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This just in, just a couple days before World Breastfeeding Week (see how that works? I’m not saying it’s a conspiracy, I’m just saying.) (thanks Amy H!)
Does Breastfeeding Cause Autism?
July 28, 2009; 6:00 am by Joyce Slaton
It’s long been theorized that breastfeeding an infant has a protective
effect against autism, but 2007 work by neuroscientist Michael Merzenich
casts appalling doubt on that theory. In the study, published by the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Merzenich found that in
rats, introducing environmental toxins at the same levels found in
breastmilk contributed to a significant deterioration of the brain.
Merzenich’s conclusion? The toxins already present in our environment are
being delivered to babies via breastmilk, leading to the precipitous rise in
autism diagnosis rates.Environmental toxins like PCBs, though they have been banned for decades,
are found in high concentrations in the human bodies, and leach into
breastmilk. PCBEs, a close cousin of PCBs, are still being produced and are
also found in human tissues. Merzenich concludes that these toxins, along
with other factors like a genetic predisposition for developmental
disorders, should convince women to take a second look at breastfeeding
their babies. According to the press release (and also found in the full
scientific report in the acknowledgement section) he study was funded by
Cure Autism Now, the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute, the Jane Coffin Childs
Foundation for Medical Research, the Sandler Program in Basic Sciences, the
National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Full Report
Briefer version with question and answer
This is apparently an older study, just reworked and republished and you might well imagine, that I have some thoughts…coming soon. If you find anything, dear mothers (such as La Leche League’s response or etc. etc.), as you research this, please send it in!
xox,
Heather
This musing is related to this comic: There it goes…
[...] This comic is related to this musing: Breastfeeding and Autism… [...]
WHAT ever! Of my 3 children SO FAR the one that nurse the LEAST is the Autistic baby! (4 1/2 months, went cold turkey after a medication change) NOT my long term nursing babies (18 mn & ufar 23 1/2 months) who have continued to nurse DESPITE changes in their environments. MY A.S. baby was different from the word GO! The formula he was fed (self weaning at 4 months, I can laugh at this now but back then they were serious, duh) was EXACTLY the components that we are allergic to in our family. He bled, internally, for months, I was told to do all these things to “help” his system “Accept” the status quo. People I was supposed to trust kept telling me to give my child what our bodies all viewed as poison. Because cow products are “best”!
what EVER, I did a blind GFCF switch (asked nicely, the school cooperates) and AFTER the first 2 months they wanted to know what happened! I told them, they recommended KEEPING the GFCF changes.
I see nursing as the REASON my other children weathered the storm, not the cause of the issue! Toxins in the Environ, maybe, but THAT issue needs to be addressed, not telling moms o feed their babies waste!
My oldest son is autistic, he was breastfed for 23 months. He is very high functioning, and his neurologist credited that to our breast feeding, co-sleeping, attachment parenting lifestyle. The constant contact never allowed him to develop an aversion to touch, and the constant stimulation of a mother and father who were took the time to engage with their child never allowed him to “slip away” into his own world.
Even if I could go back in time and formula feed, I wouldn’t. This is who my son is, and who he was meant to be. I believe in a divine power, and that God made my child and has a plan him.
Somehow I knew that the recommendation would be one of “reconsidering breastfeeding” because formula would clearly be the answer, right? Seriously committing ourselves as a society to cleaning up the environment would be just too expensive/too much of a bother!! Urgh!
Okay, if it’s because of environmental toxins…then wouldn’t the water mixed with formula also be an issue? How does one make the leap to breastfeeding alone as a problem? OY.
They neglect to mention that the toxins are also in the cow’s milk that’s used to make the formula, but the formula doesn’t have anything in it that might possibly mitigate the effects like breastmilk does.
Gosh, if nobody breastfed, the world would just be perfect, huh?
Seriously?!?! Well, they can’t blame the immunizations anymore…so how about breast milk? Where do these people come from? And aren’t they at least the slightest bit intrigued on how the human race managed to survive at all before the “invention” of formula?
“We have gone from a nursing rate of about 25 percent roughly a quarter of babies being nursed by their mothers to about 75 percent. The average duration that mothers nurse their infants now is about twice as great as it was 30 years ago.” (from the Q&A)
looked up the rates for 2006. the problem with this statement is that he’s including breastfeeding AT ALL in this 75%, which means that the child was also supplemented with artificial milk at some point. the rate of EXCLUSIVE breastfeeding through 3 months of age is ONLY 33%. you can’t point to breastfeeding as the possible culprit when there’s still so much supplementation going on, UNLESS you choose to focus on the exclusively breastfed babies ONLY.
link:
http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparebar.jsp?ind=501&cat=10
Hey Heather,
Not particularly relevant, sorry, but I just wanted to say that, despite how much I love my Mum, YOU are my model for motherhood. When I have children, I only hope I can do it half as well as you do. You are truly inspiring :3
- Chaz xxo
That’s one of the craziest things I’ve ever heard. And I’ve heard a lot of crazy things.
