Kids of Working Moms Less Healthy: British study

[zumbamama]

I guess this study would not apply to moms in the health, fitness or physical arts fields. I work PT, am not wealthy, and my kids are healthy and very active.

[Anonymous]

I don't really care about the study because it does not apply to me. I'm a working mom, nursed my child for a full year (he never had a drop of formula), managed to cook ALL of his food, and NEVER opened a jar of baby food-ever, and I still cook everything from scratch...along wiht having a huge garden that supplies us with almost all of our summer veggies. My 3 yr old eats swiss chard. I don't know many work or SAHMs who can say this. Oh yea, and TV? We're too busy for that. He doesn't watch it at daycare because they spend all of their time outside or in activities and doesn't watch it at home.

I now have a 6 month all who is on track, again 100% breastfed, no formula.

I have no opinion on this study and I think it is totally, 100% fine when both parents work outside of the home (whether by necessity or choice), but... gag me with the "never had a drop of formula," "NEVER opened a jar of baby food ever, 100% breastfed, no formula, too busy for [TV]." Babies can have formula and even -- omg! -- jarred baby food and even watch the occasional television and still turn out healthy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I don't really care about the study because it does not apply to me. I'm a working mom, nursed my child for a full year (he never had a drop of formula), managed to cook ALL of his food, and NEVER opened a jar of baby food-ever, and I still cook everything from scratch...along wiht having a huge garden that supplies us with almost all of our summer veggies. My 3 yr old eats swiss chard. I don't know many work or SAHMs who can say this. Oh yea, and TV? We're too busy for that. He doesn't watch it at daycare because they spend all of their time outside or in activities and doesn't watch it at home.

I now have a 6 month all who is on track, again 100% breastfed, no formula.

I have no opinion on this study and I think it is totally, 100% fine when both parents work outside of the home (whether by necessity or choice), but... gag me with the "never had a drop of formula," "NEVER opened a jar of baby food ever, 100% breastfed, no formula, too busy for [TV]." Babies can have formula and even -- omg! -- jarred baby food and even watch the occasional television and still turn out healthy.

I had the same reaction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don't really care about the study because it does not apply to me. I'm a working mom, nursed my child for a full year (he never had a drop of formula), managed to cook ALL of his food, and NEVER opened a jar of baby food-ever, and I still cook everything from scratch...along wiht having a huge garden that supplies us with almost all of our summer veggies. My 3 yr old eats swiss chard. I don't know many work or SAHMs who can say this. Oh yea, and TV? We're too busy for that. He doesn't watch it at daycare because they spend all of their time outside or in activities and doesn't watch it at home.

I now have a 6 month all who is on track, again 100% breastfed, no formula.

I have no opinion on this study and I think it is totally, 100% fine when both parents work outside of the home (whether by necessity or choice), but... gag me with the "never had a drop of formula," "NEVER opened a jar of baby food ever, 100% breastfed, no formula, too busy for [TV]." Babies can have formula and even -- omg! -- jarred baby food and even watch the occasional television and still turn out healthy.

I had the same reaction.

Me too. I work part-time, but I know more than one nanny who gives their charges junk food and asks me not to tell the moms. If you work you have NO idea what your nanny is really giving your baby to eat. So this poster is full of shit.

[Anonymous]

The number of adults in the US were not breastfed - formula was very vogue for a time - as was canned foods. These adults are not less healthy nor less inteligent. As a PP already mention socioecomonic status has the the significnat influence of health behaviors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What useful information. Did they study whether the father's employment status had any impact on the child's diet too? Didn't think so.

Love how these studies seem to bash working moms. Way to undermine women. Let's see some of those studies on men for a change.

That was my first thought.

I don't really care about the study because it does not apply to me. I'm a working mom, nursed my child for a full year (he never had a drop of formula), managed to cook ALL of his food, and NEVER opened a jar of baby food-ever, and I still cook everything from scratch...along wiht having a huge garden that supplies us with almost all of our summer veggies. My 3 yr old eats swiss chard. I don't know many work or SAHMs who can say this. Oh yea, and TV? We're too busy for that. He doesn't watch it at daycare because they spend all of their time outside or in activities and doesn't watch it at home.

I now have a 6 month all who is on track, again 100% breastfed, no formula.

One day your kids will eat McDonalds and watch tv...they ALL do, Wonder Woman! And guess what - they might even get FAT - the love of swiss chard will go away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What useful information. Did they study whether the father's employment status had any impact on the child's diet too? Didn't think so.

Love how these studies seem to bash working moms. Way to undermine women. Let's see some of those studies on men for a change.

That was my first thought.

I don't really care about the study because it does not apply to me. I'm a working mom, nursed my child for a full year (he never had a drop of formula), managed to cook ALL of his food, and NEVER opened a jar of baby food-ever, and I still cook everything from scratch...along wiht having a huge garden that supplies us with almost all of our summer veggies. My 3 yr old eats swiss chard. I don't know many work or SAHMs who can say this. Oh yea, and TV? We're too busy for that. He doesn't watch it at daycare because they spend all of their time outside or in activities and doesn't watch it at home.

