Critical Reading 1: Analysis of Breastfeeding Articles and Studies

This report presents a critical analysis of two articles related to breastfeeding. The first article, "Breastfeeding wars: is breast really best?" by Bryony Gordon, explores the debate around breastfeeding versus formula feeding, presenting case studies and viewpoints from various sources, including healthcare professionals and researchers. The report examines the article's language, facts, and arguments, highlighting the benefits of breastfeeding and discussing challenges mothers face. The second article, "The Royal College of Midwives – Position Statement on Breastfeeding," provides a position statement on breastfeeding, emphasizing its importance for infant health and development. The analysis compares the two articles, examining their presentation styles, arguments, and the use of facts and surveys, including breastfeeding initiation rates. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and arguments presented in both articles.

Critical Reading
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Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Article 1: Breastfeeding wars: is breast really best?....................................................................3
Article 2: The Royal College of Midwives – Position Statement on Breastfeeding...................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6
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INTRODUCTION
Critical reading is referred as a form of language analysis which does not take the provided
test at face value, yet includes a deep examination or evaluation of claims that put forward and
supporting points as well as possible counter arguments. In this report, two pieces of text are
evaluated and the language used in each article is compared. It covers key facts and main
arguments of each individual article along with evidence of bias and evaluation of utilization of
language in each article.
MAIN BODY
Article 1: Breastfeeding wars: is breast really best?
This article is associated with woman breastfeeding in which the discussion about
breastfeeding wars is included. This article was written by bryony Gordon and first published on
22nd June 2014. This article was based on the case study of Jodee Lofthouse and her daughter
Charlotte. This article is about breastfeed or not to breastfeed. It has been found in the article that
breastfeed is the most appropriate way to develop a child in an effective way. If a woman feed
her baby by using bottles or pumps, then it would not good for them. According to provided case
in the article it has been found that breast is the only healthy option to feeding a child. The case
study of two women are compared in the article, when is Jodee lofthouse and another is Sarah.
The pediatrician and the midwifes, both advised to feed child with bottles. But according to the
healthcare organisation, breastfeeding is best. They said that for all the new mothers,
breastfeeding is the best option and all mother should do it for first six months in order to ensure
proper growth and development of baby and provide them with healthy life. The article discusses
about the difficulties that mothers face while breastfeeding her baby. Many mothers cannot
manage it by the time their baby become 6 weeks old. The article compares viewpoint of
different people upon breastfeeding. It has been found from the research at Harvard University
that formula milk is sometimes actually better in comparison to breast milk as some of the
mothers’ produce stress hormone cortisol in which amount which makes their babies anxious.
However, in some cases it has been found that a breastfeed children is less likely to develop
autism, have high IQ level and they are more possibly to be protected from the issues like heart
attacks in later life. A comparison between the view points of dr. Ellie cannon (who is an author
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of keep calm and GP) and John B. wolf (who is an author of book breast best and professor of
gender studies) is the paper. According to Wolf, an ideology of entire motherhood which
stimulates that a woman can and must eliminate any risk to her child, regardless of the way small
or possibly the risk or the cost that it takes to her own wellbeing in the process. According to the
study conducted by Ohio University, there was no significant differentiation between a bottle fed
and a breastfeed child is seen when it came to hyperactivity, asthma, BMI or intelligence. This
article defines the significance of breastfeeding for child in their proper development. This article
makes use of English language and appropriate transitions are included in the article. It states the
dew point of different persons clearly. The language of article is somewhat complex, but the
overall context associated with the article is clearly understandable.
List of facts:
1. In first six months of children, breast milk is the best option in order to ensure growth and
development of child properly.
2. According to study, there was no significant differentiation between a bottle fed and a
breastfeed child when it came to asthma, hyperactivity, BMI or intelligence.
Article 2: The Royal College of Midwives – Position Statement on Breastfeeding
This article is based on the royal College of midwives, in which a position statement on
breastfeeding is provided. According to the article, breastfeeding is one of the most appropriate
method to feed an infant for the initial 6 months. This article was also written in English
language, but is not clearly stated the arguments and facts. The content provided in the article
wan not written in systematic way which makes it difficult to understand what the article is
stated. Apart from this, in comparison to the first article, this article has not included the name of
author and also the information regarding in which year the article was published. The above
provided article was based on a particular topic in which the view points and arguments of
different persons are presented very effectively. This article discusses about the infant feeding
and what the mother needs to do while feeding their child. As per the article, the mothers who
has selected to bottle feed must be taught the way to clean and sterilize bottles of child and feed
them correctly and safely. The study found that breastfeeding highly contributes to increase
health and development of child continuously and their impact on its result it like behaviour, IQ
level and other development measures is seen consistently. The article stated that breastfeeding
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gives the unique opportunity for attachment between baby and mother. In United Kingdom, more
mothers choosing to breastfeed their baby. However, substantial numerous infants are formula
fed either partially or exclusively and the mother required unbiased information to allowed them
to do it safely. Some facts are also presented in the provided article which is associated with the
infant feeding survey. According to the survey performed in year 2010, it has been depicted that
breastfeeding initiation rates increases from 76% in year 2005 to 81% of mothers starting to
breast feed. It depicted that an increase of 5% since year 2005 and 12 percent since 2000 is seen.
The figures and facts regarding breast feeding initiation rates of England, Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland are included in the article.
List of facts:
1. According to Scottish law, prevent a woman from feeding her child is a criminal offence.
2. A survey reveals that there was 5% increase in breastfeeding initiation rates since year 2005
to 2010.
CONCLUSION
As per the above mentioned report, it has been concluded that this report provides
information regarding facts and arguments included in both the articles. Both the articles are
written in English language but are different in their presentation and other aspects. One article
stated clearly about the breastfeeding, while the other article includes facts about the survey
performed on breast feeding imitation rates.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Martucci, J., 2015. Why breastfeeding?: Natural motherhood in post-war America. Journal of
Women's History, 27(2), pp.110-133.
Martucci, J., 2015. Back to the breast: Natural motherhood and breastfeeding in America.
University of Chicago Press.
Mylod, D., 2015. Breast feeding a sick child; can social media influence practice?. Issues in
comprehensive pediatric nursing, 38(2), pp.77-84.
Rowold, K., 2019. Modern mothers, modern babies: breastfeeding and mother’s milk in interwar
Britain. Women's History Review, 28(7), pp.1157-1176.
Swerts, M., Westhof, E., Bogaerts, A. and Lemiengre, J., 2016. Supporting breast-feeding
women from the perspective of the midwife: A systematic review of the
literature. Midwifery, 37, pp.32-40.
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