Mother's milk or Formula ?

[Michaelangelica]

So is this biology, sociology, economics/marketing?
let the Fates (moderators) decide.
Poisoned milk or mother's milk?*(ScienceAlert)

At no other time in our lives, do humans double and triple our weight within a 12-month period. Vital organs such as the brain are developing rapidly in the first months of a child's life. Yet, infants are the only ones in our society who rely on a single food source - for six months they may consume nothing but one brand of infant formula. This puts them at incredible risk of ill-health
. . .

Australian parents need to know that when they open the can of powdered infant formula, bacteria may already be present. Mostly these are harmless organisms. But some are life-threatening, particularly for preterm or unwell infants. For these reasons, neonatal nurseries are switching to liquid, ready-to-feed formula, which is less likely to be contaminated with bacteria.

The World Health Organisation released guidelines in 2006 for the preparation. Water should be boiled and then allowed to cool for less than 30 minutes, and then poured into the feeding bottle, before adding the powdered formula so that the temperature of the water is at least 70 degrees. The bottle should then be quickly cooled to feeding temperature. Unicef has also given clear instructions.

Poisoned milk or mother's milk?*(ScienceAlert)
Poisoned milk or mother's milk?, La Trobe University

[Moontanman]

Unless it's really impossible Mothers milk is the way to go, babies are healthier, have less intestinal problems, less colic, it's cheaper, getting up in the night and pulling out a breast is much easier than heating up formula, and get immunities from their mom. Besides that it tastes good too, like vanilla ice cream!

[Phebe]

I agree, breast milk is the best. And it works out for mommies too, I heard breastfeeding sucks out the baby weight.

[pamela]

interesting comment, Moontanman
Breastfeeding builds the babies immune system as well as establishing a close bond with the mother. Certainly convenient and cost effective as well, but bear in mind, what the mother consumes, the baby consumes also. Alcohol, prescription drugs all enter the breast milk to some degree, so caution is advised. Reading all labels is imperative when nursing to prevent any harm to the baby. Nursing also allows the uterus to contract back, hence the mother can get back into shape in a timely fashion. Alternatives to breast milk are an option for those mothers that are having difficulty in producing milk and or have health issues that would not allow for safe breast feeding and potential harm to the child.

[CraigD]

Originally Posted by Phebe

I agree, breast milk is the best. And it works out for mommies too, I heard breastfeeding sucks out the baby weight.

I was about to reply that this sounds like a folk myth, then checked and found some interesting support for it, such as the website and journal articles referenced by this advice website article.

The idea that breastfeeding actually “sucks weight out of” the mother isn’t physiologically sensible, because, like most body secretions, breastmilk is almost entirely water by mass. At best, breastfeeding would directly cause a small amount of weight loss from dehydration, similar to weight loss from sweating, and only if the mother didn’t drink properly to rehydrate. Because breastfeeding or removing breastmilk with a breast pump causes hormones to continues stimulating the production of breastmilk and the associated increase in breast size and mass, if anything, it should result in a temporary and slight increase in postpartum weight retention.

A couple of possible explanations for statistical data correlating postpartum weight loss with breastfeeding come to mind.

One is that they may both be effects of a common cause. Women who breastfeed may be on average more health conscious than women who do not, and thus more likely to consciously diet and exercise to lose gestationally gained weight

Digging through anecdotes, another explanation comes to mind. Many women who breastfeed report having an more positive attitude toward their bodies, such as in this quote attributed to actress Rachel Weisz:

“I feel sexier after having a baby. I think you feel a lot more confident and much more appreciative of your body and what it’s capable of doing. I’ve got a lot more respect for it.’ She added, ‘When I stopped breastfeeding I gained some. It took me more than a year to get back to where I was.”

(source: ”Breastfeeding and Weight Loss or Weight Gain” by Angela White)

Originally Posted by pamela

Nursing also allows the uterus to contract back, hence the mother can get back into shape in a timely fashion.

Likewise, this initially sounded to me like a myth, but a little research reveals that this actually has a well-recognized physiological cause: the same oxytocin released during breastfeeding which causes the smooth muscles around milk glands and ducts in the breast to express milk also causes other smooth muscles to contract, including the uterus, which is a large (the largest, actually), smooth muscle. According to articles such as this one, it’s not unusual for the uterine contractions during breastfeeding to be painfully, though not dangerously, intense.

There’s theory and evidence that hormones such as oxytocin may cause unusually strong memory formation, suggesting that it has an important role in the psychology of mother-child bonding.

In short, all of this suggests that breastfeeding is not only beneficial to the health of the baby, but also to the mother, and that even women unable to breastfeed should simulate the activity with a breast pump.

