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Subject:
From:
Phyllis Adamson <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 26 Jul 2001 22:20:31 -0700
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Anne:

You are right.  Speak with calm confidence when you remind the pediatric
resident that breastfeeding is NORMAL.  It is formula that is the emergency
substitute.  Ask the doctor to produce research published in any peer
reviewed journal that proves that formula is both safe and effective for the
normal full term newborn.  This research or the entity performing the
research must in NO way be funded or supported by any formula manufacturer.
In reality, our own babies have been a "live" experiment in the safety &
effectiveness of formula.  When a number get sick, they make a "new and
improved" formula, or recall a batch that had a problem.

This "baby doc" (young or junior pediatrician) suffers from the "breast is
best but formula is just as good" syndrome, or "I was a formula baby and
look how well I turned out!"  Ask the doc how much easier medical school
would have been if she had another 5 to 8 IQ points!  Ask the doc how
frantic people get at the loss of 5 to 8 IQ points in a child with lead or
mercury poisoning!  Shouldn't we get just as frantic over the same kind of
IQ loss brought on by formula?  I think the "baby doc" is also under the
delusion that if breastfeeding were so good, she would have been taught all
about that in med school.  Wrong!  The "anecdotal evidence" argument is
simply a put-down and illustrates where his education is lacking.  Start her
off with the AAP Policy Statement on Human Milk and Breastfeeding.  It was
issued Dec '97 and can be found on the AAP web site.  It has a long list of
citations.  Give her a copy of the AAP Policy & suggest she look up all
those citations.

For other lists of research sources, check out the annual list of studies
from LLLI; check out Breastfeeding Abstracts; check out Marsha Walker's two
publications on the Hazards of Infant Formula; check out the references in
the back all chapters of Riordan & Auerbach or Lawrence, or the
Breastfeeding Answer Book, etc.  Ask some of your colleagues who work in
hospitals who likely have access to a medical library to obtain copies of
the abstracts for your own growing reference files.  You can even get some
of them on the internet.

The neonatologist at my hospital strongly urges mothers of the NICU babies
to provide their milk for their babies primarily because of the increased
risk of NEC (necrotising entercolitis).  It's a nasty infection that can
kill preemies rather quickly.  Mom's milk helps prevent it and helps baby
tolerate treatment if NEC is already attacking him.  It's not a guarantee.
Nothing is.  But it greatly increases the odds in favor of the baby's
health.  One of our preemies died from NEC a couple of weeks ago.  That baby
never did get mom's milk.  No, I can't prove that's why baby died, but the
research shows that NICUs with this kind of policy have a statistically
significant reduced rate of NEC.

Good luck.
Phyllis Adamson, IBCLC
[log in to unmask]

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