It seems to me that because formula-feeding is so common, the related
problems are considered to be "normal." I remember a newspaper article a
couple of years ago in which a pediatrician was quoted as saying that ear
infections are normal in babies and that most will have at least five or six
within the first two years. So when parents see their babies having repeated
ear infections, they don't realize that this may be related to artificial
feeding. They just think it's normal.

In my own family, we had a small sample of four children - three breastfed
for at least seven months, one not breastfed (due to bad advice my mother
was given). We all have allergies, but my not-breastfed sister has much more
severe allergies. We are all intelligent, but my not-breastfed sister has
had more difficulties in school than the other three. She's also the only
sister who has had a bout with cancer (now cured, thank goodness) and now
has fibromyalgia. Which of these things are related to how she was fed as an
infant? Of course we can't know for sure, but my sister's experience
certainly motivated us to breastfeed our children!

But anyone looking at my sister would say she did "just fine" on formula.
She would fit into most people's definition of normal and healthy. She's
alive, she functions well, etc. Yet she looks at her three sisters and
wonders if she would have avoided being hospitalized repeatedly with asthma
and other allergic reactions, treatment for cancer, and after-school
tutoring sessions if only she had been breastfed.

Teresa Pitman

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