This brings to mind a question, perhaps one that readers who have breastfed can answer: since the action of oytocin on smooth muscles also affect veins, arteries, and specialized circulatory structures such as arterioles, it could in principle produce physiological reactions resembling traumatic shock. Has anyone every experienced, or heard of anyone experiencing, cold of numbness in fingers and toes, a whole-body chill, or similar reactions related to vasoconstriction?

[Moontanman]

Uterine contractions are often described as pleasurable, orgasmic even. I saw a show on ABC the other night about women who were describing child birth as orgasmic as well, one even went so far as to make out with her husband while she was giving birth. Women, unpredictable, mysterious, and wonderful. I've been there during child birth, orgasm wasn't what i saw but hey i wasn't having the baby!

[pamela]

Well, I have known many mothers and none of them including myself, would ever refer to a contraction as any thing other than painful. The contractions that occur while breastfeeding for the first few weeks, are intense at first, then gradually taper off. While breastfeeding, the hormones that are released, relax the mother and can make her sleepy.This too tapers off as breastfeeding continues after the first several weeks.

[Monomer]

Although it is generally accepted that 'Breast is Best', there's the danger of pesticides in breast milk being transferred to the baby.

Years ago I read Altering Eden: The Feminisation of Nature by Deborah Cadbury which discusses the dangers of environmental estrogens and mentioned the transfer of cancerous agents to infants via breast milk.

Here are some other articles that talk about something similar:
Persistence of Organochlorines in Breast Milk of Women in Victoria, Australia
Factors affecting the transfer of organochlorine pesticide residues to breastmilk
Analysis of organochlorine pesticides in human milk: preliminary results

[Michaelangelica]

Organoclorines are only secreted in fat
Males can't excrete them .

There was a problem, about 30 years ago, of Californian seals with high DDT levels. When they deliver their pups they live off their fat for a while.
It was found that many could not respond to their pups distress calls and reacted violently killing the newborn pups. There was a fairly horrific nature film made of it.

I have often wondered if there was a connection with persistent pesticides our rising rates of breast cancer. We have had examples of "cancer clusters" here that have been put down to "sick building" syndrome. But evidence was inconclusive (ABC Brisbane office?).
I have seen no research where organoclorine levels in total or partial mastectomies have been tested.
How come it is not routine?
You would think that someone would have a good look at what foreign chemicals &viruses are in removed diseased breasts?

[Michaelangelica]

I just read another advantage or two of human breast milk
LESS Odoriferous/stinky nappies !
Breast milk is tailored to the baby's age, changing constantly throught the hours, days and months of an infants first year.

Most formula is cow-milk based, and therefore differs from human milk in many ways. It contains much more protein of many differing types, fats and elemnts such as aluminium, manganese, cadmium and iron (The protein in HBM is mostly lactalibumin. In Cow's milk formula the protein is mostly casein)
BM is made to order, formula to an averge to suit variang infat ages. There fore much of the fat and protein in Formula will be excreted. There is alot of iron in formula (often leading to constipation) Most of the iron is also excreted

breastfed babies absorb almost 100% of what they take in and are rely constipated. they excete mainly water with very little protein, fat or trace elements
The excess fats, proteins and nutrients of formula milk that a baby cannot absorb lead to much stinkier faeces.

Source
Do Polar Bears Get Lonley?, and 101 other intriguing science questions ed. Mick O'Hare, Profile Books, wwwprofilebooks.com - 2008, p.73-74.

Did everyone read the first two paras of the article I started this thread with?

Poisoned milk or mother's milk?
Tuesday, 09 December 2008
By Dr Lisa Amir

'You made that up!" exclaimed Richard Stubbs on 774 Melbourne radio recently when I was attempting to reframe the "benefits of breastfeeding" into the "risks of artificial feeding". He found it hard to believe that powdered infant formula was not a sterile product and that it may contain bacteria.

I'm not sure why breastfeeding advocates, such as me, need to be the ones explaining to parents how to safely feed formula to their children. But it seems the formula companies are not keen to do it. And neither government agencies nor medical bodies seem interested.

The crisis in China should be a warning to anyone complacent about the risks of artificial feeding of infants.

Also this may be of interest

Breast Milk Is a Gift But Breastfeeding Is a Skill
In this recorded interview with Julie Cottle, an experienced breastfeeding counselor, naturopath and natural fertility consultant, discusses breastfeeding facts, shares her best breastfeeding tips and offers solutions to many common breastfeeding issues.

Breastfeeding Baby - Essential Baby Breastfeeding and Breast Milk Information-Breastfeeding Baby - Essential Baby Breastfeeding and Breast Milk Information