Sharon, I understood that you were not endorsing such claims, so I hope I
did not offend you!  I was reacting just to hearing that people are still
making such claims.  One of the reasons I did not get very far with
nursing my first adopted baby was that my sister-in-law had been told at
LLL that even one bottle of formula would negate the benefits of
breastmilk so, when my body did not immediately respond with a huge milk
supply, I gave up quite early.  I did not learn until my second baby how
much of a difference even a small amount of breastmilk could make.

Now that it has been mentioned, I do remember hearing that mixing ABM and
breastmilk together did something to the breastmilk.  Since most adopted
are supplemented at the breast, they do recieve the breastmilk and ABM
together.  I really kind of doubt this claim.  If it were true, I don't
think it could be equally applied to every type of ABM, since there are
so many.

I too have wondered about the lactoferrin.  One Meade Johnson rep once
told me that he recommended that breastfed babies who were supplemented
with formula be given the lo-iron version, to avoid interferrence with
the absorption of iron from breastmilk.  That made sense to me.  I have
mostly used either low-iron milk-based ABM, or made a formula based on
raw goat milk, which is not high in iron, but the only one of my children
that has ever been anemic was the one who'd had surgery three times and
was quite anemic by the time I got her.

I am still looking for references to the research I spoke of.  I know
that I have seen one that looked at otitis media and another that looked
at NEC.  I'll send them when I locate them!

Thanks!

Darillyn Starr