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Subject:
From:
Rachel Myr <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 1 Jun 2004 01:25:16 +0200
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Even though it seems odd that we are using so much space writing about how
to prepare non-breastmilk for babies, I have to jump in here.

The package of formula is supposed to have clear instructions on how to mix
it.  We who work with mothers who may need to supplement, or in my case,
with mothers who are on my ward where I am a staff midwife, NEED to know the
correct, safe way to prepare artificial feeds.  Please familiarize yourself
with whatever brand you are likely to run across.  I meet parents at least a
couple of times a month who have no idea that it matters which you put into
the bottle first, the powder or the water.  (You have to start with the
measured amount of water and add the right amount of powder to it, not put
in the powder and then fill the bottle to the mark for the water amount, or
the feed will be too concentrated.)

The kind we have here in Norway that is not ready-to-feed, is meant to be
mixed in water, but the water should have been boiled first, then cooled
down.  If you try to mix this formula with boiling hot water, it gets lumpy.
Boiling it after adding the powder is not advised in any case; some of the
water will evaporate making the concentration higher, and even less suited
to a baby's physiology.

About distilled water: it will boil, but at a higher temperature.  That
means it has reached a temperature above 100 degrees C. (or 212 F) and if
something other than distilled water is added to it when it is above 100 but
below the boiling point for distilled water, it may suddenly come to an
explosive boil.  It will not explode as in suddenly igniting and blowing up
everything within a certain radius of itself.  But no one who has read the
package, should be mixing formula with water that hot.

It is worthwhile noting which multinational company is busily securing
rights to spring and well water all over the world, for the purpose of
bottling it up and selling it to the local populace, whose own public water
supply may be threatened by the drain placed on it by this company's
bottling plants: you guessed it - Nestlé.  This is not distilled water,
granted, but it is purchased, bottled water which in some places costs more
than vintage wine, and it is frequently labeled as 'ideal for mixing
formula'.  It is playing right into their hands to cast suspicion on the
quality of local public water supplies, and sometimes the bottled water
comes from the same exact source as what the person can get out of her own
tap.  I don't trust them to make a good enough food for babies and I don't
trust them to provide me with better quality water than the fine-tasting
liquid that comes out in my kitchen sink.

I think it would be tempting fate to imply that a one-month old artificially
fed baby does not deserve for its food to be made up with scrupulous
attention to aseptic technique.  Artificially fed babies are more often
admitted to hospital in the first year of life due to infections of the GI
and respiratory tracts.  Who is to say that short cuts around hygiene are
not to blame for at least some of this difference?  If the food they are
getting offers no immune protection and does not discourage microbial growth
in the container, we should be doing everything else in our power to
minimise the inherent risks of artificial feeding.

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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