I am a bit behind, so this is a belated response to an earlier post. Thank you, Esther Grunis, for posting the informative references on the subject of bottle vs. breast for premies. The first study she cited found that ELBW babies have better physiologic response with breastfeeding, but have a greater mean weight gain with bottle feeding. It concludes that breastfeeding might need supplementation to achieve optimal weight gain. My question is this -- how is optimum weight gain determined for ELBW babies? Since we have learned that full-term, formula-fed babies who gained the most weight in the first week are at greater risk of later obesity, do we even know what optimum weight gain is in the full-term infant? What about with the premature infant? I am writing this with very little knowledge or experience with ELBW babies, so if there is an obvious answer please let me know. The other obvious question is what is the best method of supplementation for these babies? I look forward to learning more about this. Lisa Mandell, LLLL waiting for exam results . . . References: Breastfeeding infants who were extremely low birth weight. Blaymore Bier JA, Ferguson AE, Morales Y, Liebling JA, Oh W, Vohr BR. Pediatrics. 1997 Dec;100(6):E3. Weight Gain in the First Week of Life and Overweight in Adulthood: A Cohort Study of European American Subjects Fed Infant Formula. Nicolas Stettler, Virginia A. Stallings, Andrea B. Troxel, Jing Zhao, Rita Schinnar, Steven E. Nelson, Ekhard E. Ziegler, and Brian L. Strom. Circulation 2005 111:1897 - 1903 (April 19). *********************************************** 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