Sandi,
>Recently, a question came up in a class discussion about
>breast
>feeding vs. bottle feeding that addressed environmental pollutants. If the
>mother were to be exposed to an environmental pollutant such as PCB's that
>may stay stored in her fatty tissues for a long time, would that pollutent
>be passed through into her breastmilk? If she were to consume the
>pollutent via her diet while she is breastfeeding, would it pass into her
>milk?
Yes, some pollutants can pass through human milk. But - and I am sure I am
stealing this line from someone, so take credit for it if you see it - where
are the free range, organically fed cows (and soy plants, etc.) from which
all of the ABM (formula, Human Milk Substitute, whatever you guys have
decided on) in the world is produced? The answer is that there are none.
Women should be extremely careful about their diets in preparation for
pregnancy, while pregnant and while lactating. They should take every
precaution they can to ensure that they are not ingesting or being exposed
to harmful toxins that can be passed to their babies. But, as Dr. Jack (or
should I say Jacques, now) often says, we know the dangers of using ABM.
Hypothetical situation: A mom and a cow both eat corn tainted with some
chemical fertilizer or pesticde. The final product of both may carry a trace
of the chemical, but I would still feel better providing a baby with the
human milk rather than the tainted and them highly processed version of the
cow's milk. JMHO as usual.
In League,
Amye von Seebach
Everything to Chris Since 3-2-91, Mother to Mies since 11-19-93 and
Tristan since 10-18-95
"Know you what it is to be a child? It is to have a spirit yet streaming
from the waters of baptism, it is to believe in love, to believe in
loveliness, to believe in belief; it is to be so little that elves can reach
up to whisper in your ear, it is to turn pumpkins into coaches, and mice
into horses, lowness into loftiness, and nothing into everything, for each
child has its fairy godmother in its soul"
- Shelley
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