Beetles, Larvae, Glass, Rocket Fuel and Poison in Infant Formula! Oh my!

I've been avoiding this blog because it makes me feel really bad, not just for writing it, but because some moms who read this are going to feel really bad because they HAVE to feed their babies formula because they aren't breastfeeding. BUT just because I feel bad about making them feel bad, doesn't mean it shouldn't be said. (Telling people that smoking is bad makes them feel bad, but we say it because it's not only true but we are trying to reduce smoking because it's just not healthy).

"What? Baby Formula has been recalled?  In fact, between 1982 and 1994 alone, there were 22 significant recalls of infant formula in the United States due to health and safety problems.  Seven of these recalls were classified by the FDA as "Class I" or potentially life threatening."
http://www.breastfeeding.com/advocacy/advocacy_recalls.html

Well, over the past 2 years I've come across a few formula recalls and all of them are very concerning to me, not to mention just plain gross!

In April 2009 15 different top brands of formula were tested and perchlorate, a chemical used as the main ingredient in solid rocket fuel, contaminated every single can. This chemical is also found in ground water in 35 states, in higher concentrations in areas where shuttles take off, and "mixing contaminated powdered milk with contaminated water in those places could result in a dangerous exposure."
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=7242880&page=1
There was no recall because the amounts have not been proved unsafe - yet.

In October 2010 I noticed yet another sign on the shelf of formula cans. All Similac products had been recalled, but the reason wasn't stated. As it turns out, beetles were laying eggs in this factory and beetle bugs, body parts, and larvae were discovered / hatching in the formula powder. As gross as it is to think about feeding this to your newborn baby, the FDA says it "poses little to no threat to humans even when ingested." Can I just add that I recently was told that all cereals, crackers, flour, basically everything in my cupboard that was packaged in a factory has bug eggs in it, and these eggs will hatch over time which is one of the reasons an expiration date is stamped on these items. True it's not considered unsafe to consume, but it kinda makes me feel sick every time I pour a bowl of Smart Start. I can't imagine feeding my little baby formula knowing larvae is hatching in the bottle. It makes sense that bugs, rats, rat poop, larvae and God only knows what else is in all the processed foods we eat would end up in the manufactured baby foods that are handled and packaged in the same factories. Think I'm going to start feeding my 6 month old exclusive homemade babyfood (it isn't that hard to mash a banana!).

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5819514/2010_similac_recall_5m_units_of_baby.html?cat=25

In 1993 bits of GLASS contaminated over 102,000 cans of Mead Johnson Infant Formula.

In September 2008 in an attempt to save money manufacturers watered down the baby formula and added the chemical Melamine to the mixture to produce a false level of protein when tested before distribution. "Melamine is a nitrogen-based compound used in industrial and commercial plastics. The chemical can cause kidney damage. More than 6,000 babies were fed the stuff became ill and three infants died. 160 babies are now suffering from acute kidney failure."
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=tainted-baby-formula-kills-three-si-2008-09-17
Regarding this same recall, the article below states that over 6,200 babies are sick from the scandal involving the tainted formula powder and 4 babies have died from it.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,424389,00.html

Think this chemeical was only found in formula manufactured in China? WRONG! Melamine and Cyanuric Acid traces were found in over 90% of formula manufactured and distributed in USA.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27914218/

"The FDA and other experts said the melamine contamination in U.S.-made formula had occurred during the manufacturing process, rather than intentionally as was done in Chinese production. The manufacturers insist their products are safe."

"The chemical, which legally can be used in product packaging and a solution to clean manufacturing equipment, can bind with other chemicals in urine, potentially causing damaging stones in the kidney or bladder and, in extreme cases, kidney failure."

"A spreadsheet the AP obtained from the FDA under a Freedom of Information Act request stated that Mead Johnson's Infant Formula Powder, Enfamil LIPIL with Iron contained traces of melamine." "The FDA had incorrectly switched the names of the Mead Johnson product with Nestle's Good Start Supreme Infant Formula with Iron. That meant, Leon said, that the Nestle's Good Start had melamine while Mead Johnson's Enfamil had traces of cyanuric acid."

"The FDA said last month that the toxicity of cyanuric acid is under study, but that in the meantime it is "prudent" to assume that its potency is equal to that of melamine."

You might be wondering if these formulas distributed in the US were known to contain Cyanuric Acid and Malamine they would recall it, right?

"The agency would only seek to remove a product on the basis of a risk, based on scientific evidence."

So only if, and after science can prove that the amounts are harmful will the formula be removed.

