Ellen asked about the infant formula studies where babies who had negative  
reactions were simply dropped from the study. That was probably something I 
said  (or would have said)! I think I had mentioned this in a NABA publication or 
on  the NABA website at _www.naba-breastfeeding.org_ 
(http://www.naba-breastfeeding.org) . In  looking at a number of the studies that evaluated differing 
amounts and sources  of DHA/ARA , there seemed to be a very high attrition 
rate of infants (like  30%) with no explanation of why they were not reported on. 
Many of the  studies then concluded that were no side effects or adverse 
outcomes in infants  fed the study formula. Well, of course there weren't--they 
were dropped from the  study! There miraculously seemed to be no side effects in 
any of the babies that  were left! This reminds me of the phrase on 
sweatshirts the engineering students  wear in college - "When all else 
fails...manipulate the data." Talk about  manipulating the data!
 
NABA continues to receive several reports a week from nurses and lactation  
consultants about newborns reacting to the DHA/ARA supplemented formulas. The  
reaction is generally explosive diarrhea or a large watery meconium stool that 
 seems to go on forever. A large watery stool of 240 cc was the latest 
report.  That's almost 8 ounces. We discussed previously on Lactnet how difficult it 
is  to determine if a breastfed baby is getting enough breast milk when even 
small  amounts of supplementation with the DHA/ARA formula is resulting in  
frequent loose stools. How would we tell over the phone if the frequent stooling 
 was a sign of sufficient breast milk or diarrhea from formula  supplements?
 
Between falsified research from Dr. Chandra, Enterobacter sakazakii  bacteria 
in powdered infant formula, and diarrhea from DHA/ARA supplemented  formula, 
what's a baby supposed to do? Maybe breastfeed?!
 
Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC
Weston, MA

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