At an LLL meeting, a mother said she'd just found out that her
11-month-old baby (who was lean, smiling, walking, bright as a button)
had an extremely high total cholesterol level of 257. (She'd had
bloodwork done because the mother was worried about anemia.) The doctor
hasn't yet said what the next step is, but the mother is afraid he's
going to recommend stopping breastfeeding (of course). Her husband is on
medication for a similar problem; she's going to have her own levels
checked (and I did tell her that maternal levels are normally elevated
somewhat during pregnancy and lactation).

I also said that breastmilk is the normal food for a baby and it
contains cholesterol because it's essential for nervous system
development.  And that extremely high cholesterol levels usually have a
genetic component -- some people over-produce cholesterol, regardless of
what they're eating. And that if a child had that propensity, it's hard
to see how artificially feeding her would improve the situation,
especially since research suggests that artificial feeding is associated
with higher rates of heart problems.

At that point, I felt I'd talked a lot, on an issue that wasn't widely
relevant to the group, and so offered to get back to her after a little
more research, partly for my own learning.  (The mother then offered
that the 11-month old was a picky eater, and largely sustained by
breastmilk, and *that* got lots of discussion going.)

The Lactnet archives had posts on maternal cholesterol levels, and some
concerning toddlers, but nothing on a baby this young, with levels so high.

I did find this interesting page:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0841/is_n5_v31/ai_18856506

with the interesting tidbit that if a baby is being fed formula, which
lacks cholesterol, the baby's body produces this essential lipid to make
up the shortfall (which might explain why that person might have higher
cholesterol levels later in life).

This piece by Dr. Sears was reassuring,
http://www.parenting.com/parenting/experts/sears/archive/index082902.html
saying that you can't put a baby prior to 2-3 years on a low-fat diet,
and to keep breastfeeding, while adding some practical steps that the
parents can take as the child grows older, if the child is always going
to be battling this problem.

Another source did say that early high cholesterol levels do tend to
come down.  I'm actually curious as to how many bresastfed babies are in
these studies, and whether that might be a factor is setting the
standards.  It's unusual for a baby this young to have a screening, so
perhaps the information is fairly scant.

Anyway, please share anything that you think would be useful in helping
this mother.

Margaret Wills, LLLL, IBCLC

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