I didn’t realize that World Breastfeeding Week was coming up. Actually it makes me a little sad because my little guy (2nd and God willing last child) is just about done. He’s 3-1/2 so he’s had a good run but I’ve loved nursing my boys and will miss it. Maybe I can help other women in their journey.
Mama, this doesn’t just offend you, as an autistic person (Asperger’s Syndrome, I’m very high-functioning), it offends me as well. Vaccines have pretty much been eliminated as a cause for our existance, so now they need a new scapegoat. I’m sorry it was breastmilk.
*gufaw!* instead of turning to to formula we should reintroduce wet-nurses: a job for moms that could pay! maybe one woman has high levels of contaminates and finds another with low levels or none willing to donate milk or directly nurse the 1st mom’s baby?
…or we could all just insist on organic food and clean up the planet ;o)
i was just going to say “what about formula”? but someone already did. and i was gonna say “what about cleaning up the environment” ? but someone already did.
that is what i think… clean up the environment and check the formula too. grrrr!
heather in maine
Mama Eva actually there is a dis on organic food as well saying it doesn’t do ENOUGH to warrant the costs, considering it was a U.K. article & the state of English food, I’ll pass on that idea, lol!
Sugar H, where is the nail I can’t see it, you’ve hammered so HARD!, lol!
Fat Angie, YES! I blame DNA on my son’s differences, mine & hubby’s, lol! It’s so obvious, anybody wanna find a cure, rethink all the inventions that make your life easier, now how MANY were made by people on the SPECTRUM? I have a book for my son about HIS super heroes, lol! MY job is cleaning all the GUNK out of him so he CAN get through our world better, not cure the difference. oh Temple Grandin!
Erin & Kara, thank you short sweet AND simple!
Chaz if you’re here now BEFORE then I see only great things in the future for you!
I have an article to submit “Mama” it’s a dozy (& coincidentally in time for this week, lol)
I’m so mad I could scream!! Nevermind that most of the women in America don’t breastfeed past the first six month, the immunization schedule has increased the amount of toxins being injected in our newborns and WE ARE NOT RATS!!!
My oldest was diagnosed at 3 and we started seeing symptoms after *surprise* his MMR – I’m not saying the MMR caused it. I’m saying that the ridiculous amount of vaccines he had to that point (before we were more educated and decided not to vacc our other children) accumulated in his body and his body was not able to process them out – hmmmm… someone who doesn’t fit the statistical average, where ever would we find people like that?! I know, about 1 in 150 children apparently don’t fit the statistical average. Yeay for the 149 kids that are “unharmed” by repeated vaccination.
I meant the first 6 weeks =P
The science-fail makes me twitchy…it’s really obvious so I won’t rehash.
Heinlein said never to assume malice when stupidity is an option. Thing is, I’m not buying that a trained neuroscientist is this stupid.
So…why so much malice?
So I actually read the paper. It looks like the release before breastfeeding week was done by someone who didn’t understand the research too well and/or had an anti-breastfeeding agenda. Hopefully most science and health journalists who saw the release actually read the paper and decided it wasn’t worth covering.
The section on breastfeeding is couched in a lot of ifs, maybes, possiblies, etc. Here is an excerpt:
“Although numerous studies have shown that breastfeeding of infants is superior to existing alternatives, these data suggest the possibility that, in extreme cases, for mothers with high levels of exposure to PCBs and/or other closely related toxicants that bioaccumulate in breast milk, lactational exposure of genetically at-risk infants may in fact not be in the infant’s best interest…”
They go on to say that genetics probably has a lot to do with it, that noone knows for sure, and that it would be worth researching to see if there really IS a cause-and-effect relationship.
The paper also notes that levels of PCB contamination of breast milk have dropped significantly since the 19070s (amen).
All in all, the paper itself isn’t down on breastfeeding. It was just some awful PR person’s uneducated spin on it.
-Ms. Krieger
Yeah, our world is so polluted that even breastmilk contains toxins. We need to clean up the environment, because it’s affecting our children’s health. The presence of toxins in breastmilk is one sign of this.
But human milk is still the most appropriate and safest food for human infants. Formula is sub-par and has the same dangers of environmental contamination, plus a slew of its own dangers (such as bacterial contamination.)
Wow.
1. No studies were done on humans. Only LAB RATS.
2. Formula was not tested.
3. Those breastfeeding rates are incorrect.
This is just bad science. I can’t think of a way they could have gotten it any more wrong.
You know what? 100% of the people who get cancer have had water at some point in their lives. Water must cause cancer. Somebody give me a degree in neuroscience!
