Now Ye're Talking - to an infant milk scientist

jestfest

I'm an infant milk scientist, AMA wrote: »

To the best of my knowledge that is to make sure that the water has no contamination in it as much as anything - babies haven't got the same resistance to some of the bugs present in water as adults do. Even though there are strict guidelines on the allowable levels of CFUs in water, they could be too high for baby to tolerate.

As for the destruction of prebiotic and probiotic... when infant formula is produced it goes through many different processing techniques including pasteurisation, homogenisation and spray drying. These processes would be more damaging to the probiotics (& proteins) than any boiled water.

Thanks. Using cooled boiled water is recommended to not only remove potential bacteria from water but most importantly to destroy the harmful bacteria which can be present in formula powder (such as salmonella and Cronobacter sakazakii). It's a common mistake that many people make - formula powder is not sterile.

I'm an infant milk scientist, AMA

jestfest wrote: »

Thanks. Using cooled boiled water is recommended to not only remove potential bacteria from water but most importantly to destroy the harmful bacteria which can be present in formula powder (such as salmonella and Cronobacter sakazakii). It's a common mistake that many people make - formula powder is not sterile.

That's interesting that there can be bacteria present in formula. Have you any reference for that? Just out of curiosity really - I was of the opinion that pasteurisation removes all pathogens from milk and milk products. If you have info that says otherwise then I need to get in touch with my food science lecturers from years back and tell them to update their lectures - and nothing would give me more pleasure than to call them out

jestfest

I'm an infant milk scientist, AMA wrote: »

That's interesting that there can be bacteria present in formula. Have you any reference for that? Just out of curiosity really - I was of the opinion that pasteurisation removes all pathogens from milk and milk products. If you have info that says otherwise then I need to get in touch with my food science lecturers from years back and tell them to update their lectures - and nothing would give me more pleasure than to call them out

I cannot put hyperlinks to the resource but if you google "Infant milks in the UK: A practical guide for health professionals" which is published by First Steps Nutrition, an independent body that provides reliable information on the various different types of infant milks free from marketing spin. You probably know everything else in the guide back-to-front. Definitely do update your lecturers; they aren't the only ones with out-of-date info

Edited to add that the second link in the google search is the most recent edition of the guide.

http://www.firststepsnutrition.org/pdfs/infant_milks_june13.pdf

Water John

Many thanks AMA.

sambucus nigra

I'm an infant milk scientist, AMA wrote: »

That's interesting that there can be bacteria present in formula. Have you any reference for that? Just out of curiosity really - I was of the opinion that pasteurisation removes all pathogens from milk and milk products. If you have info that says otherwise then I need to get in touch with my food science lecturers from years back and tell them to update their lectures - and nothing would give me more pleasure than to call them out

Powdered infant milks are definitely not sterile and require the ~74 degree recently boiled water treatment. AFAIK the little cartons of milk are considered sterile.

Pasteurisation kills bacteria in the cows milk, but many bugs have been isolated from the formula processing plants, especially as some can generate biofilms and adhere to the inside of steel pipes etc, potentially recontaminating the incoming pasteurised milk.

Instructions should be on the side of the tin - there are certain specialised (more expensive) formulae e.g. some of the hydrolysed or hypoallergenic ones that need to be made up at a lower temperature due to their nutritional profile.

Outbreak of Necrotizing Enterocolitis Associated with Enterobacter sakazakii in Powdered Milk Formula

Quality of powdered substitutes for breast milk with regard to members of the family Enterobacteriaceae.

Thank you for doing this AMA, I had heard of HAMLET in passing before but didn't understand the actual mechanism, biology is fascinating!

tickingclock

Thanks a million for taking your time to do this. It's very interesting.

tickingclock

Thanks a million for taking your time to do this. It's very interesting.

Purply

Such an interesting topic!

My daughter was very unsettled when I was breastfeeding, she screamed most of the time and would not sleep. I stopped breastfeeding when she was a week old because I thought it was a supply issue and started formula feeding. She was still screaming all day so we tried absolutely everything.

Finally we went to a kinesiologist who ran some tests and found that she was lactose intolerant and had reflux. She recommended nanny care goats milk formula and probiotics to repair the gut. Our daughter changed overnight and stopped screaming all the time. However at 5 months she is still bothered with a little reflux which we control with medicine.

My question is why is goats milk better for my daughter? I thought it still contains lactose? And finally my health visitor said she has seen a massive rise in babies who have reflux. Is this due to the milk and the chemicals used to produce infant formula nowadays?

Thanks so much