>Caution - "supplementation" here is NOT what we usually think of (the =
formula kind) - we're talking 1/4 cc, for vitamins! (Hardly damaging to =
milk supply, or anything else really, even mom's opinion about the =
quality of her milk).<

Actually, we don't know if introducing anything else in oral form has
damaging effects.  If studies on babies used clear and precise definitions
of 'breastfeeding', we might know about populations of babies who had been
'exclusively breastfed' in the strictest definition vs those who had been
'exclusively breastfed' with medicines and vitamin drops (the WHO
definition).  But we don't.

Theories around about the transmission of HIV from woman to baby through
breastfeeding include the idea that the introduction of ANYTHING other than
milk may challenge the infant mucosal surfaces and increase risks of
transmission.  If this is demonstrated for HIV, then perhaps other things
can happen too.  Incidentally, I think we also might ideally want studies
which compare babies exclusively breastfed with babies exclusively breastfed
by their own mother.  I think we actually don't know enough about the
physiological blueprint (which I am assuming to be maternal exclusive
breastfeeding -- all other variations arising from culture, although I
cheerfully admit that I have no proof and maybe babies are actually
hard-wired to be wet nursed) to say whether any other pattern of infant oral
ingestion (as feeding is not really the issue here) makes any difference in
health outcomes -- benign or otherwise-- or in women's confidence.

Magda Sachs
Breastfeeding Supporter, BfN, UK

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