Just a few thoughts on these two topics. First, I think that the formula  
company literature that Nikki is referring to is old. Check the date on the  
bottom of the materials. Ross resisted putting the DHA/ARA into their formulas  at 
first because they were probably unsure of what their return on investment  
would be. They even convened a meeting on this issue, exploring whether it was  
actually necessary to add the stuff. The data back then and now still shows  
that there is little if any advantage to the infant to add the stuff to 
formula  (and some hazards). They wound up adding the DHA/ARA because they did not 
want  to let their competition secure an advantage in the marketplace. This has 
 nothing to do with health, as shown by an analysis of whether the product 
would  make money. Formulaid is Martek's name of the DHA/ARA combination of 
fatty  acids:
 
Hambrecht & Quist-  investment advisors and financial analysts Spot Report, 
June 3,1996 
 
 
n“…with all products being almost identical and  marketers competing 
intensely to  differentiate their product...” 
n
“Even if Formulaid had no benefit, we think that it  would be widely 
incorporated into most  formulas as a marketing tool and to  allow companies to 
promote their formulas as ‘closest to human milk.’ "
 
The other thought I had was about the report from the SIDS conference and  
the mistaken notion that pacifiers are protective for SIDS. The original data on 
 pacifier use and SIDS showed that some babies come to rely or depend on  
pacifiers to modulate their breathing. SIDS happened in pacifier-dependent  
babies when they lost their pacifier during the night. Deliberately making a  baby 
dependent on a pacifier in order to prevent SIDS is quite frightening. What  
are parents supposed to do--glue the piece of plastic into the baby's mouth at  
night, put him all alone into a crib on his back, in a separate room, and 
wire  him to an apnea monitor, motion sensor, sonar, radar, and install a 
telemetry  unit in their bedroom?
 
Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC
Weston, MA

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