On my office shelf I have the 40th Anniversary Edition of Dr. Benjamin
Spock's book "Baby and Child Care". It was printed in 1985 so it certainly
isn't the latest edition. To be fair, I don't think the following information
should be a criticism of the book -- which has current editions on
bookstore shelves -- since I can't say whether this information has been
changed in the new editions.  Nonetheless, I have it in my library -- so I
think it safe to assume that this edition is in circulation.

This book has recipes for --  and does not discourage -- homemade
formula.  In fact, in discussing homemade formula: "A suitable formula for
a young baby would be 13 level tablespoonfuls of powdered whole milk,
32 ounces of water, and two tablespoonfuls of corn syrup." It goes on
to detail the preparation of a similar concoction using evaporated milk,
water and corn syrup. BTW: this book makes a strong case in favor of
keeping infants and toddlers on evaporated milk (instead of switching to
whole fresh milk).

In my practice, at a large U.S. university with a mostly college-educated
patient population, I know of at least seven infants who were fed
homemade concoctions. The mother of two of these infants is a
registered nurse who had difficulties nursing her first child, and found
the baby did not tolerate commercial formulas. She claims that the baby
thrived once he was started on the homemade stuff. She subsequently
raised baby #2 on it.

My point is not that babies do well on homemade stuff -- infants and
children are resilient and able to overcome many insults. Rather, I think
we need to be aware that not everyone is talking about commercial
preparations when they say their baby is getting "formula." And, the
popularity of the "Tightwad Gazette", despite the fact that the author
presents breastfeeding in a good light, means that homemade brew is
probably not as rare as we (and the abm companies!) might think.

Margery Wilson, IBCLC
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Medical Department
Cambridge, MA
USA