I suppose my mother should have just let my baby die while I was fighting
for my life as a goat was not handy and I had no income while being ill...

Yes, a breastfeeding world is the ideal, however, wetnurses and banked milk
will always go to the highest bidder, which would have left my child to starve.

I hate formula.  I freakin cried when he had to have it (and he had to have
soy as he is allergic to cow's milk). I even pumped while I was in
ICU....and that's all I am going to say on this.  I am not "worthy" of the
breastfeeding goddesses here so I will just sit back and "read".

>Comment:  "Yeah, it would be reall neat if formula was totally permitted.
>Then
>children like my 13 yr old son who had to have formula because I laid dying
>in a hospital could have died from malnutrition."
>
>Response: We need to remember that formula is nothing more than cow's milk,
>slightly modified.  Without formula, we would simply use canned cow or goat
>milk (with a vitamin supplement), or we would move forward and establish
>human milk banks at every hospital offering maternity care.
>
>I agree that "formula" is an improvement over canned milk, but the name
>"formula" blinds us to the fact that it's not a big improvement.  Donor
>human milk is safer, far better, and is an infinitely renewable resource for
>every community.
>
>Please remember--as a general rule, formula does not save lives.  When
>mother's milk is not available, there are many options.  When human milk is
>not available, there are still many options, though they are inferior in
>quality and safety to human milk.  The differences among these several
>options are all small compared to the difference between them and human
>milk.
>
>Looking at normal populations of babies, we have to recognize that, although
>formula is slightly better than canned milk, calling it "formula" may
>contribute to a false sense of security and lead to its overuse.  Our
>falsely inflated perception of its scientific quality causes us to choose
>and use it when we should not.  Since it is clear that formula causes
>increased rates of morbidity (illness), physiological damage (lower
>intelligence, higher incidence of diabetes), and mortality (death from
>infection, SIDS, and accidents) than normal, we should maintain the same
>cautious level of awareness before using it that we would with canned animal
>milk.
>
>Specialty formulas, for babies with inborn errors of metabolism or other
>unusual medical conditions, are a different matter. In these cases, formula
>may cause less brain damage and death.  This would be an appropriate and
>considered use, either as an adjunct to or a replacement of human milk, of a
>specific formula.
>
>Do I continue to use and recommend infant formula when a supplement is
>needed immediately and no human milk is available?  Yes, I do.  Although
>there is no scientific evidence that as a limited use supplement, regular
>formula has any advantages over canned animal milk, substituting hydrolyzed
>formula for regular formula, even for brief exposures, may decrease the
>likelihood of initiating or worsening a lifetime of atopic disease and
>autoimmune dysfunction in a young infant.  This is only hypothetical, and if
>our rates of asthma deaths in children, autoimmune diseases in all age
>groups, and the potential for severe eczema to impact a child's developing
>personality and socialization weren't all such concerns, I would not be
>grasping at this straw.  But they are, and I do, even though I retain some
>skepticism as to the level of hydrolyzation actually achieved.  The
>hydrolyzed formulas will still cause the same high rate of infections in
>babies that regular formula and canned milk do, due in large part to a lack
>of immunological protection in all formulas and canned animal milks.  It's a
>cost which has to be recognized and accepted as integral to that method of
>feeding.
>
>For the long term, if a baby were to be denied human milk, I would still
>recommend animal milk formula if it were available.  If it weren't
>available, then canned animal milk with added carbohydrate and vitamins
>would do.  Only if a baby demonstrated an absolute intolerance (failure to
>thrive, or worse) to animal milks (including hydrolyzed animal milks) would
>I recommend trying soy formula.  At that point, the barriers to obtaining
>human milk for this child should be revisited.
>
>Arly Helm, MS, Nutrition and Food Sciences; IBCLC
>
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