Dear fellow lactnetters:  Does anyone have any good responses to this article?  As usual, I know what I want  to say but have difficulty getting down in an articulate manner.  I hope I have cut  and pasted the article correctly.  Doreen Vanderstoep, RN, IBCLC
Doctor Knows Best choosing the right baby formula is so important, global expert says parents should talk to health-care pros
By Joanna Frketich
The Hamilton Spectator
DOCTORS (Feb 16, 2006) 

Doctors -- not mothers -- should decide what formula babies eat because the choice can have dramatic impacts on life-long health.

That's the message the world's authority on baby nutrition brought to McMaster University yesterday. England's Dr. Alan Lucas told physicians the food infants eat in their first 12 months can affect their blood pressure, cholesterol, weight, brain development and bone density. It could also weigh on their chances of getting heart disease and diabetes throughout their lives.

"Small differences in formulas make a significant difference to the health of babies," said Lucas, director of the Medical Research Council's Childhood Nutrition Research Centre in the United Kingdom.

"We really do trivialize the importance of infant nutrition when we send the mother down to the pharmacist to choose formula for her baby. We wouldn't do this for an antibiotic, but why would we do that for a formula when the health issues are even more complicated?"

Lucas said it's not enough to tell mothers that breast milk is best. The reality is the majority of babies are fed for all or part of their first year with formula. He said the medical profession doesn't do a good job of studying formula or simply keeping informed of what brands give babies the best chance for a healthy life.

"I focus on formula because they're so neglected," he said. "It's almost politically incorrect to be involved in this area, and yet this is such an important part of (an) infant's nutrition."

Hamilton mom Allison Dobbie wholeheartedly agrees. She breastfed both her children at first, but switched to formula at seven months with her first son and at five weeks with her second child. Both times she found health professionals little help in recommending a formula.

"I would have liked more explanation of the differences between them," she said. "There's such a price range that ... they can't be the same."

She said her family doctor couldn't answer her questions, the pharmacist recommended a brand based on it being the newest one on the market and her midwife suggested one because it was easy on baby's tummy.

"You give them the formula and hope for the best," she said. "You have no idea how it affects them."

Elizabeth Shaver-Heeney, a nutritionist in Hamilton's public health department, says too many moms are deciding what formula to use based on cost or advertising.

Decision-making about formula needs to change, says Dr. Stephanie Atkinson, a professor of pediatrics at McMaster who is well known for her research on the long-term health effects of nutrition in premature babies.

"The bottom line is health- care professionals have to take some responsibility now that we know it may have more impact," she said.

Dr. Peter Steer, president of McMaster Children's Hospital, says Lucas's five-city tour of Canada will go a long way to get moms the help they need.

Lucas hopes doctors listen because he believes improving infant nutrition is one of the best ways to combat obesity, heart disease and diabetes.

"Early nutrition emerges as one of the most important factors we can actually manipulate in practice to influence the health of populations," he said

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