This note might be a good follow up to Ros Escott's recent posting of Apr 12.
 Another reason bottle feeding (and excessive noxious habits) is detrimental
to an infants health is that it can cause a collapse of the airway.  To put
it in a positive statement - Breastfeeding children have better airways and
have less upper airway infections.  Overall general health is directly
related to ones ability to breathe easily.  Bottle feeding can collapse both
the nasal (nasopharynx) and throat (oropharynx) spaces.  The fact that bottle
fed babies do not get the benefits of the immunological factors from the
mother's breast milk makes bottle fed babies more prone to infections.  The
tonsils and adenoids try to ward off these infections and become swollen and
inflamed.  Swollen tonsils and adenoids are also factors in compromising the
airway.   Compromised airways lead to sleeping difficulties, snoring and
sleep apnea.  Since growth hormones are sleep related, the development of the
infant can be affected.

To better understand the above statement, you need to understand three
scientific principles:  Venturi Principle, Bernoulli Principle, and what
happens in a "vacuum".  One source for the definitions is McGraw-Hill
Encyclopedia of Science & Technology.

I do not have the space to go into detail on Lactnet, but I will explain it
during my presentation at the ILCA conference.  You will understand my
presentation better if you understand the above principles.

Also wanted to add a note on recent postings on Oxytocin.  Both Oxytocin and
Prolactin are sleep related.  If a breastfeeding mother is stressed (more
than normal) or has a sleeping problem other than waking up to feed the baby,
her Oxytocin and Prolactin levels could be effected.  Any research out there
on this point of view?

"We only see what we know, therefore we must know to serve."

Brian Palmer DDS - ILCA member - and husband to Shirley (who will soon be
having her gall bladder out!)

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