Debbie you wrote, " what do you think is the best response for LC's to give
these moms?"

  My response to mothers on this issue would be similiar to a recent post
made to Lactnet.  A midwife told me this story, many years ago in the UK (not
sure it was the UK but...)there was an epidemic in which there were many
hospitalized breastfed infants severely ill.  Medical professionals were quite
astonished that breastfeeding was not protective of this particular disease.  It was
only when someone pointed out to these professionals that it was  infants who
were not breastfed that had died.  The breastfed infants were the survivors.

My first baby had a severe case of croup at 5 months of age.  She had been
given formula the first two months of her life. I had relactated and was
exclusively breastfeeding her when she got the croup.  The pediatrician told me that
he would have hospitalized her, if she had been a formula fed baby.  But since
she was being breastfed, he felt confident that she would stay hydrated and
not need to be hospitalized.  She did well, nursed non-stop while I used a cool
mister to lessen her croup attacks.  I later met a mother whose baby son got
croup and he was hospitalized.  He was a formula fed infant who was refusing
his bottles and consequently got dehydrated.  So illness in the exclusively
breastfed infant means what?  It might mean that breastmilk was the magic, the
miracle that kept that particular infant from death or as in my family's case
the magic that kept my infant from being hospitalized.

The parameters of our belief system have been dictated by a society that is
enamored with science and technology.  In order to be acceptable to the medical
community in which we live we talk statistics, research, and we don't talk
about magic or miracles.  We are a society that dwells in fear--fear of disease,
fear of death, fear of nature, fear of touch.

Who has the faith, the belief that helps them sell a product or sell a
concept?  It looks to me like it is the infant formula and drug industries have
enormous faith in human milk and its properties.  They are willing to take it from
us, patent it, and sell it back to us for a profit. If you look at the
Agennix website, you will find that the drug they are selling, recombinant human
lactoferrin, is modeled upon the research of what human lactoferrin in breastmilk
does.  They proclaim that their drug will treat asthma, cancer, and
infections.  Some makers of lactoferrin state that its use is to treat and prevent
hiv/aids.  This is one of the reasons it is/will be put into infant formula.  Thus
the infant formula and drug industries seem to believe in the magic fairy
dust called human milk.  Not publicly but privately.  They certainly will be
allowed in our society to promote their products based on the research on human
milk.  Meanwhile, we shall not speak of the miracles and magic of human milk
because it is unscientific, there isn't enough evidence...

If we are going to sell breastfeeding to the public, I believe we should have
more faith in it than the infant formula industry.
Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC


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