Fellow Lactnetters,
I thought this personal anecdote might be interesting. We have lived in
Lima, Peru for 8 months now and are in the middle of winter. Our winter
here is very humid with rare sunshine -- not really cold, just a damp
penetrating kind of cool.  All three of my children were breastfed for 2
1/2 years or more. However, on the advice of my pediatrician 10 years ago
when I was very ill-informed about our wonderful science, I gave my oldest
daughter Sarah formula every other feeding for several days because of
jaundice (Her bili never even went higher than 18 -- I was so naive!)
Neither of the other two ever had a single drop of artificial milk, only
mom's best!
Isn't it interesting to note that now it is Sarah who has developed asthma
here in Lima. Asthma runs in my family. My father used to leave Lima every
July and August because of his asthma.  But neither of the younger two have
any similar problems.
Furthermore, we have just had a nasty cold/flu/bronchitis going through the
family. Sarah ended up needing a strong, expensive antibiotic to get her
well. Daniel is improving rapidly with Amoxicillin. But most interesting of
all, 3 1/2 year old Anna Joy who still nurses most mornings and/or evenings
(even though I am due to have #4 any time now) and doesn't get a whole lot,
improved after only 2 days of fever with no antibiotic treatment at all.

My humble conclusions:  1) Even a tiny bit of formula can cause long-term
health problems as has been clearly demonstrated in a variety of studies.
2) Extended breastfeeding has preventative benefits even for a preschool
aged child. I would be very interested to know if anyone has any research
specifically on this aspect.
Warmly,
Glenni Lorick, BSE, IBCLC
Lima Peru
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