"The FDA originally said there was no safe level for these contaminants in infant formula. So this formula is contaminated," said Jean Halloran, the group's director of Food Policy Initiatives. "It is very disturbing to us that no recall has been requested."

• Nestle's Good Start Supreme Infant Formula with Iron had two positive tests for melamine on one sample, with readings of 0.137 and 0.14 parts per million.

• Mead Johnson's Infant Formula Powder, Enfamil LIPIL with Iron had three positive tests for cyanuric acid, at an average of 0.247 parts per million.

"Separately, a third major formula maker — Abbott Laboratories, whose brands include Similac — told AP that in-house tests had detected trace levels of melamine in its infant formula. Those levels were below what FDA found in the other formulas, an Abbott spokesman said, and below any nation's safety guidelines.

The three firms — Abbott Laboratories, Nestle and Mead Johnson — manufacture more than 90 percent of all infant formula produced in the United States."

On a watering down formula related note: On Nov 25 2008 A young mom in Florida nearly killed her baby by adding too much water to the formula. "Adding too much water to powdered formula can cause abdominal pain, insufficient calories and an altered salt balance. Results can include excessive sleep, seizures, brain damage or death."
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/dec/02/na-diluted-formula-nearly-kills-baby/news-metro/

“The problem with infants is there’s this margin of safety that’s so narrow.” http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/28030635/

As a breastfeeding mom, you won't have to worry about measuring the perfect amount of (hopefully unpolluted water and untainted formula powder) in the middle of the night. No bottles to boil and nipples to sanitize. No chance of burning the baby b/c you can't over heat the milk in your breasts. You don't have to depend on some company to make sure they are adding the proper ingredients to your baby's diet. Your breastmilk makes the perfect balance of everything your baby needs, including things that no factory can reproduce!

Some defend formula by saying, "I was fed formula, and I turned out okay." True and people can live off junk food too, but that doesn't mean it's healthy or that it won't cause health problems later on. It's common knowledge that eating fast food isn't good for you either, but people still eat it. Well I think it's time to start educating mothers that formula isn't this perfectly concocted alternative to breastmilk.

I use to say, I'm not "against" formula, I'm just very "pro-breastfeeding" but I have to admit that the more I read about formula the more "pro-breastfeeding" I become. Even without all the new knowledge of the benefits discovered in breastmilk, the stuff they are finding in formula is making breastmilk look that much better - not just because of what's in breastmilk, but because of what's NOT in breastmilk, if that makes sense.

Ben's Birth Part 2

After my favorite female doctor told me she still couldn't give me an epidural because I wasn't showing any progress, a new nurse (I can't decide if she's on team Heaven or Hell) decided to check my cervix for herself. I held my breath and fought against an unnatural discomfort as she searched and reached as though her life depended on how deep she could dig. Just when I couldn't bare the pain a second longer she found what she was looking for. For the first time that night I screamed. Screamed like someone was brutally murdering me. My husband said he was worried she'd done something terribly wrong as my spine arched and then my body collapsed and my eyes rolled back showing only the whites. Apparently she located my cervix, but it had gone "posterior" which means instead of facing the birth canal, it was facing my spine. After this discovery she decided to hook her finger into the opening of the cervix and pull it forward, forcing it to face the correct position. This was when I passed out from the overwhelming pain and complete exhaustion. I was furious when I woke to another contraction. I wanted this night from hell to end! My doctor explained what the nurse had found and how she fixed my cervix. It just so happened that after 7 hours of writhing in pain every 3-5 minutes I had actually dilated to almost 9 centimeters. You only have to be 2-3 centimeters to be given an epidural so the anesthesiologist was on his way. I passed out in the minutes it took for him to get there. When he did arrive I only remember a time when I was sitting up instead of laying down. I don't remember the sting of the injection or the relief from my labor pains. I was asleep before they laid me back down.

An hour later, my favorite female doctor woke me up to tell me that she examined me again and I was at 10 centimeters and it was time to push. I could barely open my eyelids as I tried to comprehend that the baby was on his way out. I could move my arms, but I struggled to even lift my head, everything below my neck was numb. I looked up and saw my best friend. Apparently, I told her to bring me my make-up bag and to help me put mascara on - for the pictures. I have absolutely zero recollection of this, but I was so out of it I probably thought I was playing Bella and the birth would be on camera. After my make-up was applied, I turned my face to the right and saw my mother at my side. "I'm going to throw up," I mumbled. She placed a small basin under my chin and I puked. I tried to explain to the doctor that I couldn't sit up, I couldn't move, but my throat was so hoarse from all the heavy breathing and screaming that my voice was barely a whisper. She turned off the epidural IV that was connected to my spine and came back 30 minutes later to rub a cold alcohol wipe across my collar bones, to see if I could feel it, which I couldn't.

