A thousand times yes! There's a great study using the NLSY data, where they first demonstrate 10 of the 11 oft-cited advantages to breastfeeding... And then do

A thousand times yes! There's a great study using the NLSY data, where they first demonstrate 10 of the 11 oft-cited advantages to breastfeeding... And then do a sibling study with the same data and watch the effects disappear. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4077166/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4077166/ What bothers me most reading the source studies though, is that even if you take them as a 100% true - and this is a very rosy interprétation indeed - the effects they identify are tiny compared to the well documented effects of an emotionally stable home environment with a positive parental relationship. There may be a 95/5 chance of boosting the kid's IQ by 2 points, but that's nothing next to the boost they get with parents who can sleep 8 hours on alternating nights. It seems like most of these recommendations miss the forest for the trees. There is an irony that some of the biggest breastfeeding supporters are so-called "attachment parents", taking a pop-sci view of early attachment theory... When real, grown-up attachment theory is clear that a healthy parental relationship is exactly the most important thing to show the child in the first year. That's where they learn healthy "attachment", hence the name of the whole theory! Further, it really just smells like the patriarchy calling. The la leche League was founded to support traditional family roles - meaning mothers stay home. All of it is set up to force the mother into the primary caregiver role, which comes with a huge attendant career/income penalty. So I say: Fuck the patriarchy. Show your kids a healthy, emotionally stable environment. Choose between bottle and breast based on your practical family life needs. Unfortunately not sure how to help counter the enormous pressure put out by groups like LLL in hospitals, pop press, etc. They cause a lot of unnecessary suffering and guilt. Maybe https://fedisbest.org/ https://fedisbest.org/ ?