To all,

Just read a great article in our local paper entitled "Study finds breastfeeding a plus."  Apparently our very own Strong Memorial Hospital has been conducting a study of premies which was published this week in Pediatrics.  It shows that infants fed breastmilk have faster maturation of the brain stem than those fed formula.  This helps them to control their breathing better, among other things.  One more fact to annoy my breastfeeding classes with.  Seriously, I greatly appreciate all of the feedback about teaching classes and am glad to hear that the responses I am getting are not unusual.  I did tell one class up front that they might be hearing some new things in the class that they hadn't heard before and that I was a strong advocate for breastfeeding because there was such a widespread notion that formula is just as good, in spite of the masses of research that show otherwise.  I don't remember how the evaluations went, but I remember that they all seemed rather accepting of the point I was making - will try that approach again and see what happens.  Also liked the idea of trying to work some of the "stronger" stuff in towards the end of class instead of right at the beginning - will have to think about how to better structure some of this into the class.  Thanks for all the great tips and support.

On the down side, the researcher at Strong is now studying the effects of adding fatty acids to the formula - my assumption is to see if that is "as good as"  breastmilk.  Will do a little digging and see who might be funding this little project.  From what I understand, similar studies have shown improvement with the addition of the fatty acids, but the breastfeeders still come out on top.  This article was on the botton half of the local section.  Wonder where the article about the fatty-acid enhanced formula will end up?



Warmly,
Sharon Knorr, BSMT, ASCP, IBCLC
Newark, NY (near Rochester on Lake Ontario)
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