Glenn writes:

>However if you leave a bottle of EBM in a 98.5 environment, does it not
>colonize?

Uh, no.  From what I understand, little or nothing grows in it, while the
formula is transmogrifying into a bottle full of bacteria almost instantly.

And breast milk would be *much* better than water, since breast milk is full
of antibacterial, antiviral agents.

>
>>  I think most of the literature related to aspiration, that you are
reading, has to come from babies who were bottlefed formula,

>Recheck your resources, you'll find that to be inaccurate.  Studies that
>I have seen did not break down formula -v- EBM.

Exactly, the studies didn't break it down.  Chances are very high that all
the babies were bottle-fed, since that is how most babies have been fed in
this country.  You can bet if they didn't mention *what* and *how* the
babies were fed, it was formula in a bottle.  Oftentimes, researchers don't
consider these variables in their studies, so one must assume that the
babies were being fed in a manner representative of all babies in the
country at the time.  In some parts of the US as high as 70% of babies leave
the hospital breastfeeding, but in other parts it is as low as 50%, and we
all know that most of those breastfeeders give up in the first few weeks.





Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Anthropology and Nutrition
Texas A&M University