Kudos Amber! You took the words right out of my mouth
Grr… This study was done in rats! Though rats have similar genetic make-up as ours, we are completely separate species! I don’t think that we are so similar that he could draw such a dramatic conclusion of this degree. Breast-feeding is still BEST-feeding, buddy. It irritates me when a scientist makes such lofty, far-reaching conclusions based on such a minor piece of information, of which itself is non-conclusive. Now if he did a study which compared autism levels in ACTUAL HUMAN breastfed babies vs formula-fed, then I might think there would be a slight inkling of merit to his statements.
Oh, and I agree with you Amber. Formula was not tested, so who’s to say that formula didn’t have higher levels of toxins!
In the second sentence of the abstract we find that the rats were exposed to PCBs while pregnant. So where’s the group of formula rats?
Okay, finished reading it, and near as I can tell the abstract is arguing that very high levels of PCB exposure will result in autistic babies. Only I thought autism usually manifested around age 4?
That’s a myth Liz. Many autistic children are not diagnosed until they are 3-4, but show autistic traits long before they are diagnosed. The difficulty is autism traits in infants are very subtle, and often go unrecognized. My son was diagnosed at 19 months, thanks to an observant nurse who knew something was up, and a persistent mommy who fought for a referral to a specialist.
I want to say something about how stupid this is, but almost everything’s already been said. Are more children being diagnosed now because we know what their problem is and have a label for it? Thinking back, I can think of classmates when I was a kid who were “different” and would nowadays probably be diagnosed as “on the spectrum”. The good news is that at least now, we know how to help them cope with their differences and lead productive lives.
As a special ed teacher, I can say this without a second thought- the best thing that any child with any sort of learning difference can have is involved parents. Parents who nurse tend to be involved. That can only be good!
Wiffersnapper, you mean they get HELP now INSTEAD of being allowed to be BULLIED into suicide by the uncaring mob? Imagine that!
Christine, a lot of the “testing” at the peds office is for SEVERE stuff, not necessarily Autism which has different characteristics then life threatening disabilities (Although I do think autism can be life threatening and probably WAS in the past to a degree) Also a LOT of the characteristics of autism are typically EXTREME boy behavior, so it’s TOUGH there too. Something WAS wrong with my son from the DAY he was born but I was told REPEATEDLY that I was a 1st time mom I didn’t know anything. So WHAT If I’d been induated with small children by my very smart adoptive parents (I was a foster kid from a horrible background, they saw a need to show difference in the way my early childhood was so I got TONS of exposure, lol, want world peace I baby sat for devout muslims and catholics, lol, how’s that, the children WILL save us, if we let them) so I MORE then a good idea of what NORMAL was (The frequent nosebleeds my son administered were a major hint, he didn’t understand cause/effect on another human etc) but was still told I knew nothing because this was my 1st child. It wasn’t until my 2nd child that a new ped put 2 & 2 together (He’d not gotten used to my son’s antics & my panic attacks at being away from him were odd & they though hubby was doing something, & yes he apologized for being wrong there, too bad he moved, bummer)
Uh I’m gonna go all Brewer diet on this one, where’s the control group?
(sigh) so much stupidity in this world all for the sake of a buck! How noble but If you say it 3 times fast you sound like a chicken! sweet irony
Ugh… HOW does this guy get to keep being a scientist? I swear the conclusions they draw can be completely ridiculous… oh wait… was he funded by formula companies??
So according to this, the same environmental toxins are not present in the milk used to produce formula or the water used to mix it? How, then, do they get into breastmilk unless they’re present *in the environment*? The toxins may well be an issue, breastfeeding is not.
So if I did a science experiment in high school with a rat and a maze does that make me a scientist too? Seems that’s all this guy needed for his credentials, yeah?
oh my god, but COWS, cows are raised on mars where as we all know there are no PCBs…
for fuck’s sakes. did the moron measure the environmental toxins in the BREASTMILK of the MOTHER RATS who BREASTFED his rats before he started experimenting on them? or did his rats get soy formula as babies?
@christine
well, so much for that flaw in the study then.
It sounds like this study didn’t prove a thing. However, human milk has more toxins than cow’s milk because we are higher than cows on the food chain. We ingest toxins when we consume animal fats in meat and dairy products. The toxins remain in our fat and are only excreted during pregnancy to the fetus (mainly) and through breast milk. Men never excrete them. The only answer is to clean up the environment. Even if everyone stopped breastfeeding the greatest danger is to the fetus.
…and who is funding the studies????? formula companies??????
Hi guys – just wanted to reiterate – the researcher is NOT saying that breastfeeding puts babies at higher risk for autism.
He is just noting that there is a correlation between PCBs in breastmilk and neurological problems in rats. Then he speculates that this might be one of the causes of autism in people. Then he recommends that MORE RESEARCH be done to see if this is really the case. (And if it is true, I bet he would argue for removing PCBs from the chemical arsenal we use, not for stopping breastfeeding!)
