A breastfeeding myth lives on

What they seem to overlook is that mothers' IQ is highly predictive of breastfeeding so all we are seeing here is that high IQ mothers have high IQ children, which is not exactly news. IQ is highly hereditary. It would be nice if researchers knew something about their subject but in my experience many don't

Breastfeeding is Associated with Improved Child Cognitive Development: A Population-Based Cohort Study

By Maria A. Quigley et al.

Abstract

Objective
To assess the association between breastfeeding and child cognitive development in term and preterm children.

Study design
We analyzed data on white singleton children from the United Kingdom Millennium Cohort Study. Children were grouped according to breastfeeding duration. Results were stratified by gestational age at birth: 37 to 42 weeks (term, n = 11 101), and 28 to 36 weeks (preterm, n = 778). British Ability Scales tests were administered at age 5 years (naming vocabulary, pattern construction, and picture similarities subscales).

Results
The mean scores for all subscales increased with breastfeeding duration. After adjusting for confounders, there was a significant difference in mean score between children who were breastfed and children who were never breastfed: in term children, a two-point increase in score for picture similarities (when breastfed ≥4 months) and naming vocabulary (when breastfed ≥6 months); in preterm children, a 4-point increase for naming vocabulary (when breastfed ≥4 months) and picture similarities (when breastfed ≥2 months) and a 6-point increase for pattern construction (when breastfed ≥2 months). These differences suggest that breastfed children will be 1 to 6 months ahead of children who were never breastfed.

Conclusions
In white, singleton children in the United Kingdom, breastfeeding is associated with improved cognitive development, particularly in children born preterm.

SOURCE




Is the kiss of life actually dangerous? British Heart Foundation say it may hinder patient's survival

Giving the kiss of life may actually hinder a patient’s survival, experts warn. They say that mouth-to-mouth is often ineffective and gets in the way of the crucial chest compression’s need to keep the victim’s heart beating.

And according to the British Heart Foundation, the sheer thought of having to blow into someone’s mouth puts many of us off from even attempting resuscitation.

So the organisation is today publishing guidelines urging the public to ignore the kiss of life and instead concentrate on giving “hard and fast” chest compressions until an ambulance arrives - to the beat of Stayin Alive by the Bee Gees.
New guidelines state that people should ignore the breaths and give constant chest compressions 5-6cm deep (2 inches), just between the nipples, at the rate of 100 to 120 a minute

People should ignore the breaths and give constant chest compressions 5-6cm deep (2 inches), just between the nipples, at the rate of 100 to 120 a minute

Cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR), as it is officially known, is given to patients who have suffered a cardiac arrest – when their heart stops pumping blood around the body.

At present official first-aid guidelines recommend giving 30 chest compressions, then pinching their nose and blowing into their lungs twice, and repeating until an ambulance arrives.

But the new guidelines state that people should ignore the breaths and give constant chest compressions 5-6cm deep (2 inches), just between the nipples, at the rate of 100 to 120 a minute.

The breaths of air, or rescue breaths, are meant to fill the patients’ lungs with oxygen – so you effectively breathe for them. But the BHF claims that when ordinary members of the public do this they don’t properly blow into the lungs –while at the same time they are stopping the chest compressions.

The organisation says that patients should have enough oxygen into their body to survive until help arrives so it is more essential that helpers concentrate on the compressions to pump blood round the body.

Ellen Mason, Senior Cardiac Nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: 'The kiss of life can often be daunting for untrained bystanders who want to help when someone has collapsed with a cardiac arrest.

'Hands-only CPR should give lots of people the confidence and know-how to help save someone in cardiac arrest, the ultimate medical emergency. It’s been shown that hard, fast and uninterrupted chest compressions are better than stopping compressions for ineffective rescue breaths.

'It’s very simple; call 999 and then push hard and fast in the centre of the chest at a tempo similar to Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees. If you’re untrained or unconfident about the kiss of life give Hands-only CPR a go instead - it could help save someone’s life.'

Official figures show that survival rates for cardiac arrests are very low. Some 30,000 people suffer from one outside hospital every year and only 10 per cent will recover and be discharged from hospital.

The official guidelines will still recommend that trained medical professionals or people who have been trained in first aid still perform the kiss of life however.

A poll of 2,000 people by the BHF found that a fifth were put off by the thought of giving mouth-to-mouth or catching an infection. And four in ten feared they would be sued if they did something wrong.

SOURCE