Another Reason Why Our Government Sucks

I have a friend whose baby is seriously ill at the moment. The saddest part of all about the whole ordeal is that it could have easily been prevented. Another friend of mine had the time to sit down and pen an excellent piece about this situation. Please read this and pass it on to anyone you know who could benefit from the information. Thanks! ~Stacey
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A friend and I went to visit one of the moms in our playgroup and her new baby, today. Baby Sarah Kylie is almost 3 weeks. 6 days after bringing her home she became ill. Upon assessment at the hospital it was determined that she has bacterial meningitis. No one was sure where she would have contracted it. She was then moved to a bigger, children's hospital where she could receive superior care. She will have been there a full 21 days to finish the course of the antibiotic treatment before she can go home.

She has since had several seizures and based upon CT scans it is evident that portions of her brain are dead. The doctors are suggesting that she will likely have issues with her motor skills, as well as cognitive difficulties.

The CDC came to my friend's home and did a full investigation and testing. They now believe that the bacteria came from the powdered formula she was feeding her baby. Apparently Sarah is not the first baby to have become infected from powdered formula. Kellie said that the CDC rep told her that 60 infants in the US have tested positive...she was not certain of the date since they first started keeping track, but these are only the babies who had their infections confirmed as linked to powdered formula. And it appears that this has happened worldwide, too. www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/inf-ltr3.html

This makes me so sad and furious. My friend's baby nearly died and will have permanent damage because of the fact that the FDA does NOT require powdered formula to be sterile (a fact I find utterly abhorrent). Liquid and liquid concentrate formulas are heat-treated in the packaging process, but powdered formula is not.

Please, pass this information on to ANY expectant moms and those feeding their babies powdered formula. While the numbers of infants affected is very small...I feel like every formula-fed baby in the world is at risk at the moment. My own child received almost entirely breastmilk during his first year, but I know we are not among the majority.

So many babies are at risk, since powdered formula appears to be the most popular of all feeding methods. What is so incredibly asinine is that we are told to sterilize our bottles and use sterilized/boiled water to make formula...yet the very formula powder being mixed with this water can be tainted. It sickens me to think of the unknown risk millions of babies are put in every day.

Thank you,
k