I appreciated Valerie McClain's balanced response to Dr. Wight's comments.
I don't think anyone on this list doubts that problems with contamination of
formula are more concerning than problems with breastmilk.  Contamination of
milk fed to fragile babies whether it be by pump, poor hygiene, poor
handling or poor processing is an infection control issue.  Policies to
protect against occurance should be carefully scrutinized to minimize and
hopefully eliminate risk.  The risk of primarily acquired CMV or herpes
transmitted through mother's own milk directly to a breastfeeding baby is
something that clinicians do see on (thankfully) rare occasion.  The point
that Valerie makes to get preemies directly breastfeeding is valid and to be
striven for, but the truth is that these babies are weak feeders until they
arrive at (or near) their due dates, and often the need to do comp feedings
continues for a while, so it is impossible to dismiss the reality that they
will be exposed to some alternate feeding methods.

Barbara Wilson-Clay, BS, IBCLC
Austin Lactation Associates
LactNews Press
www.lactnews.com

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

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