Lactivists are constantly waxing poetic about the lifesaving benefits of breastmilk. The truth is rather different. If infant formula disappeared tomorrow from the United States, tens of thousands of babies would die; if breastmilk disappeared tomorrow, not a single term baby would die from properly prepared infant formula.
[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”#88BD4B” class=”” size=””]Infant formula saves far more lives in the US than breastmilk ever could.[/pullquote]
How can that be?
Let’s break it down:
1. Despite lactivist claims, there is no evidence that even a single term infant has ever died for lack of breastmilk.
Sure, breastmilk has benefits even in countries with clean water supplies. (It is the contaminated water used to prepared formula in developing countries that kills babies, not the formula itself.) But the benefits of breastmilk are restricted to approximately 8% fewer colds and episodes of diarrheal illness across the entire population of infants. The other purported benefits touted by lactivists are based on evidence that is weak, conflicting and riddled with confounders.
2. Despite lactivist claims, there’s no evidence that breastmilk is the “perfect food.”
True, breastmilk is the food that evolved to feed human infants, but evolution does not do perfection. Evolution is based on the survival of the fittest, NOT the survival of everyone. If every single baby were breastfed, many would die.
Why? In order for breastmilk to be perfect, it would always be present in the perfect amounts, and all babies would be perfectly capable of extracting it from the breast. However, we know that 5% (1 in 20) women don’t make enough breastmilk to fully nourish a baby, and some babies have issues like low muscle tone that make it impossible for them to successfully breastfeed. When these circumstances occur in nature, babies simply die. In contrast, when infant formula is available, no baby will succumb to dehydration, malnutrition or failure to thrive.
Babies who can’t tolerate lactose or are affected by inborn errors of metabolism can survive on formula because there are a variety of types of infant formula that can meet their needs. If they were restricted to breastmilk, they wouldn’t survive at all.
Even using conservative estimate of 5% if babies who don’t thrive on exclusive breastfeeding, we can calculate that if formula disappeared tomorrow, 200,000 infants EACH YEAR would be at serious risk for malnutrition, stunting of growth and intellectual development, and even death. If breastmilk disappeared, no one would die or have stunted growth or intellectual development as a result.
3. Formula improves the lives of other family members.
Despite lactivist claims, breastmilk is not free. It’s only free if a woman’s time is worth nothing, and since most women work, their time is worth quite a bit.
A woman who is exclusively breastfeeding is a woman whose ability to work may be severely compromised. That’s not a problem if she has a spouse with a high paying job, but it’s definitely a problem for women whose families depend upon their income for food, clothing, rent, heat and medical care. Yes, formula costs money, but most working women can earn enough to pay for formula and have money left over to feed, clothe, house and provide medical care for other children as well.
4. Formula improves the lives of women.
The birth control pill, safe C-sections and infant formula have made feminism possible. Without them, women are at the mercy of biology. When women can easily control their own reproduction, easily survive childbearing, and aren’t forced to choose between children and education/employment, the quality and length of their lives rise dramatically.
Breastfeeding is still an excellent source of nutrition for infants, but it is beneficial ONLY for women who can successfully breastfeed and want to breastfeed. Formula is an excellent source of infant nutrition that has several additional benefits. Formula can save the lives of babies who might starve to death on breastmilk; it improves the lives of women; and it often improves the lives of other children in the family as well.
Despite the incessant gabbling about the benefits of breastfeeding, infant formula saves far more lives in the US than breastmilk ever could.
If breastfeeding disappeared tomorrow, no one’s life would change appreciably. If formula disappeared tomorrow, tens of thousands of American babies would die each and every year.
Ironic, isn’t it?
