I’ll be continuing my research on endocrine disrupters on posting on that soon. As well, I’ve been doing a lot of reading on the omega 3-omega 6 balance and how animals who have been fed soybeans and corn as their food source tend to harbor as much as 1/40 ratios of omega 6 to omega 3. I wonder if exposing our infants to commercially produced dairy in infant formula is such a great thing, even organic infant formulas. Soy formulas are no better and associated with many developmental disturbances from early onset of puberty in girls to disturbances in puberty for boys. Having just become an aunt and studying nutrition, I’ve become increasingly more interested in the formula versus breastfeeding debate. Having learned all about the environmental contaminants that are being passed on to our children through breast milk and looking into the components of baby formulas, especially soy formula and reading about all the health risks and side effects especially that soy based formulas have, I wonder what is a mother to do.
The reality is, despite mothers best intentions, some mothers cannot breast feed and some babies simply cannot tolerate breast milk. I’ve been working with pregnant and new moms for a while now in my nutrition and private cheffing practice. What the moms eat directly affects the babies’ gas level and ability to tolerate the milk. Some do just fine and babies thrive nicely, some don’t, babies throw up, they are miserable with gas, they have all kinds of issues and some babies just won’t take to the breast, some moms don’t produce enough milk.
Organic baby formula is expensive. Soy based formulas have corn syrup solids as the first ingredient. According to some sources, ready to eat baby formulas may be stored in metal or plastic containers containing toxic substances such as bisphenol-A (BPA) can leach from the lining of metal cans and lids.
So if you can’t breastfeed or you need to supplement what choices do you have if you don’t want to use a commerically prepared over-processed cow dairy based formula or worse a corn-syrup based soy formula? I am still researching the issues here and what the state of these formulas are, but I hesitate to think anything in powdered form is “healthy”. The drying process may activate the cholesterol in milk to the sticky form. The proteins although “more digestible” become less bioavailable to the body. Synthetic vitamins that are cooked up in a lab and added in proper proportion are also not quite recognized and bioavailable to the body either. But, Meredith, how can you possibly make such assertions. 60 years or more of research approved by the FDA has proven that commercially prepared infant formulas are safer and as nutritionally equivalent if not superior to breastmilk? Well, if you believe and take everything the FDA says as gospel we wouldn’t have had to wait 10 years for COX 2 inhibitors to be pulled off the market and many of the other issues that came out of longer term market studies such as liver toxicity of certain drugs etc etc.
Its impossible to know what is in our food and what our food is doing to us, but I’m a skeptic, not an expert and nothing I say here is fact, its opinion. But in my opinion, I like to look into and expose facts and alternatives, give you some food for thought. And I hope I do.
I came across a few articles that mentioned human breast milk banks such as HMBANA. From an examination of their map, they appear to serve just about every major city in the United States. I’m thinking this must cost a small fortune, but then I think about all the other things we spend money on and consider what is more important, whether a child is properly nourished and develops properly or has a playstation? I know that comment is hard to digest, and I have difficult issues when it comes to money as well. Just where do I cut corners and where do I spend just a little more. For myself, its usually on food. Its so hard to make these choices: the organic fruit, organic meat, grass fed beef, wild fish or the bananas on the street, the macaroni and cheese that is $1.29 for the box and will feed me for 4 meals or a family of four, chicken legs on sale etc. etc. These are extremely difficult choices, but ones to consider. However, from carefully reviewing the HMBANA site, it appears regular people need a prescription for donor milk and donor milk is pasteurized frozen and refrozen as well as undergoes quite a bit of processing. It does not appear that just a regular person can get donor milk and sometimes it needs to go through a hospital. It appears for the most part that donated milk tends to go to critically ill babies in NICUs rather than to places where just regular people can purchase it. I’m planning on calling a milk bank on Monday to find out if this is the case and stay tuned to the next blog post for the outcome of that interview.