At this point her shift was over and a new doctor, one that I'd never met at my office, told me he would be on call that day and would be delivering my baby. He checked on me 30 minutes later and when I could feel the sensation of the cold alcohol wipe against my belly he told me it was time to start pushing. He explained that I had to wait for a contraction and as soon as one started I needed to push while he counted to 10 and only stop pushing to take a break when he reached 10. I was SO TIRED and just wanted him to cut the baby out and be done with it. After one practice pushing session he told me he would be back to check on me. "You're leaving me??" I couldn't believe he was going to walk out when I was trying to push a baby out! "The nurse will page me when you get closer, I'll be just around the corner," he explained. "How much longer till the baby's here?" I asked. "It all depends on how well you push. It would be great if you could have the baby at..."he checked his watch, "1:00 because I have a scheduled Cesarean at 1:30." I looked at the clock behind him and took note of the time. It was barely noon, I had plenty of time. "So the second she beeps you, you'll be here lickety split?" I asked, just to be sure. I swear I saw an evil glint in his eye before he smiled and assured me, "I'm just two seconds away." Somehow, my maternal instincts told me that young cocky doctor wasn't going to be there for me.

With every push I held my breath while the nurse counted to 10 and every time she got to around 7 or 8 I began to see black. After 15 minutes of pushing a corner of my mind thought about my best friend's birth and how she only had to push for 10 minutes before her baby was born. "How many more pushes?" I asked the nurse. "You're doing great," she said without answering my question. Another 15 minutes later I asked her how much longer, again she encouraged me to keep going. 45 minutes later I told her I can't do this anymore and to tell the doctor to just cut the baby out of me. She said it was too late to do that and wheeled over a tall mirror. She sat at the foot of the bed with the mirror beside her and when my next contraction came she placed it in front of me. Disappointment washed over me and left me completely hopeless. A small oval shaped opening about the size of a ping pong ball revealed the top of my baby's head. I could see blood matted in his black hair. I began to weep, "He's never going to come out of me" and the nurse patted my leg and told me to keep on pushing, and that I was doing "great." She paged the doctor and told me the baby would be here soon.

Around this time the Epidural had completely worn off and each contraction forced me to push regardless of whether or not I wanted to or had the energy to. It was like my body knew what to do and wasn't going to surrender to my need to give up. "Where is the doctor?" I demanded. The nurse hurried to the phone to page him again. During one of the next pushes I began to see black and couldn't hold on any longer. I want to say I had an out of body experience as I remember seeing my husband holding my hand, looking at him, looking at me. I heard him say, "Breathe hunny, BREATHE!!!" and I sucked in a breath and then I was looking through the eyes of the body in labor again. Suddenly, the pain of the contractions continued but a new pain demanded my attention. I looked down once more and saw in the reflection of the mirror that the baby's head was crowning. A burning fire erupted with that image. Instinctually my body sensed that pushing was the only way to eventually extinguish the flames that were spreading fast. Of course, the nurse told me to stop pushing at this point.

I think she told her assistant nurse to get a pediatric team in there. "What's wrong?" I asked. "There's meconium," she answered. I knew this meant that the baby had passed a bowl movement in my uterus during labor, but I didn't think it was uncommon or put the baby in any danger, so what was the hold up? Didn't she realize that a baby was hanging out in my birth canal??? My body was trembling from the internal fire that continued to build. I guess a doctor or team of pediatricians entered the room but I don't remember seeing them. An odd suction noise caught my attention and I looked for it and saw a long clear tube running along the side of the bed. They seemed to be pumping a thick brown fluid out of the baby's lungs. I couldn't endure the pain much longer, my body wouldn't hold out any more. "Please hurry!" I cried. And then the fire combusted and I opened my eyes and saw a streak of blood splatter across my nurse's chest. I wanted to die at this point. I didn't feel that beautiful miraculous moment that my baby had entered the world. There was no denying he was here, his shrilling screams filled the room, but I could only focus on my pain, on my desire for it all to be over. My mother was right. She knew me best. The long painful labor and my exhaustion had robbed me of the initial joy I was suppose to feel.

