly news on tv, or because they don’t want to know.
Instead, I’m seeing women who were intent on waiting to wean their babies suddenly deciding that because of this opinion piece that the media took as gospel, and despite all of the leading health authorities stating that their recommendations haven’t and aren’t changing, that they’re going to wean their babies early. I’m seeing women who weaned their babies at 8 weeks use this article to justify the decision they made, and to reinforce their justification that they did what they did when they did because the ‘authorities’ can never make up their mind and are always changing it. I’m seeing women smugly proclaim that “human milk isn’t best for human babies,” and even going so far as to say that formula is better because it does have what’s needed.
I feel like in one foul swoop, we’ve been set back 50 years. I feel like the cockiness of the human race has reached all new heights. Mankind has convinced women that Mother Nature has gotten it wrong. For millions of years, nature got it wrong, but now we know better, right?
I guess that in the end, the ultimate validation for me is knowing that in the event of the Zombie Apocalypse, I can continue to nurture and nourish my baby boy while on the run and kicking zombie ass, as nature intended.