Breastfeeding vs Formula Fed babies and Childhood Obesity

sailornurse · Feb 12, 2016

Not knowing if you are an LPN or RN and if you are pursuing a BSN or higher degree, please explain what the "Modes to Inquiry Class" entails. What is the course description in the syllabus? What students are you referring to? You might have better luck posting under the state for the school you are attending & asking for your particular school. What nursing degree are you pursuing?

Zyprexa_Ho · Feb 12, 2016

I basically want to ask if they were formula fed or breast fed; if they feel they are overweight or ever was as a child; there sex, current weight; and possibly their feelings on the topic.

Sounds like those are some of your survey questions right there

NurseGirl525, ASN, RN · Feb 13, 2016

But who is your target audience? This is the anonymous internet where you have no idea who is who.

I will tell you my son was formula fed and he is the skinniest child. He's got chicken legs and 2 toothpicks for arms. I was also formula fed and am not obese.

Trying to blame obesity on formula is ridiculous. How about we blame on the correct reason which is that kids don't go outside to play anymore and sit in front of computers and video games that were not available 40 years ago? If you aren't burning the calories you take in, you store it as fat. It's actually quite simple. It's nutrition 101. Or I actually learned it in micro.

Mami.RN, MSN, RN · Feb 13, 2016

I don't understand what formula or breastfeeding has to do with obesity. My oldest wouldn't latch on so he was formula fed. He is skinny and very athletic. my youngest was breastfed till 2 and she is also skinny.

Leonardsmom,LPN · Feb 13, 2016

Have you looked to see if there have been any types of studies already done? What type of results have been found. Besides current weight probably should get height also, so you can figure out BMI. Just a weight alone and a subjective question is not going to truely tell you if the person is overweight or obese. Looking at other studies that have been done and how it was set up may help guide you in your survey. Also have to take into account that there are many other factors that can influence weight, amount of activity, type of diet and even how much one eats, metabolic rates, hormone levels, etc.

CBlover, BSN, RN · Feb 13, 2016

I don't understand what formula or breastfeeding has to do with obesity. My oldest wouldn't latch on so he was formula fed. He is skinny and very athletic. my youngest was breastfed till 2 and she is also skinny.

My son wouldn't latch either so formula it is. It's heartbreaking for us that want to breastfeed. Trust me it's not like we pick formula because we're lazy. He picked it!

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Feb 13, 2016

Studies have already been conducted on this topic:

Breastfeeding, on the other hand, has a protective effect on child overweight and obesity by inducing lower plasma insulin levels, thereby decreasing fat storage and preventing excessive early adipocyte development.

Infant feeding and obesity risk in the child. - PubMed - NCBI

NurseGirl525, ASN, RN · Feb 13, 2016

Studies have already been conducted on this topic:
Infant feeding and obesity risk in the child. - PubMed - NCBI

I know there have been a couple of studies done and I'm sorry that I don't put much stock in these studies anymore. New studies are all the time debunking old studies. I also don't feel that studies anymore are unbiased as the are supposed to be. They are funded by companis wanting a certain result. This happens all the time, when in fact, one the most basic rules in conducting scientific research is that this not occur.

I'm tired of this new breast is the only way movement that pits mother against mother. It's sad and ridiculous and does nothing but make new mothers insecure about themselves when they are already so insecure about becoming a mother. It's awful.

Most mothers want to breastfeed but can't for a variety of reasons. At first we are told we will kill our kids for breastfeeding because they will die from SIDS, now we are being told, our kids will be fat. We are also told they are not as smart. So we are screwing up and killing our kids!! It's absolutely crazy and none of it is true. All it does is help sink new mothers into a postpartum depression feeling like they can do nothing right. It's sad.

I was told by three doctors not to breastfeed. I have epilepsy. Should o have stopped my epilepsy meds at a very critical time, as those meds would have gone to my son? Maybe having a seizure while holding him and falling on him and killing him was better? So I'm already scared of becoming a new mother and I get people telling me my son will die from SIDS because I had to bottle feed him. It was awful. I felt terrible and scared.

