Dear all: I want to explain where I think the fear of bottles may have originated because I've worked in those environments. And why the original boycot against Nestle had logo of an emaciated baby inside a bottle. If you are in an environment where you not only don't have clean water, but even worse don't have enough water --- you cannot clean food recepticals. A common practice in some areas where I worked in Africa was to simply rub sand in the food dishes to "cleanse" the food off the dish. In some areas there are not even latrines -- so fecal contamination is even more concentrated than where we do have toilets. (The Myth Busters had a show that proved what I knew from the enviromental engineers at Hopkins --- fecal contamination is everywhere even in clean developed country kitchens no matter how many times you use your clorox wipes). A bottle is an enclosed container and has a teat --- both of which are much much harder to clean than open containers. I still remember vaguely the studies that Kathleen Rasmussen PhD, summarized in her maternal and child nutrition class about bacterial growth in bottles under varying conditions. In an area without potable water, without latrines and without enough water, bottles most decidedly do kill. Cups still can be contaminated but are far preferable. During emergency conditions when sanitary systems are disrupted, all babies and children who are not exclusively breastfed should be fed with cups, not bottles. If you have spent a lot of time in hospitals in developing areas of the world, you don't have to think twice about the morbidity and mortality coming from using bottles, even if it is not formula that is put into them. Quite frankly, after witnessing how some parents drag bottles around with them for extended periods of time, I'm not sure that a thorough study of actual practices with bottles would not yield findings of far more contamination than parents realize --- and I would say even in the breast milk bottles. Best regards, Susan Burger *********************************************** Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html To reach list owners: [log in to unmask] Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask] COMMANDS: 1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail 2. To start it again: set lactnet mail 3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet 4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome