Dia Michels asked about the revised APP recommendations. Here is part
of the article that was featured in my local paper on 7/13/96.

Pediatriciains know that the best formula for a baby is mother's milk.
But new, carefully designed studies have suggested that breast milk is
not only better, but almost twice as good as formula at protecting
babies from infections.

In fact, research this decade has been so convincing that the AAP is
expected to release a policy statement this summer stressing that
breastfeeding should be the first option for newborns and not the
alternative.

"This is the strongest thing I've ever seen come out of the academy,"
said Dr. Marianne Neifert. "It has a lot of very strong statements in
it. For example, instead of stating something like 'Formula is the
closes thing to breastmilk' the new policy with say 'Formula is a
distant second.'"

The doctors are motivated by the fact that newer research does not
have the complications that plagued earlier work.

[Discussion about benefits of breastmilk in underdeveloped nations,
plus benefits in developed nations; details of recent studies.]

Neifert, who founded a clinic at a Denver hospital to help mothers
breastfeed, said she hopes the new research and the academy's policy
statement will not only encourage more women to breastfeed, but make
it convenient for them to do so. "We don't make it easy for
breastfeeding to work. Most of the barriers have to do with the
process. Women are saying 'You don't know my life. How am I going to
get the milk to my baby? I have to go back to work in 6 weeks.'"

She and physicians say they are trying to help society realize that
making breastfeeding easier is worth the effort. "There's a lot of lip
service to "I know it's important," says Dr. Gartner, chair of the
AAP's Work Group on Breastfeeding. "But until you've read the
literature, you don't know we're not talking about a vague sort of
benefit."
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Sorry this was so long, but I thought you might be interested. By the
way, the article ran with an article on LLL (complete with photo) on
the front page of the Family Times section of our paper the week
before we held our Walk for Breastfeeding.
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Amy Shelton, La Leche League Leader
Area Leader's Letter Editor for LLL of AL/MS/LA
A Mother's Love--breast pump rental station
     http://iquest.com/~ashelton/index.html
La Leche League of Huntsville
     http://iquest.com/~ashelton/homepage.html
Huntsville, AL
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