He most definitely does not say “don’t breastfeed because it will make your baby autistic!” He admits that breastfeeding is superior to other ways of nourishing an infant.
What I find reprehensible is the paper’s RE-release during Breastfeeding Week. It smacks of a PR campaign by a formula company.
Don’t blame the researcher for asking important questions! Blame whomever saw this paper and thought to spin it into an anti-breastfeeding lie.
I call shenanigans.
“Hi, I’d like an order of wings to go please. Thanks.”
There. I just called Shenanigans.
If PCBs are in mother’s milk, then they are in mother’s body. If they are in mother’s body, they are in baby’s body. And if they are in our bodies then they are in our water too…WHICH IS MIXED WITH THE FORMULA.
Another perfect example of how correlation does not equal causation. The rates of exclusive breastfeeding in this country are so dismally low that to blame them for the higher rates of autism is ludicrous.
Jill like I said, where’s the control group?
In case you are tallying these up…
My oldest daughter, who has autism, for very difficult reasons I won’t go into here, was only breastfed the first 5 weeks, and during that time, easily half was in fact formula. My younger two children who are NOT autistic, were/are breastfed until 2.5+ years…
[...] This comic is related to this musing: Breastfeeding and Autism… [...]
High mercury levels are bad too. Of course in countries where the predominant protein source is fish the whole population has high mercury levels.
Funny thing even at these really high levels the breast fed babies have less problems with mercury than formula fed babies getting lower levels of mercury in other countries like say the US.
Turns out the healthy things in breast milk can help neutralize the mercury. Funny, it’d be like if breast milk could neutralize HIV and than HIV positive breastfeeding was healthier than HIV negative formula.
OH WAIT – IT IS!
Oh this is fucking ridiculous. I’m pro-vaccination (they have no toxins in them and it’s been repeatedly disproven that they have ANY link to autism) but breast milk as a cause is just bloody insane.
I was breast fed for three years, and I turned out very well thank you very much.
Seriously this article has been driving me nuts. I have a 9 month old son who is breastfed and I have been heightened about autism since I was pregnant because my husband has a cousin with aspergers. So I thought breastfeeding would be the better choice for brain development. Then I find this article, I mean seriously I feel like I cant do anything right.
See before I found this article I found one saying that you shouldnt breastfeed if you have metal fillings in your mouth. Well I screwed that one up too. Now each and everytime I feed him I am thinking hmm how much mercury and PCB’s is he getting right now! Anyone want to chime in about the metal fillings. Anyone with a head full breastfeed their babies and have them turn out neurotypical? Or even better anyone have autism in their family breastfeed with metal fillings in their head and there children were ok? oy…
Dear krystal,
take a deep breath and please please give yourself a loving break. In our culture we always want to know what the ’cause’ is, and who is responsible. This has led to a lot of mama blaming, if something goes wrong, it must be that the mother didn’t “vaccinate’, didn’t ‘not vaccinate’, didn’t scrub vegetables, didn’t abstain from tuna. I have an acquaintance with an autistic child who says that life would be great if it wasn’t for the guilt that she somehow caused it, or hasn’t done enough to cure it. The truth is, we don’t know what causes it yet, truly. Or how to cure it. We just have to do the best we can, and breastfeeding is the best we can. We have to relieve ourselves of the guilt, too so that we can enjoy this time with our babies. Find a way to be positive. Repeat after me “it’s all good.” Say that over and over. write it on your babies shirt, write it on your drinking glass, write it on your hand. (I’m going to have shirts soon!) I’ve got a full mouth of fillings and I’m breastfeeding my fourth. No worries.
Love,
Heather
Krystal, I can see how you’d be overwhelmed!
Short answer, all those posts up above with autistic children in the families all seem to say the same thing, the LONGER the babies were nursed the LESS likely they were to have autism. The babies that nursed for SHORTER amounts of time were MORE severe or just plain old “caught” autism.(like it’s a disease, sheesh, so much for science) Dunno why, but it’s good enough for my hubby that it’s free and it contains LESS crude overall then our OWN food supplies! and yes despite the metal in my mouth!
It’s OK to be confused, just remember to SHARE your confusion, don’t keep it to yourself, THAT’s just not healthy! And love your babies with all your heart, & body & soul!
Thanks girls!! With it already in the family I just take every article serious and maybe that isnt a good idea. If it wasnt in the family I probably wouldnt worry so much.
Thanks for your nice responses. I have had some people yell at me online!! I agree the more I ask questions and talk about it the better I feel.
I figure the more ppl that say I have a mouth full of metal and have autism in their families the better I feel.
Thanks again!! Cant wait to see the shirts:)