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Why babies cry in the first three months, how to tell them apart, and what to do

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Re: Why babies cry in the first three months, how to tell them apart, and what to do

#71

Post by asdfasgasdgasdg »

Ovah wrote: post #22
jimbob45 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems to be the case that some breastfeeding is beneficial. However, I’ve been unable to figure out where the line is drawn after much internet research. Some places say six weeks gets you most of the benefits, others say twelve years minimum. You’re right though that the studies are less conclusive than some would like you to believe.

Even a single breast feeding session provides some benefits. According to my med school notes a single meal reduces the risk of SIDS by x36 compared to no breast feeding. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sudden-infant...

Where on this page is there support for your "reduce risk of SIDS by x36" claim? Or that a single session is enough?

Re: Why babies cry in the first three months, how to tell them apart, and what to do

#72

Post by greenonions »

dgfitz wrote: post #66
elzbardico wrote: post #56

Just out of curiosity: is it common for Americans not to breastfeed? It may seem funny but for me mentions of bottles for newborns sound so strange

Breastfeeding is hard. A lot of moms try and have a hard time getting through “the wall” of the first week or two. Taking nothing away from them, it’s very hard, more so if the difficulty wasn’t anticipated ahead of time. I’ve watched my wife do it three times, with the 3rd time being right now with a 6 week old.

Second this. It is amazingly difficult. So many factors at play, all while sleep deprived, thirsty, on top of regular life.

When working well, though it is miraculous.

Re: Why babies cry in the first three months, how to tell them apart, and what to do

#73

Post by asdfasgasdgasdg »

elzbardico wrote: post #57
notshift wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a source for the claim that breastfeeding is no better than formula? I don't have a study to the contrary off hand, but everything I've read/studied has agreed conclusively that breastfeeding is the preferred option and has tangible developmental effects. Multiple books and a couple of college courses on early human development. The conclusion that formula is for sure just as good as breast milk would als…

Given the lack of adequate maternity leave (along with the lack of other worker protection stuff common in civilized countries) it is understandable that a ideology of the bottle would be very popular in the good old US.

My wife breastfed both our kids. We have plenty of maternity leave. I have no "ideology" of the bottle, nor anything against breastfeeding -- if you like it, go for it. I just happen to have a considered opinion about the scientific evidence available.

Re: Why babies cry in the first three months, how to tell them apart, and what to do

#74

Post by sgerenser »

elzbardico wrote: post #57
notshift wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a source for the claim that breastfeeding is no better than formula? I don't have a study to the contrary off hand, but everything I've read/studied has agreed conclusively that breastfeeding is the preferred option and has tangible developmental effects. Multiple books and a couple of college courses on early human development. The conclusion that formula is for sure just as good as breast milk would als…

Given the lack of adequate maternity leave (along with the lack of other worker protection stuff common in civilized countries) it is understandable that a ideology of the bottle would be very popular in the good old US.

U.S. has higher breastfeeding rates than France. Does France have even worse maternity leave than the U.S.?

Re: Why babies cry in the first three months, how to tell them apart, and what to do

#75

Post by bpodgursky »

Ovah wrote: post #18
asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Negative. There is very little good scientific evidence that it is important to breastfeed. But even if we stipulate that mothers must breastfeed, many working women pump milk during the day if they don't have unlimited paid time off after birth. In such cases bottles must obviously be used. And many women cannot produce enough breastmilk, and must supplement with formula. And many other possible reasons why bottles…

> There is very little good scientific evidence that it is important to breastfeed. I wish you would back up such a strong statement. In medical school we were taught the complete opposite. From my notes: - there's a x36 decreased risk of Sudden infant death syndrome if the child has been breast fed a single(!) time compared to no breast feeding. - no breast feeding vs only breast feeding: x15 risk of pneumonia, x11…

> there's a x36 decreased risk of Sudden infant death syndrome if the child has been breast fed a single(!) time compared to no breast feeding

I'm a supporter of breasfeeding but there's approximately a 100% chance that this is correlational and not causal; wealthier parents with time and resources to breastfeed also have lower SIDs prevalence because they drink less, smoke less, are less obese, have less drug use while pregnant and generally practice safer sleep habits.

Re: Why babies cry in the first three months, how to tell them apart, and what to do

#76

Post by magicalhippo »

asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #4
cocothem wrote: post #3

not sure how it works with twins quantity wise, but I see "bottle" being mentioned for the 3 mo babies - afaik best to get mother's milk as much as possible in the first 6 months

Negative. There is very little good scientific evidence that it is important to breastfeed. But even if we stipulate that mothers must breastfeed, many working women pump milk during the day if they don't have unlimited paid time off after birth. In such cases bottles must obviously be used. And many women cannot produce enough breastmilk, and must supplement with formula. And many other possible reasons why bottles…

> There is very little good scientific evidence that it is important to breastfeed.

So you're saying the WHO and UNICEF are basing their recommendations[1] on very weak evidence?

Even when they think the benefits outweigh the risks[2] of nasty pollutants in the breast milk?

[1]: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/infant-and-...

[2]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2569122/

Re: Why babies cry in the first three months, how to tell them apart, and what to do

#77

Post by [deleted] »

jl2718 wrote: post #55

I found this to be quite accurate based on my experience, and I have written things very close to this to my personal contacts that are entering this phase. The most important thing to internalize, is that the baby is crying for a reason, and your life will go a lot better if you figure out how to solve their problem immediately, rather than ignore or get upset about it yourself. I can’t tell you how many people have…

[deleted]

Re: Why babies cry in the first three months, how to tell them apart, and what to do

#78

Post by atul_wired »

We learned the hard way that baby could be colic (with increased crying during evening hours) due to intolerance to cow’s milk/soy (via mother’s milk). It took us couple of months to get there (first stopped milk products and subsequently soy) and I wish we had known earlier. I’ve been meaning to write a blog post with the hope to help someone run through these possible causes as part of diagnosing the colic crying early on.

Re: Why babies cry in the first three months, how to tell them apart, and what to do

#79

Post by avar »

sgerenser wrote: post #67
Ovah wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which of the stats do you think sounds ridiculous? SIDS for example is pretty rare to begin with (33.3 deaths per 100,000 per Google). At the end of the day I'm guessing the advice maybe saves a few lives on a population level, but only gives a slight statistical advantage to a proactive parent. I wish I had links to actual publications. I copied the numbers from a lecture given by a senior obstetrician.

Breastfeeding once reduces SIDS risk by 36 times? If that’s even remotely accurate, which I doubt, I’m 100% sure it’s correlation not causation. People who breastfeed are much more likely to be higher income, more informed about keeping toys and blankets out of the crib, have baby sleep on their back, etc.

> People who breastfeed are much more likely to be higher income.

The median income of a breastfeeding mother is probably at least 1/10th of US median per capita GDP. E.g. Rwanda has some of the highest breastfeeding rates in the world.

Re: Why babies cry in the first three months, how to tell them apart, and what to do

#80

Post by ALittleLight »

asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #2

Great if it works for you, but for those who are dealing with babies, I wouldn't beat myself up if this advice doesn't apply. The parenting advice world is chock full of people who found something that worked for them and who then made the unwarranted conclusion that it is universal truth. For example, their techniques that "always work" definitely do not always work. Maybe they always worked for their particular bab…

My own "technique that always works" (your mileage may vary) was "The hold".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2C8MkY7Co8

In my experience the baby will often resume crying as soon as you stop doing it, but we used this whenever we needed a couple minutes of relief.

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