I think as a nutritional counselor, you should concentrate on feeding the moms right and not focus so much on what to do IF breast milk isn’t an option because the vast majority of women CAN nurse, given the proper support and facts. There’s a huge difference between someone who SAYS (or is told by someone who doesn’t really know too much about lactation) they can’t because they really didn’t want to (which is obviously every mother’s personal choice) – I think you need to educate and encourage these new moms and moms-to-be about the benefits breastfeeding vs formula..I would assume the women you’re working with are very interested in doing what’s best and most natural for their bodies and would want to do the same for their babies, despite the challenges (and there are many!) I urge you find any midwife or lactation consultant (or any breastfeeding specialist/expert) who will tell you the possibility of transferring a healthy Mom’s potentially toxic chemicals to baby via nursing is worse than formula, (except for a Mom who’s in chemo or taking other very strong/dangerous drugs for a medical condition, has HIV, etc.) – as long as that Mom takes care of herself by eating well, avoiding drugs/alcohol/smoking. There is so little support for breastfeeding those first few difficult postnatal weeks, it’s no wonder women give up so soon. It IS challenging, but most issues can be resolved with the help of a lactation consultant. How many women do you know who say they “can’t” breastfeed actually sought professional help (which might take a few visits to resolve the problem) to really try everything they could to save the breastfeeding relationship? There are solutions to pretty much everything you mentioned that would cause a mother to have to give up nursing and seek the second best alternative, so I say rather than spend so much time/energy figuring out what that next best alternative is, focus on saving the breastfeeding relationship by supporting Mom’s health (which is what you already do) and by educating her about the benefits of breastfeeding and ways to troubleshoot her particular issues. No, you’re not a lactation consultant and you don’t have first-hand experience, but you could easily have the local La Leche League’s and a great lactation consultant’s phone numbers on hand to help her out (preferably before she’s given birth.)
Thank you so much Allison for your thoughtful reply. While I don’t advocate formula over breastmilk or vice versa, I am interested in supporting my clients through their decisions to use formula or to breastfeed. It is not my place to encourage one over the other. But for those who have questions about which formula to use or for those for whatever the reason believe they cannot or do not want to breastfeed I am curious for their sake what their alternatives are…and what’s really in formula and with all the food processing despite the fact that formula is safe just how “healthy” it is…and if there is a “healthier” formula or another alternative for mothers who don’t want to use it but either can’t breastfeed or simply do not produce enough milk despite working with a lactation consultant. Once again, thank you for your comments. I appreciate your passion on this subject and for the most part I do what you suggest. I am writing these posts in reaction to new research I have been exposed to through a class in nutrition ecology as part of my graduate program. I will be blogging more on the subject as I learn more.
Hmmm, while I totally understand your desire to support your clients’ individual decisions on how to feed their babies, since I’m sure many of them have made their decision already and aren’t working with you for reasons related to this, I worry more about your statement “it is not my place to encourage one over the other.” I’m curious why you think that you, who are trying to support/encourage and promote ways for adults (and children?) to make the best/healthiest/least toxic feeding choices for themselves, don’t feel it’s your “place” to do the same for babies? What about your current/future clients who really don’t have any particular feelings toward feeding their babies(-to-be) breast milk vs formula, are maybe very overwhelmed and confused by all of the facts and decisions and come to you for guidance and information? I really do think you have a major responsibility and obligation to give these moms (and their babies, who will one day be the same type of adults you are currently counseling) the facts and your opinion….I think that’s all you CAN or SHOULD do. I think if they respect you and your work, they are probably following your guidance for their own eating habits (why they probably sought you out to begin with) – you could simply tell them what YOU believe (the question is – DO you truly believe breastmilk is far superior to any formula alternative?), give them the facts/reasons you have to support your belief and ultimately let them know that you will support whatever decision they make. I’m assuming you already do this with your adult clients….but would/do you support their decision to consume conventional or overprocessed vs organic/raw food for themselves/their families and say it’s not your place to promote one over the other? I assume not, since you are passionate and have the facts to back up your belief that one way of eating is superior to another. I think you should expand the scope of your knowledge/research/beliefs to include babies – and MAKE it your place to promote one type of milk over another, based on your personal beliefs and research. The way and what babies are fed from birth I’m sure determines their eating habits/purchasing decisions well into childhood/adulthood – don’t you think starting a baby off on the best/right foot is smarter and easier than trying to change the habits/mentality about food of that same person 30 years later? By then it may well be too late to have prevented diseases caused by decades of unhealthy food choices.