Neonatal nutrition.

Abstract

Doctors should redouble their efforts to encourage mothers to breast feed. This is advantageous both in developed and in developing countries, for in developed countries, morbidity is lowered, while in developing countries, morbidity and mortality are drastically lowered. If the advantages of breast feeding cannot be impressed on the mother, then those formulas which most nearly simulate breast milk should be used. This is economically feasible in any society because of the lowering of morbidity due to conditions such as intestinal disorders, anaemia, eczema and, perhaps, poor brain development; the cost of these diseases should be included in the calculations for formula feedings. Other countries have already made the error and have later improved on feeding cow's milk formulas. Developing countries can avoid this error.