On 09/12/2006, at 19:48, Renee Drake wrote:

> In a message dated 12/8/2006 7:22:23 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
>> Given  the active bactericidal qualities of
>> fresh milk, I felt comfortable  that a small inoculum of my son's own
>> mouth bacteria would not cause  the milk to rapidly become harmful
>
> *************************************
>
> The issue isn't necessarily the bacteria growth in the left over   
> milk.  The
> saliva is the first (and actually a very powerful) step in   
> digestion.  Saliva
> begins to digest starches and carbohydrates and sugars  and does so  
> quite
> quickly.

I don't believe that human milk contains starches.

> I haven't been able to look into any  evidence-based examples,  
> however it is
> my BELIEF that within a very short amount  of time, the leftover   
> milk would
> have started to be digested by the time  it was refed.  (the idea  
> of that is
> sooo GROSS to me).  This is the  same reason we no longer advise  
> moms to feed
> baby directly from the baby food  jar and then save what hasn't  
> been used.

Experience has shown that drawing analogies between dead infant foods  
and live human milk, and making assumptions based on these false  
analogies, is not an approach likely to lead to accurate conclusions.  
I also try not to base infant feeding advice on subjective  
"grossness" - this seems to me a slippery slope, and also one on  
which many anti-breastfeeding practices are based.

You have offered your sensory experience that cornstarch-filler- 
laden, culture-medium commercial baby foods appear different after  
exposure to saliva over time. I'm happy to offer my sensory  
experience of breastmilk saved for several hours after a bottle-feed:  
no change. No change in appearance, smell, or taste. I hope that one  
day there might also be biochemical analyses of such milk - if anyone  
has seen any, it would be great if they could be shared.

  I've not seen any evidence suggesting that re-offering fresh milk  
for a short period is harmful. The alternative (for most women not  
blessed with an oversupply or plentiful donor milk) is usually  
artificial baby milk, a substance known to carry significant risks. I  
believe that if health practitioners are going to advise a practice  
likely to lead to an increase in artificial feeding, we need an  
_extremely_ solid evidence base; and there is no evidence at all to  
suggest that re-offering milk for several hours is harmful.

Lara Hopkins

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