Thanks for writing this. It seems modern culture is too proud to admit that the best thing for early child development is to be breastfed and reared by the mother for as long as possible (significantly improved cognitive outcomes from breastfeeding, especially through the first two years, shown many times over)… it’s too trad for neo-feminism thus must be rejected on the basis of ideology over evolution & biology.
I don’t remember the exact papers re breastfeeding & cognitive outcomes but can dig them out if you’d like.
Very informative! I've heard the rationale of daycare providing immunity from a number of friends/acquaintances who of course all sent their children to daycare. I believe it's often used to help justify their decision to others, where there may be some guilt or fear of judgment for not staying at home or child rearing longer.
The belief that repeated infections are somehow good for children is grounded in pseudoscience such as the hygiene hypothesis (which deals with bacteria, not viruses) and conspiracy theory (the backlash to early pandemic mitigation measures). Factor in the potential long-term effects of many viruses, such as Long Covid, which is now the most common chronic condition in children. I also agree that this belief is so widespread because of rationalization by parents who choose to send their kids to daycare.
Thanks for writing this. It seems modern culture is too proud to admit that the best thing for early child development is to be breastfed and reared by the mother for as long as possible (significantly improved cognitive outcomes from breastfeeding, especially through the first two years, shown many times over)… it’s too trad for neo-feminism thus must be rejected on the basis of ideology over evolution & biology.
I don’t remember the exact papers re breastfeeding & cognitive outcomes but can dig them out if you’d like.
Very informative! I've heard the rationale of daycare providing immunity from a number of friends/acquaintances who of course all sent their children to daycare. I believe it's often used to help justify their decision to others, where there may be some guilt or fear of judgment for not staying at home or child rearing longer.
The belief that repeated infections are somehow good for children is grounded in pseudoscience such as the hygiene hypothesis (which deals with bacteria, not viruses) and conspiracy theory (the backlash to early pandemic mitigation measures). Factor in the potential long-term effects of many viruses, such as Long Covid, which is now the most common chronic condition in children. I also agree that this belief is so widespread because of rationalization by parents who choose to send their kids to daycare.
https://lilscience.substack.com/p/immunity-debt-the-conspiracy-theory?r=1dhl9s&utm_medium=ios