My son is very smart. He got tested for high ability classes this past week. Is the best speller in his class. He's athletic and very skinny. He didn't die from SIDS. Which has to do with a baby getting to much Carbon Dioxide while sleeping, not formula.

I'm sorry I'm on my soapbox right now. It makes me angry we pit mom against mom. It makes me angry the way the nurses treated my sister last year when she first had her son and he wouldn't latch. Nurses who should be understanding and compassionate. Her labor and delivery was pure hell and then the 3 days after were also. Her delivery was nothing that I had ever heard of before. My OB instructor couldn't believe it either. The nurses made her push for four hours before even calling her doctor. Four hours!! He was stuck just like my son was and the way I was with my mom and her delivery was just crazy. Then afterward they made her feel totally incompetent. This was right outside of DC!!!

Anyway, I'm off my soapbox now. I just wish we could understand that yes, breast is best, but it's not always possible and no mother should be shamed for her personal decisions. Especially, when nobody knows what those decisions are and I'm sure was made in the best interest of her child.

LiveFit99 · Feb 13, 2016

Wow that is quite a rant for someone just asking for help with some survey questions. If there are benefits of breastfeeding why wouldn't you want mothers to know? You don't even want reasonable questions to be asked. There's no judgement in doing research about benefit and risk of breast vs formula. It's just information.

There are 2 very reasonable ways in which early feeding could affect future obesity. 1. Epigenetics could be altered which changes future gene expression. Epigenes can even be passed to later generations. 2. The brain and endocrine system could be wired differently based upon early nutrition, thus affecting future behavior.

These are both reasonable things to research. Squashing research because of some tangentially related, perceived slight on a sister's pregnancy is ridiculous.

CBlover, BSN, RN · Feb 13, 2016

Join me on a new mothers online forum and you'll see more dogmatic comments and name-calling over there than anywhere. Nowadays there's a study out for EVERYTHING. And you can back up just about any side you take with a study. There's an argument for breastfeeding vs bottle. Rice cereal vs oatmeal cereal. Cry it out vs don't let 'em cry. You name it. I don't think arguments can get much more heated as they are over on the new mom forum. Y'all think AN gets bad. Oh my. :no:

NurseGirl525, ASN, RN · Feb 13, 2016

Wow that is quite a rant for someone just asking for help with some survey questions. If there are benefits of breastfeeding why wouldn't you want mothers to know? You don't even want reasonable questions to be asked. There's no judgement in doing research about benefit and risk of breast vs formula. It's just information.
There are 2 very reasonable ways in which early feeding could affect future obesity. 1. Epigenetics could be altered which changes future gene expression. Epigenes can even be passed to later generations. 2. The brain and endocrine system could be wired differently based upon early nutrition, thus affecting future behavior.
These are both reasonable things to research. Squashing research because of some tangentially related, perceived slight on a sister's pregnancy is ridiculous.[/QUote]
Quite a rant? Do you understand that I was approached not once, but three times in public because I had to bottlefeed my son? Three times. I was accused of killing my child. I was called a terrible mother. In public. It's ten times worse if you try to go somewhere find out some small info to maybe a cold or fever on the internet because you don't want to bother the doctor.
A random internet site is not the place to conduct accurate research. It's not. Nobody knows who I am on here. I could be a fourteen year old boy for all you know. Nobody can get an accurate assessment on a topic from the internet and it should not be done.
Which leads me to believe that this person is not doing research for a class and is trying to stir something. A good student doing research who knows the scientific method knows not to use the internet.
And maybe I fed the person, but I am sick and tired of this topic. I am sick and tired of people trying to blame obesity on everything besides what the issue is, which is that our kids are stuck behind phones, tablets, computers, and the latest gaming systems. In America, we want to find ten ways to fix a problem rather than what the actual way to fix it is. Get our kids off their butts, and back outside. It's that simple. They don't have to work the fields like our great grandparents and grandparents had to, they just have to get off the electronics. You cannot take in more calories than you expel during the day. When the body breaks it down into glucose and that glucose is not used, it is stored as fat. Less calories and more exercise= less weight. That is how we solve the problem.