| If a formula fed baby has gastroenteritis it is not necessarily because the mother has been careless in preparing the baby’s feeds. It can be because cow’s milk formula is not suited to human infants. The chance for error is always there though, from contaminated formula as well as non-sterile preparation. Protective mechanisms do exist in cow’s milk too; they are either destroyed in the manufacturing process or unsuitable for human infants. The milk is, after all, designed for calves. This design includes encouraging the growth of bacteria to assist in the breakdown of grass, the cow’s staple diet, and which are dangerous to human infants. So the very nature of the milk is designed to produce the conditions that are dangerous to babies. The opposite conditions from those provided by human milk (see bibliography “Breastfeeding Matters” and “The Politics of Breastfeeding”). | |
