I've been behind with checking Lactnet messages. My thoughts on this one
are that it should be even more worrying if a baby received artificial
infant milk ("formula") instead of the mother's milk. That one dose of
bovine-origin or soy-origin could set the baby up, if vulnerable through
family history, to a nasty reaction (even life-threatening anaphylactic
shock) the next time these foreign proteins are ingested, even months later.

An infant who receives another mother's milk in error is likely to receive,
along with the milk, the immune response from that mother's body in
fighting any infection. As I understand it, if she has developed an
infection, her milk, as well as her blood, will contain her immune
response. In reality, this milk will stop being given because of the panic,
and so less of this protection will happen.

Of course, in the majority of these situations, the mother whose milk was
used will be healthy and not carrying anything untoward.

As Maureen mentioned, artificial formulae is not sterile and it is
inconsistent that the risk of infection from these sources is ignored.

Virginia

Dr Virginia Thorley, OAM, PhD, IBCLC, FILCA
Private practice IBCLC and researcher
Ipswich, Queensland, AUST

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