I noticed the postings about rice milk, and a little while back
someone posted about an adoptive mother who wished to use goat's
milk and carrot juice for her newborn baby when he/she arrived.
I have heard of several other such instances also -- mothers who had
great difficulty pumping (whether due to pregnancy or another
reason) preferring to give her child cow's milk while she was at work
because it was more "natural" than formula.

Of course, we are all concerned about formula use when it is not
warranted -- which it rarely is.  But it seems that what we
really need to get across is that any other substitute other than
breast milk is the problem, not that formula per se is the problem.
It appears that some women grasp the fact that formula is grossly
inferior to human milk, but then use some other substance than
breast milk.  My understanding is that formula is the best substitute
if human milk is not available.  I am concerned when I hear that
people want to substitute substances which are inferior to breast
milk AND also inferior to formula (much as we dislike it).

I think it may be a grey area in respect to recommending the use
of water to make a baby hold out a little longer for mom to get home,
although I am not at all comfortable with that, given the risk
of water intoxication.

I would like to hear your thoughts on this issue.

Lois Patterson
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http://www.helix.net/~lois/parent-l.html