Dear all:

There is more about Niger in the news.  I went back and forth to those areas from 1985 to 1999 when my son was born.  Shawn Baker and I go way back -- to our Peace Corps days in what was then Zaire and is now back to Niger from 1980-1982.  There is a lot of mixing of goat's milk with fermented millet gruel.  There is a comment on this that shows the typical ignorance about how challenging it would be to mix formula and the ability to produce milk under those conditions from someone who actually breastfed her children.  I think the repeated reports in the news media have added to the myth that milk production is driven by how much water and food you eat, not by how often your baby breastfeeds.  I'd actually love to go back with what I know now and interview the women in depth.  I think there are probably a lot of hidden beliefs that are far more subtle than just the beliefs about colostrum (which was really only in one area) and the beliefs about sugar water.  I'm sure one could work with the Imams to find a suitable religious substitute, just the way rabbis will bend if you give them half a chance when it comes to "working on the Sabbath" and use of breast pumps when a baby can't feed from the breast directly.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/opinion/23kristof.html

Best regards,

Susan Burger, MHS, PhD, IBCLC

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