>"when
>breastfeeding is combined with ABM, the ABM negates the protective
>properties of breast milk".
>
>I read recently that when you "combine" human milk and ABM in the same
>bottle the ABM does take away part of the immunological element of the
>human milk. It was suggested to give the ABM without mixing it with
>human milk. A working mother would probably do just that. ( I'm sorry I
>can't recall where I read it)
Christine Gauthier LLL


I think the benefits of breastfeeding are 'dose related'.  The more
breastfeeding the better, any breastfeeding is better than none.
I do worry about combining breastmilk in the same bottle as ABM. Does it
affect the immune protection? I don't know but I would expect the
lactoferrin to alter the absorption of iron,  and what about the other
minerals, etc in the ABM.  It was not designed to be consumed with a living
fluid like brmilk.

I do have a reference, more a news article than published research.  Does
anyone know if the research referred to was ever published in an journal?
Also check out a)who funded it and b) it was not at this point based on live
human studies.
Bottle + Breast = risky combination?  J. Raloff. Science News Vol 130.
December 13, 1986 page 375.
..."Now research in animals suggests that for relatively few babies,
'supplementing breast milk with infant formula may prove much worse for the
infant than feeding it artificial formulas alone,' according to W.Allan
Walker chief of the Combined program in Pediatric Gastroenterology and
Nutrition at Harvard Medical School.  Dr Walker and his co-workers at
Harvard the Children's Hospital in Boston suggest that feeding both breast
milk and formul may increase an infant's risk of developing food allergies
and serious inflammatory intestinal disease.  Walker described his data last
week in Washington, D.C. at a Bristol-Myers Co. research briefing.
        Beyond its nutritional value, breast milk provides the infant with
benefits ......He and his colleagues have shown in animal studies and organ
culture research that various factors available only in breast milk appear
to stimulate the maturation of the infant's intestinal surface.......the
immaturity of cells in the infant's intestinal surface appears to account
for the enhanced binding to the young intestine of potentially dangerous
bacterial products, such as cholera toxin.  They have also shown that
foreign proteins - such as those introduced by infant formulas - are more
likely to bind to the intestinal surface if its cells are immature. And
their animal research suggests that the intestinal surface matures less
rapidly in formula-supplemented infants than in those receiving br milk only.
        Finally their studies suggest that something in breast milk seems to
'modulate' or exaggerate the immune response of an infant's intestinal
tissue to foreign proteins. 'We're convinced that it has to be the 'growth
factors' in the breast milk that stimulate this immunological response....
        In  breastfed infants these growth factors are generally considered
a benefit he says, because they help mature the intestinal surface,
protecting it from infection and increasing its ability to absorb nutrients.
However, Walker's studies indicate that this immune stimulation can also
cause an exaggerated reaction in the gut to the foreign dietary protein -
............If the immune response causes a 'sensitization' to these
proteins further exposure to them- in formula or in other foods - might
elicit an allergic response.  If the source of the foreign protein was a
bacterium or its toxin, a major inflammatory disease could result.
        Walker cautions that although these findings in animals and cultured
human fetal-intestinal tissue have not yet been proven in humans,'we are
seeing an increasing number of infants referred to our hospitals with
similar immunologically related diseases...............And (the affected
infant's) mothers are partially breastfeeding and formula feeding'  Infants
at risk appear to be those with a strong family history of milk allergies.....
        ........Walker says, nursing women can avoid the potential antigenic
proteins in standard infant formulas by feeding their infants only
'hydrolysate' formulas.....Alternatively a woman could go 'cold turkey' -
switch from breastfeeding only to bottle feeding only.
        What he emphasizes is that his preliminary finding should not be
read as a discouragement of breastfeeding.  'Its still the best food a baby
can get'......"