Dear all:

In thinking about dessert and childhood obesity which is a huge problem in both the US and Great Britain, I am dumbfounded by our respective cultures obsessions with getting more fat into our babies.  As Cathy Genna has pointed out with the many articles she cited on Lactnet, a higher fat milk does not improve growth, volume improves growth.  As Nancy Wight pointed out about premature infants, the higher fat milk did not assist them with the minerals and other nutrients they are lacking due to insufficient time in the uterus -- it only created fat babies -- not better nourished babies.

With such a fixation on fat content, it is not surprising that, at times, the fat content is the first thing that is considered when a baby is failing to thrive rather than the more common issues of:
a) repeated disruptions of mothers and babies in the early postpartum period -- leading to interrupted feeding
b) interventions that lead to babies that are sleepy and lethargic
c) rules that decrease active interaction between the mother and baby while feeding (in international nutrition circles it was well known that active feeding of young children, which means adult participation in the process leads to healthier feeding outcomes --- most of us will develop healthier eating habits if we eat socially with others who are also eating healthily as opposed to alone with no interaction or with a TV)

and then of course all the physiologic issues that can result from a-c) or exist independently of a-c)

And if we have a baby that is failing to thrive from any of the above reasons, upping the fat content may not necessarily improve the total intake any better than offering more frequent feedings, assessing ways to assist the baby to feed more efficiently, and, if the supply has been compromised, improving the supply.  In fact, the whole process of trying to only get the so-called fattier milk (since most of us do not use a creamatocrit so we don't really know what we are doing with our lactoengineering) may be more disruptive to the process of resynchronizing the mother and baby.

And some means of upping the fat content for other problems may actually decrease the supply for a baby who actually needed that particular supply.  Just because a flow is fast does NOT always mean that the baby is taking in too much milk or too little fat.

My difficulty is that in a climate where our eating habits are so out of kilter that 43% of New York City elementary school children are overweight or obesity, 60% of women who get pregnant in the United States are overweight or obese and some are morbidly obese to the point that their body mass indexes exceed 50, why are we pushing more fat on so many babies?  Instead we should really assisting mothers to understand their babies hunger satiety cues and their own hunger satiety cues.  

Sincerely, 

Susan E. Burger, MHS, PhD, IBCLC  

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome