At 07:03 PM 10/2/2005, you wrote:
>Wise Ones,
>
>On another list I'm on, someone recently said that breastfeeding an 
>adopted child does not provide immunological benefits. That does not make 
>sense to me, but then I'm not an expert in the field either. Any comments 
>or information to enlighten me?

Julia, I'm sure that others on this list will offer you support for this 
declaration's not making sense to you.

In 2004 at ILCA  a speaker--I think that it was Miriam Labbok, MD--told us 
that in a developing country when a mother dies, other women in the 
community feed the infant until someone establishes a milk supply to 
support the baby's health.  She said that those infants have stronger 
immune systems than others in the community because of the benefit from all 
of the different women's milk and health experiences.

Human milk passes immunity to the suckling infant and begins the process of 
her developing her own immune system. Having given birth to the infant is 
not a prerequisite.

It is amazing how easy it is to declare the many aspects of breastfeeding 
as deficient in protecting infants. Those false declarations circulate 
quickly and feed a lack of trust in the miracle of an infant mammal feeding 
at its mother's breast.

Patricia Gima, IBCLC
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 

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