My nurse continued to blot towels against my broken body and I think I went into shock because I was shaking so badly. While the doctors cleaned up my screaming baby, my OB finally entered the room. He had missed the birth entirely, looked over at the crying baby being swaddled and then looked at me. "Nice pushing," he said. I looked at the clock and realized the baby was born shortly after 1:00, just as he had asked, and yet he was nowhere to be found, just as I knew he would be. He took the seat at the foot of the table and began to look me over. "I'm going to give your stomach a little massage," he told me. Well that's the least you can do I thought. In a quick succession of blows he began to apply pressure to my gut, as if he was attempting to pump an extra large heart back to life. As soon as he finished his compressions he reached inside me and began a sweeping search. "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?" I demanded, catching my breath. "There's not another baby in there!" I was completely taken off guard and thought this man had absolutely no compassion for what I'd just gone through (without his aid) and the aftershock my body was left in. "I had to deliver the placenta," he explained. He started asking the nurse for things that I didn't understand. He began working on my wounds when I asked him how bad the damage was. "Did I tear?" I asked already knowing the answer. "Yes," he answered coldly. "How bad?" I was trying to remember if a first degree tear was worse than a 3rd degree tear (I'd soon learn that there is such a thing as a 4th degree tear). Whatever he was doing began to hurt. "I'll answer all your questions when I'm done. "OUCH!" I cried. "You can feel that?" he asked. Did he not remember that they turned off the Epidural? "YES! I exclaimed. He told the nurse to get him some Novocaine. "Bee-sting," he warned. "Bee-sting" he warned again as he pricked my torn broken flesh, injecting a numbing medication. After a few more ows, I continued with my questions. "Am I hemorrhaging?" "No. I'll explain everything when I'm done," he said impatiently. I let him continue his work with my baby's cries as background noise to mimic my own internal sobbing.

While the doctor was stitching me up the assistant nurse asked me if I was ready to hold my baby. Is she crazy?? I'M DYING here. "I can't hold him," I told her. I knew babies could sense what people are feeling so I didn't want this first moment in my arms to be filled with my lingering pain and anxiety. "Well dad, come over here and hold your son," she said. I gripped Nick's wrist, "don't leave me," I told him. The nurse heard me and said, "Well someone needs to hold this baby!" "Bring him here," Nick said. She walked across the room with our crying baby and handed him to his father. Instantly, baby Ben stopped crying. Nick leaned him forward so that I could look at him for the first time and I wondered if he had been through just as much as I had. I tried to focus my attention on him and not on the ridiculous amount of time the doctor was spending before answering the one-thousand-and-one questions I was waiting to offload. "That's about it," he finally said. "I've got to get to that scheduled Cesarean. Good luck raising a baby." And with that he was gone, and I was left without any of the answers to my questions, worries and fears. As much as I swore I never wanted to see that man again, I was forced to see him a week later when my stitches (that he told me over the phone were impossible to tear) had indeed torn and unravelled leaving me with infections and not one, but two vaginal reconstruction surgeries to follow.

Ben's Birth! Part 1

I've had both a traditional vaginal birth and a scheduled Cesarean delivery. Many women are under the impression that it's easier to breastfeed if you've had a natural birth and once you involve drugs and or an emergency / scheduled major surgery it becomes more difficult for the mother to breastfeed. This is probably typically true, however in my case it was the complete opposite. I'll share my experience with both births and how they each affected my nursing abilities.

No two birth stories are alike. If you are familiar with only the beautiful, happy miraculous tales and want to keep those pretty versions untainted then don't read this entry. This birth blog comes with a warning: It is not for the faint-hearted or those with sensitive stomachs. If you've eaten a meal you should treat this blog like swimming and wait 30 minutes before continuing.

Now, if you want the truth, if you can handle all the gory descriptions of a bloody birth then maybe my experience can enlighten or prepare you for what a birth gone bad is really all about. I had the worst birth. Ever! Okay maybe Bella's birth in Breaking Dawn was worse, but hers was fictional, mine was not! (Read the Twilight series, or watch the movie when it comes out November 2011). Back to reality, before Ben was born my visions of what having a baby was going to be like were far, very very far from reality. I have to describe the blissfully ignorant world I lived in prior to Ben's birth so that you can fully appreciate the shock I experienced when reality hit (it didn't help one bit that my husband Nick was just as unprepared and naive as I was).

Towards the end of pregnancy every normal woman is anxious and ready to not be pregnant anymore. I was overly excited to meet the little love creation my husband and I both wanted more than anything. Throughout the entire pregnancy we would talk to my belly, telling Ben how much we loved him and couldn't wait to look at him and hold him. Once I hit 40 weeks Nick began telling Ben to "come out already" and that I shouldn't be "so selfish." He went on to say, "You can't keep him in there forever...just try and push a little." I actually wrote in my journal, "I can't wait till you're born. I want to hear your little cry just so I can hear your voice." Yea, I know you're laughing at me, and I'm laughing too now. Oh the IRONY!

The day before I was scheduled to be induced my mother sat down with me and tried to convince me to make sure an Epidural was lined up in case I needed it and not try to do a natural birth. (Yes I was that naive and wanted to go natural - for those of you who are able to do a natural birth, more power to you!) My mother explained that she had very long, painful births with me and my brother and didn't want me to suffer too. She tried to tell me that if I wasn't in pain I could better appreciate and enjoy the birth experience and would be able to bond better with my baby. I responded with anger, "You think if I don't have an epidural I won't love my baby?!" I snapped back. I wanted to live in my happy bubble and felt she was trying to burst it with her epidural needles!

At 41 weeks and 2 days I was finally induced. I went to the hospital on a Tuesday night (after stuffing as much fettucini Alfredo from the Olive Garden into the little space my baby left for my stomach to expand - this is important you'll know why later). There were six or so OB's at my doctor's office and I favored two of them and planned my induction date according to when those two were on shift back to back. My favorite male doctor had cervidil placed inside me to "ripen my cervix" which means getting it ready for contractions - although his description made me think of green fruit. All night long my adrenaline and nerves kept me pumped. I thought within a few hours my son would be here. Every 30 minutes the band on my arm would squeeze and take my blood pressure, which is always naturally low and would sound off the alarm. After several hours, and this siren being the only action our room was getting, the nurse showed me how to reset the machine so that I wouldn't have to wait for her to do it for me.

The sun rose and baby was nowhere near on his way. My favorite male Doctor's shift had ended so my favorite female doctor hooked me up to an IV with Pitocin. This drug makes the body have contractions and contractions are suppose to push the baby out. I knew my dad was flying up but was completely surprised when my best friend walked through the door behind him. My dad could hardly recognize me I was so swollen, not just from the pregnancy, but with all the fluids from the drugs and IV. My face was the shape of a full moon, distorting my nose and smile. My small audience watched the spiked contractions come and go on the computer screen all day, but I couldn't feel them. I foolishly thought maybe I would be one of those super rare women who experiences zero pain during childbirth. Hehe. We waited and waited and by 6:00pm the nurse took me off the IV because I had no progress and told me to enjoy my "last meal" (I had been put on a liquid diet all day which I made my husband go on as well out of support to me :)  I can't remember if this was the night we ate pizza or steaks from Outback. After dinner the nurse told me that I needed to get some sleep (I hadn't slept Monday night and it was now Wednesday night) because I was going to have a baby the next day and I needed my rest. So, at 10:30 at night she offered me the worst thing in the world you could possibly give a woman in labor - not one, but TWO Ambien sleeping pills. I want to believe she honestly thought this would be helpful and wasn't the actual devil incarnate.

I fell asleep (passed out into a coma) about 30 minutes later and my parents and friend left me to get that much needed rest. Just before midnight my body decided, without Pitocin, that it was the right time to go into labor. I woke from the dead and thought my body was being torn in two. No, it was being torn in two while an unearthly, ungodly force rocked through my entire body, debilitating my capacity to focus on anything but the pain. I vaguely remember Nick trying to breathe with me. The pain faded as suddenly as it came and I went under...maybe from the relief and all the energy it took out of me, or maybe it was because I was drugged with sleeping pills! Seven minutes later I returned to consciousness by the pain that overtook me and left me struggling to breathe. Every five to seven minutes I'd wake to the worst pain imaginable, truly indescribable and pass out the second it ended.

At some point, minutes or hours later I do not know, Nick finally got a nurse to check me over. I remember her trying to make me "stay with her" (and with those words it occurred to me that I must be dying!) so that she could explain that I wasn't dilating yet, but she can offer me some steroid to help with the pain. Pain was the part that I understood. Pain? Yes, that word was probably the closest description to what was happening inside my body. I was so out of it I didn't realize I was in labor, or that I was even pregnant for that matter. Not until she told me that there is a risk to the baby and that it would have to be administered during a contraction. I didn't have the energy to focus or care about anything else she had to say at that point. I passed out and supposedly during my next contraction she gave me some steroid to ease the pain. I say "supposedly" because the pain was never eased and after hours and hours of going through this I finally gripped consciousness enough to make my demands. "Give me an epidural, cut the baby out of me, or kill me!" These were the only options I gave satan my nurse. She explained that an epidural at this point might slow the labor process or bring it to a halt and since I still hadn't begun to dilate I had to wait. If I had to wait I wasn't going to be able to do it awake so I closed my eyes, sought darkness and went back under. After the next contraction the doctor was in the room and I restated my demands. The doctor examined me internally but she still wouldn't give me an epidural. She never cut the baby out, and she obviously didn't kill me...