I am the oldest of five children born from 1955 to 1962.  I was the only one who was breastfed at all... for six weeks.  After that, my mother fed me homemade "formula" as directed by our family doctor (who also delivered me, two of my siblings, my mother and her sisters).  I still have the prescription pad sheet on which he wrote the "recipe" for Carnation Evaporated Milk, Karo Syrup and Poly-Vi-Sol drops.  Eeeew.  I can't get to my baby book right now as it's packed up with other valuables for hurricane season, but, if I recall correctly, my mom and grandmother were already shoveling cereal in my mouth at about 2-3 weeks old.  My siblings were all fed the same concoctions except that none of them got any breastmilk at all.  :-(  
   
  All of us were fairly slender until we hit 35 or so... now we're all a bit more fluffy.  :-)  More bothersome for me is the fact that all of us are or have been treated for depression, bipolarism, and/or ADHD/ADD.  I don't mention anything about this to my mother, but, knowing what I know about breastmilk and breastfeeding, I wonder if some of the other issues we've faced as adults - vision problems, myasthenia gravis, gallstones, kidney stones, IBS, dental problems, diabetes/hypoglycemia - could have been avoided if we had all had a solid foundation of a year or more of breastmilk.
   
  I was destined to follow in my mother's footsteps until my mother's younger sister had a baby a year or so before I had my first.  She changed my whole outlook on infant feeding.  In fact, I'm about to go write an article about "The Power of One" focusing on how that one "cool aunt" started me down this lifelong path of lactomania.  ;-)
   
  Cecilia Miller
  CD(DONA), CCE(AAHCC)

Dawn Kersula <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
  In 1985 or so, our family doctor's office called to talk to me about formula
ingredients. (I was the only local LLLL in our area, so apparently an infant
feeding expert of sorts!)
They had a family who couldn't afford formula, and grandma told them how to
make their own with canned milk and Karo syrup. They added Tri-Vi-Sol drops,
I believe - and the nurse practitioner note that it seemed it would be about
as good for the baby as the available commercial formulas. So Teresa -
northern New England USA and Atlantic Canada aren't very far apart...
Dawn Kersula
in Vermont
Who was breastfed 3 whole weeks in 1951 (I was a near term infant)

       
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