I now have a 6 month all who is on track, again 100% breastfed, no formula.

One day your kids will eat McDonalds and watch tv...they ALL do, Wonder Woman! And guess what - they might even get FAT - the love of swiss chard will go away.

I got fat even though I was breastfed for a year, and I never had a drop of formula.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What useful information. Did they study whether the father's employment status had any impact on the child's diet too? Didn't think so.

Love how these studies seem to bash working moms. Way to undermine women. Let's see some of those studies on men for a change.

They study men in the data set, too. The results were more negative for women. The data is the data.

[Anonymous]

there are way too many variables to control for in this sort of thing - statistics can be manipulated to "prove" anything. ridiculous.

Also, I never had a drop of breast milk, lived for Saturday morning cartoons and Twinkies. It did not turn my brain to cheese. And, my mom was a SAHM.

[Anonymous]

Oh my goodness, what rabble rousing. Yes, of COURSE children of working moms, generally speaking, ate less healthy foods. zI don't have a problem with acknowledging that. After all, correlation does not equal causation. Does mom working outside the home mean kids are eating less healthy, de facto? No, of course it does not. What it means is that when moms work outside the home, sometimes dad is not providing equal support (or is not around) at home, so mom has less time to prepare a healthy meal. Does this mean mom should not work? Of course not. It means that

a. if mom has a partner, that partner should pull his / her own weight, help out if no partner, mom needs to make time one way or another and hopefully find other support systems.
b. families (moms and dads) need to make nutrition a priority, even if they are exhausted and the quick fix / fast food / low-nutrition meal seems very tempting.
c. communities need to educate families (moms AND dads) on meal planning and provide information on making quick, balanced meals.

So who cares if some study says that most PEOPLE are not making nutrition a priority and that those of us with the least amount of time, i.e. working moms, are having a harder time than others?

To me, the best "control" they could have had is what level of support they get from their partners, what role dad plays in feeding the kids / preparing the meals / supporting mom.

[Anonymous]

case in point, from the article:

"The research, however, said it was not implying that mothers should not work, but highlighting the need for policies and programs to support parents."

BTW, the article was very poorly written.

[Anonymous]

I want a policy that will deliver deliciously fresh, nutritious, made-from-scratch, kid-appealing meals to my doorstep on a daily basis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:there are way too many variables to control for in this sort of thing - statistics can be manipulated to "prove" anything. ridiculous.

Also, I never had a drop of breast milk, lived for Saturday morning cartoons and Twinkies. It did not turn my brain to cheese. And, my mom was a SAHM.

IMO this is the worst kind of comment. You don't like the outcome. So you say:
*It can't be studied
*people lie with statistics all the time
*result is ridiculous

Clearly most commenters aren't even reading the study, which is available for free on PubMed Central at the NIH site.

To answer some questions that have been brought up, a LOT of variables exist in this data set, which is a very good data set, and the study authors controlled for a long list of them. Also, the relationship between men and obesity was examined and was not significant, although the authors concede that since most men are fully employed, it is very hard to study this point. And yes, income was studied and, fully adjusted, the effect of work on childhood obesity was greater among the highest income category. Maybe you could argue that somehow the trend reverses specifically for the wealthy, something that was not studied, but that's just speculation.

The point of this is not to bash working women. But work imposes time limits which can contribute to poorer nutrition, and does for the average family. I don't see how this is controversial. Who doesn't believe that work hours make it harder to cook/ eat healthy? C'mon!

The real point is to identify that maternal working hours do contribute to obesity in the average studied family, so that working parents can be aware and take the necessary steps to ensure that they are better than the average family.

If the study showed that people of your heritage were prone to high blood pressure, would you be offended and do nothing, or would you use the information to live longer and healthier? This is the same thing.

[Anonymous]

Okay..but what about us work at home moms???? How bout them apples??! I can start healthy dinners while kids are at school...during my breaks throughout the day I prepare healthy lunches, etc. I have more time since I don't commute and my kids are outside ALL of the time when they are not in school. They never get sick and have never been on antibiotics or had a single ear infection-- either one of them. They are now 4 and 18months. I have more time than a SAHM because I also can pay for help when I need it...plus Whole paycheck is just 2 blocks away and we eat all organic. I run marathons, my husband was a boxer/weightlifter...played competitive team sports..athletics run in our family. I work full-time, are my kids less healthy for it? NO WAY IN HELL!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay..but what about us work at home moms???? How bout them apples??! I can start healthy dinners while kids are at school...during my breaks throughout the day I prepare healthy lunches, etc. I have more time since I don't commute and my kids are outside ALL of the time when they are not in school. They never get sick and have never been on antibiotics or had a single ear infection-- either one of them. They are now 4 and 18months. I have more time than a SAHM because I also can pay for help when I need it...plus Whole paycheck is just 2 blocks away and we eat all organic. I run marathons, my husband was a boxer/weightlifter...played competitive team sports..athletics run in our family. I work full-time, are my kids less healthy for it? NO WAY IN HELL!

Hahaha....that's exsactly how I feel about that place.