Valerie is correct in that "formula-feeding" is never listed as a cause
of death.  We get our estimates by looking at a few of the most common
causes of death listed and doing the following type of calculation
(numbers are made up for this example):

If 100 babies in Salt Lake City, matched to be as close in background
as possible, die from RSV
and 20 of them were breastfed
and 80 of them were formula-fed
then the unmatched difference (80-20=60)
gives us 60 who died for no other reason than that they were formula-fed
So approximately 60% of babies who die from RSV do so because they were
not breastfed

(Please remember I made up numbers for purposes of discussion.  If Dr.
Miriam Labbok wants to improve this simplistic explanation, please feel
free to jump in here.)

Valerie does have a point in that up until now the government and
health professionals have tended to obscure formula-feeding as a cause
of death.  So our acceptance of 6,000 (approximated) infant formula
deaths/year in the U.S. is an uninformed choice on the part of the
public.  However, this is only possible because the American public
(including doctors) accepts a certain number of deaths (just like they
accept a certain number of ear infections) as "normal."

We have about 28,000 infant deaths a year at present, out of roughly 4
million births a year.  At least a fifth of our infant deaths are
probably completely preventable by breastfeeding, probably more.  As we
gain understanding of the ways in which formula-feeding impacts health,
we will certainly be increasing this estimate.

It's interesting that someone with the information that a baby died due
to formula-feeding might believe they are withholding that information
so as not to make the mother feel "guilty," when really what they are
avoiding is making the mother feel angry (and rightfully so).  Angry at
having essential information withheld from her at the time she made her
decision to artificially feed, angry at the formula companies for
taking unfair advantage of her concern for her child to manipulate her
into choosing an inferior product that endangered her child, angry at
the government for allowing commercial predation and withholding
necessary health information, angry at her doctor for colluding with
the formula company and/or failing to act on her child's behalf in
advising her of the real risks involved beforehand, angry at her
community for subtly (and not so subtly) pushing her toward the choice
of formula-feeding, and on and on.

Arly Helm, MS, IBCLC

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html