Pamela, my understanding is that at least in Europe people have been not
breastfeeding their kids for hundreds of years before formula was invented.
Sometimes they hired wet nurses -- often, for poor or middle class families,
that meant a woman caring for more babies than she could feed, who might or
might not breastfeed some of them, as opportunity and time allowed her;
sometimes they dry-nursed (eg, fed pap).    Often, their children died; and
it was still their right (in their own culture's terms) to choose that risky
option.   So much as I'd rather see no formula routinely given in the USA, I
do still think it is true that its availability saved a lot of kids' lives,
and that the "choice" is older than the industry.

I recall reading that in one of the Nordin countries (iceland?) there was a
late medieval period of hundreds of years where the infant mortality rate was
over 90% --and the culturally preferred infant food was cow's butter.
Anyone know if this is true?

Elisheva

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