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Many women struggle to breastfeed. Scientists are starting to ask why

nationalgeographic.com

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Re: Many women struggle to breastfeed. Scientists are starting to ask why

#171

Post by positr0n »

antognini wrote: post #57
positr0n wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read a comment here years ago saying that in ancient times the average woman would have only a few dozen menstrual cycles in her life. Most the time between puberty and menopause you were either pregnant or breastfeeding. Does the book discuss that too?

That may have been true for agricultural societies, but it doesn't sound right for hunter gatherers (at least from my memory of an anthropology class I took). Many hunter gatherer societies have strong postpartum taboos and space children at least three years apart.

I thought babies would breast feed for 3 to 6 years. Even today the WHO recommends 2+ years.

Re: Many women struggle to breastfeed. Scientists are starting to ask why

#172

Post by midoridensha »

Dove wrote: post #87
my_usernam3 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spread some of that tribal knowledge, what worked for her?

Two of my sons had problems with nasal congestion. They wanted to eat, but they needed to breathe even more. A baby who tries, screams, and tries again is the tell. Or who just can't seem to make up his mind as to whether he wants to or not. Or who just can't seem to form any sort of a secure latch. It's easy to blame a bad latch, but babies are good at sucking on things. I didn't find latching was any sort of proble…

It's amazing humans haven't gone extinct if they have this much trouble with their newborns.

Re: Many women struggle to breastfeed. Scientists are starting to ask why

#173

Post by MandieD »

yonaguska wrote: post #154
MandieD wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was about to be the third generation of women who relied on formula (grandmother tried and failed at age 20 around 1940 despite plenty of help from her mother, mother didn’t bother at 35 in 1980), but for a modern miracle: portable, configurable milk pumps, good accessories, and something of a data-driven mindset. If one takes this “exclusive pumping” route, or something close (we supplemented with formula as neede…

Breastmilk is still better than formula, even today's standards of formula. One of the very cool things about breastmilk is that it becomes more nutrient dense as the baby gets older, whereas with formula, you need to give the baby more and more of it. Another thing about the weight, all of the expected weight charts are based on formula feeding. You need to use separate weight charts for breastmilk only weight gain.…

My baby was failing to gain weight at all (discovered with baby scale at home between appointments), and once I started pumping, realized that I wasn't producing much. With an aggressive schedule, I got to an adequate level. We supplemented with formula until I was able to cover all demand.

Re: Many women struggle to breastfeed. Scientists are starting to ask why

#174

Post by mariosisters »

bluefirebrand wrote: post #164
sam36 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it funny how middle class people all talk about how it is too expensive to have kids. Meanwhile, a single mother in poverty with 4+ kids is a regular sight depending on what side of town you are on. Yet, "I'm too poor to have kids" is not a phrase you'd ever hear from such a person. I don't think "poverty level" is the correct term here. I believe once below the poverty level, everything is basically free (if…

> Meanwhile, a single mother in poverty with 4+ kids is a regular sight depending on what side of town you are on. Yet, "I'm too poor to have kids" is not a phrase you'd ever hear from such a person "I'm super happy and am living a great life" is probably also a phrase you'll never hear from this person. Because what people are really saying when they say "I'm too poor to have kids" is "I would have to sacrifice a gr…

Don’t leave us hangin’ with the asymmetry!

From yet another, not having kids is a selfish choice.

Re: Many women struggle to breastfeed. Scientists are starting to ask why

#175

Post by runnerup »

oifjsidjf wrote: post #136
xupybd wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife grew up in Vietnam. No fluoride in her water (she grew up on bottle water). The dental work is expensive and regular.

Many ancient cultures had no flouride and had perfect teeth. It's the diet, flouride is a bandaid. Read Weston Price's Nutrition and physical degeneration.

> and had perfect teeth.

Some support for this, some rebuttal.[0] But yes, diet does seem to be acknowledged as very impactful.

0: https://archive.ph/RWAO9

Re: Many women struggle to breastfeed. Scientists are starting to ask why

#176

Post by [deleted] »

mariosisters wrote: post #174
bluefirebrand wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Meanwhile, a single mother in poverty with 4+ kids is a regular sight depending on what side of town you are on. Yet, "I'm too poor to have kids" is not a phrase you'd ever hear from such a person "I'm super happy and am living a great life" is probably also a phrase you'll never hear from this person. Because what people are really saying when they say "I'm too poor to have kids" is "I would have to sacrifice a gr…

Don’t leave us hangin’ with the asymmetry! From yet another, not having kids is a selfish choice.

[deleted]

Re: Many women struggle to breastfeed. Scientists are starting to ask why

#177

Post by abfan1127 »

midoridensha wrote: post #172
Dove wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two of my sons had problems with nasal congestion. They wanted to eat, but they needed to breathe even more. A baby who tries, screams, and tries again is the tell. Or who just can't seem to make up his mind as to whether he wants to or not. Or who just can't seem to form any sort of a secure latch. It's easy to blame a bad latch, but babies are good at sucking on things. I didn't find latching was any sort of proble…

It's amazing humans haven't gone extinct if they have this much trouble with their newborns.

child birth was a huge factor on human mortality (both mother and child). Human's ability to conceive frequently (monthly fertility rather than annually) and being able to conceive for many years allows success. If we only bred annually and only bred for a few years, we likely would have gone extinct.

Re: Many women struggle to breastfeed. Scientists are starting to ask why

#178

Post by valarauko »

techdragon wrote: post #169
valarauko wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tangential anecdote: I had a co-worker in India who grew up in a region with excessive naturally occurring fluoride in the groundwater. As a result, he had blotchy dark brown teeth - not stained, the substructure of the teeth were brown all the way through. The side effect was that the teeth were substantially stronger than regular teeth, as were presumably his bones. My understanding is that extremely high fluoride…

The benefits that motivate widespread fluoridation, kick in at concentrations well below those needed to stain teeth. If I recall the history of it all correctly, the level of fluoride needed to stain teeth basically leaves you with teeth that are all but impervious to run of the mill cavities from plaque buildup. The bugs just don’t have the power to degrade tooth enamel containing fluoride minerals at concentration…

Agree with everything you're saying. For what it's worth, the concerns about the high fluoride in groundwater are almost entirely about unborn infants - adults seem to suffer no severe issues from drinking it. With teeth, high fluoride exposure causes blotchy teeth before they erupt - once the (adult) teeth have erupted, the fluoride seems to help. It's also a continuum - some regions have such high levels that it's considered unsafe for consumption, period. These are the regions where developmental issues are seen.

Re: Many women struggle to breastfeed. Scientists are starting to ask why

#179

Post by pkphilip »

sys32768 wrote: post #127
xupybd wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife grew up in Vietnam. No fluoride in her water (she grew up on bottle water). The dental work is expensive and regular.

We moved to Montana when my child was a teen, and the dentist immediately remarked that my child must have grown up somewhere else because of her teeth being in such good condition. Most local teens grew up on well water and their teeth suffered for it.

There are lots of people with excellent teeth in different parts of the world - and most of them are not using flouridated water. I think the diet does make a difference in dental health

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Countries-with-Endemic-F...

Re: Many women struggle to breastfeed. Scientists are starting to ask why

#180

Post by Ancalagon »

slenk wrote: post #114
Ancalagon wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is the poverty level lower in Hawaii than in Alaska???

Probably because you're not heating your home a lot of the year in Hawaii

Interesting, hadn't thought of that, thanks!
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