I am trying to stay silent as I dip back into Lactnet here and there, but
the MS thread needs a stitch. I believe MS is now commonly managed by
(among other things) diet interventions in the UK since Judy Graham wrote
her fantastic book, MS: a complete self-help guide (Thorsons published it I
think, but amazon.com should be able to track it) ages ago. She detailed
how for herself and others extreme care with quantity and types of fatty
acids in diet were associated with stabilisation or even remission; she had
been stable for 13 years and had babies and breastfed for years through
that time as I recall. She was one of the early Omega 3 fatty acids
campaigners. I suspect that where BF is associated with worsening, it is
because the critical nature of LCPUFAs for infant brain development means
they flow out in milk and that mothers may be left short of their own needs
when their own diet is already deficient. And I suspect that poor
myelination of the CNS due to the usual western excess of saturated fats
accounts for some of the MS we see more often associated with BF-as-babies
adults, though of course it's more common in once AF adults. Read the book
if you're interested in MS. From being a nut she got to having the Bristol
diet created and used by doctors as an integral part of MS care. Now - with
notable exceptions - US medicine seems to me to be slower to take nutrition
seriously than UK medicine generally: if this sounds like heresy, at least
read the book before you decide. I think Judy Graham did everyone a great
service. I may be wrong, but I think she was Michel Odent's partner? maybe
still is?

Should this mother breastfeed? Of course.

Maureen Minchin, IBCLC. Christ Church Vicarage, 14 Acland St., St.Kilda,
Vic. 3182 Australia. tel/fax: 61 3 9537 2640
"Taking paths of least resistance is what makes rivers - and people -
crooked." poster in Palmerston North NZ bookshop...