The Risks of Infant Formula Feeding

Illness and Hospitalization

• Formula-feeding accounts for up to 26% of insulin dependent diabetes mellitus in children.
• Otitis media (middle ear infection) is up to 3-4 times as prevalent in formula-fed infants.
• US formula-fed infants have a 10-fold risk of being hospitalized for any bacterial infection.

Mortality

• One sudden infant death for every 1000 live birth occurs as a result of failure to breastfeed in western industrialized nations.
• For every 1000 babies born in the US each year, four die because they are not breastfed.

 Development and Intelligence

• Scores on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development were lower in formula-fed children at 1-2 years of age.  Scores were directly correlated with the duration of breastfeeding.
• Formula fed preterm infants had lower IQ scores (8 points) at age 7-8 years than premature infants who were fed breastmilk, even after adjustment for mother's education and social class.

Composition and contamination of infant formula

• Due to an excessive phosphate load in formula, formula fed infants face a 30-fold risk of neonatal hypocalcemic tetany (convulsions, seizures, twitching) during the first 10 days of life.
• Formula-fed infants are at a high risk of exposure to life-threatening bacterial contamination.  Enterobacter Sakazakii is a frequent contaminant in powdered formula and can cause sepsis and meningitis in newborns.

Barriers to breastfeeding

Increasing breastfeeding rates will decrease the risks of formula feeding while optimizing the benefits of breastfeeding.  However, there are many barriers to breastfeeding affecting both initiation and duration:

• Misinformation and lack of knowledge 

• Personal attitudes 

• Cultural norms 

• Lack of support – by family, partner, hospital, and workplace 

• Hospital practices and policies 

• Formula companies’ advertising and hospital practices.

• Rare maternal or infant medical conditions

In 1997, Los Angeles county ranked 53^rd out of 58 counties for 28% exclusive  breastfeeding rates at hospital discharge, while falling far below the state average of 43%.   

Click here for references. Specific references available upon request.  An excellent source of additional information can be found in Breastfeeding: A Guide for the Medical Profession, 1999 (5^th Ed) Ruth A. Lawrence and Robert M. Lawrence, MD and/or The Breastfeeding Answer Book, 2003 (3rd ED), Nancy Mohrbacher, IBCLC and Julie Stock, IBCLC 

Use of Breastfeeding Fact Sheets developed by The Breastfeeding Task Force of Greater Los Angeles: The Breastfeeding Task Force of Greater Los Angeles has developed the Breastfeeding Fact Sheets as a service, and site visitors are welcomed and encouraged to use them. If the Breastfeeding Fact Sheets are used "as is", we request that the Breastfeeding Task Force of Greater Los Angeles be credited. If the Breastfeeding Fact Sheets are modified or adapted, we request that we be credited as "adapted from ...", and that a copy of the adapted material be sent to us. Site visitors are also encouraged to draw upon and use the information contained in the Breastfeeding Fact Sheets as resource material to support their efforts to promote, support and protect breastfeeding.