>
>Is the recommendation to sterilize bottles and teats for the first year
>really accurate?  What about spoons and plates for solid food?  What about
>toys? What about bits of lint baby picks up as he crawls around?  What
>about the parents' skin?
>
>It sounds like an exaggeration to manipulate (too strong a word?) mothers
>into choosing breastfeeding.


I take your point, Claire, but it is culturally normal for mothers in 
the UK to sterilise all bottles and teats that have had milk in them, 
for about a year - mothers are always very shocked when they hear 
that US mothers don't do this!! I have no idea if it makes a 
difference after the first few months (or ever), but asking mothers 
in the UK to sterilise is not a big deal to them. They don't bother 
sterilising plates and spoons or toys - the difference is (they are 
told) because milk is a breeding ground for bugs, and bottles and 
teats are harder to clean properly without sterilising.


The European Food Standards Agency  calls for ready to feed, liquid 
formula to be used
in all formula fed babies under 4 weeks old (not powder) and for 
formula to be made up
fresh for each feed.

http://www.efsa.eu.int/press_room/press_release/696_en.html

This has yet to be translated into UK guidance. I don't know if other 
countries in the EU recommend this.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc, tutor, UK

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html