Dear Folks:
        My apologies for posting this if someone has already mentioned it.
However it is such an important article that it is worth a repeat mention.
Pediatrics April 1999 (Vol 103; pp 870-876) "Health Care Costs of
Formula-Feeding in the First Year of Life" by TM Ball and AL Wright. What is
fabulous about this article is that the focus is on what the never breastfed
infant costs the US healthcare system. That was found to be between $331 and
$475 in the first year of life, looking only at 3 illnesses (acute otitis
media, GI illness, and upper respiratory illness).
        Breastfed babies are the norm. Some get sick, most are well. The baby
who is never breastfed is the one at risk for illness. I like this focus much
better than all those studies looking at the benefits of breastfeeding, which
imply that bottle-feeding is the norm and that breastfeeding is a "nice"
extra, but not essential. Warmly, Nikki Lee

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