On 31/05/2004, at 17:47, Sheila Company wrote:

> I appreciate this may be a *belt & braces* approach, but would
> appreciate the research to show that sterilisation of feeding
> equipment for use with artificial formula is unnecessary after 1 month
> of age,

Surely the people recommending the intervention bear the burden of
proof. Where is the evidence that children fed from clean, unsterile
equipment are falling ill at a higher rate than those fed from boiled
equipment? A lack of normal bacteria and other micro-organisms in the
environment has been strongly linked with higher levels of asthma,
allergies and possibly inflammatory bowel disease; so rampant
sterilisation is not necessarily a zero-risk intervention.

I could never see the point sterilising once the child is eating bits
of carpet fluff and dirt. Do we recommend that mothers wipe their
nipples with alcohol or iodine swabs before feeding their child? That
all food for babies is boiled or irradiated, then put on sterilised
plates and fed with sterilised spoons? Children don't need to be raised
in a bubble; just protected from high loads of pathogenic bacteria.

Lara Hopkins
family doctor

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

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(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html