>I have a mom from the local military hospital who is breast feeding a 6-7
>month old. She has had 2 relapses of her MS in the last 2 months and her
>physician is encouraging her to wean so that she can be put on a new
>medication. She is reluctant to wean right now for multiple reasons
>including the one that doing bottles is harder and more stressful for
>her. I would like to hear from anyone who has helped a mom with MS and
>what strategies/medications were found to keep mom and baby a "nursing
>couple"


Dear Catherine, what about the reason that research indicates that
breastfeeding is protective against multiple sclerosis -- or to put it the
other way, that infant formula is a risk factor for multiple sclerosis.

"A single case-control study (Pisacane, Impagliazzo, Russo, Valiani,
Mandarini, Florio and Vivo, 1994) has shown that adults with multiple
sclerosis received, on average, 4 months less breastfeeding in infancy than
a group of matched controls.  The study found a relative risk of two- to
threefold when individuals are bottle-fed exclusively or receive breast milk
for less than 7 months compared with individuals who are breastfed for 7
months or more.  The mechanisms suggested for this association are the
differences in chemical composition of the cerebral cortex among individuals
fed cows' milk formulas, or the absence of the long-term immunologic
protection provided by human milk, or both."

From Allan S. Cunningham, "Breastfeeding: Adaptive Behavior for Child Health
and Longevity," in Patricia Stuart-Macadam and Katherine A. Dettwyler
(eds.), Breastfeeding: Biocultural Perspectives, 1995, New York, Aldine de
Gruyter.  Pp. 243-264.  Quote above from page 251.

Reference:

Pisacane, A., et al.  1994
  Breastfeeding and multiple sclerosis.  British Medical Journal 308:1411-1412.
Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Anthropology and Nutrition
Texas A&M University