Breast milk a good disease fighter

Dear ?:ditor:

{ feel I must respond to the let-
fer by E. Babicki in the Mailbox
section of the News. Her defence
of formula and its promotion is
filled with inaccuracies.

The statement that the World
Health Organization needs to pro-
tect only Third World countries
and that their code has no rele-
vance in Canada is uninformed.
Incorrect mixing of concentrated
formula happens in Canada,
where immigrants whe cannot
read the English or French on the
label and are unfamiliar with the
different products, attempt to give
the more ‘‘modern, better’’
feeding.

Poor mothers who are formula
feeding very often switch their in-
fants to homogenized cow’s milk,
as early as three to four months,
because of the cost of formula
(over $120 per month). If they
breastfeed for the recommended
year, the product is free.

M.. Babicki’s implication that
women have had a choice in in-
fant feeding for centuries shows a
lack of historical knowledge about
infant feeding. Over the centuries
most babies were breastfed
because there was no safe alter-
native. If a woman chose not to
breastfeed, she hired a wet nurse:
another woman breastfed her
baby.

Artificial feeding did not
become widespread until after
1924 because prior to this time di-
rections for mixing ‘‘formula’’
from canned evaporated milk were
supplied only to doctors.

Commercially prepared formula
became widely available in the
1960s and by 1967 fewer than
25% of babies sere being breastf-
ed at hosnitai discharge.

Her statement that ‘formula
provides very similar nutritional
elements and may even be superi-
or to breastmilk because of addi-
tional minerals and iron’’ is
ludicrous, untrue and misleading.

Human milk is not simply focd;
it is a living tissue, providing the
correct nutrition and protection
from disease. Breastmilk contains
white blood ceils which engulf and
destroy bacteria, as well as agents
which prevent bacterial growth.

It has been found that
breastmilk produced by mothers
of premature babies is higher ir
some nutrients than breastmilk of
a mother with a full-term infant,
and the breastmilk of a mother
feeding her six-month-old is dif-
ferent than at birth.

Formula is not specific and can
only be second best.

Just because there are minerals
and iron in formula does not
mean that they are well absorbed
by the baby. Human milk is

Human milk is superior

Dear Editor: :

E. Babicki’s letter of Jan. 24,
proclaiming that formufa is equal
to breastmilk or perhaps even su-
perior, provides a prime example
of why the World Health
Organization (WHO) code is a
necessary contro! on formula
companies if we are tn have
healthy babies in this country. BE.
Babicki has read the formula
promos and believes them.

Even a brief foray into the
world of real research is enough
to convince anyone that human
milk is the perfect food for
human babies. Human milk is
alive and teaming with health-

NVD is not
listening to
Deep Cove

Dear Editor:

We are writing to express our
total disbelief that the North Van-
couver District Council voted in
favor of the development of tie
Burrard View site.

At three public mectings regard-
ing the development of this site,
the overwhelming majority of the
attendees were in opposition to
any development until the district
provided youth, recreational,
school and social services io this
area.

We fail to recognize what
reason there is to attend these
Meetings when the council does
not respond to the wishes of the
people who live and pay taxes in
the area.

The Seymour Ratepayers
Association and the Deep Cove
Community Association bath were
opposed to any change in the
Deep Cove Official Community
Plan until the Seymour Plan,
which is under review later this
year, has had input from the
community.

Margie Goodman
Lisa Muri
North Vancouver

giving and life-saving properties.

Yes, E. Babicki, it is even chock

full of vitamins and iron, and has

been since the beginning of time.
How else do you think the

human race survived?

Sandra Yates

International Board Certified

Lactation Cousultant

North Vancouver

known to contain transfer factors
for iron, zinc, folic acid and
vitamin B which ailow these min-
erals to be absorbed by the baby.
While | recognize the necessity
for breastmilk substitutes in) the
marketplace for the very small
percentage of mothers who can
not breastfeed, given the correct
information, help and = support,
the majority of mothers can

breastfeed successfully. they
choose formula let it be with the
knowledge that the Canadian
Pediatric Society recommends
breastmilk as the only food neces-
sary for the first six months and
breastmilk as a part of the in-
fant’s diet until a year.

Marion Brown, RN

Lactation Consultant

North Vancouver

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