244 grams baby endures
"CHICAGO (AP) — A premature infant believed to be the smallest baby ever to survive was called “a great blessing” by her mother, who is preparing to take the little girl and her twin sister home from the hospital.
The baby, named Rumaisa, weighed 244 grams — less than a can of soda — when she was delivered by Caesarean section September 19 at Loyola University Medical Center. That is 37 grams smaller than the previous record holder, who was born at the same hospital in 1989, according to hospital spokeswoman Sandra Martinez. ...
Dr. Jonathan Muraskas, a professor of neonatal-perinatal medicine, said several factors may have improved the babies’ chances of survival. Babies born before 23 weeks do not have fully developed lungs and are usually not viable, but those born before the 25th week can survive. Muraskas said girls are also more likely to survive than boys when born at less than 368.5 grams , and the twins could have been helped by their mother’s health problems. “Sometimes, when babies are stressed in utero, that can accelerate maturity,” he said. Muraskas said the twins were placed on ventilators for a few weeks and fed intravenously for a week or two until nurses could give them breast milk through feeding tubes..."

Infant formula powder recalled
December 23, 2004
Food safety
"Government departments are closely monitoring an incident of intestinal infection, noting that Mead Johnson has initiated a recall of all Pregestimil infant formula powder from international markets including Hong Kong as a precautionary measure following the incident. Initial information Mead Johnson  provided to the Food & Environmental Hygiene Department showed that four premature infants in France had become ill with Enterobacter sakazakii - a bacterial infection - between October and December. ..."
 

Release of Two Revised Infant Feeding Recommendations
November 2004
"Health Canada has released revised recommendations related to the duration of exclusive breastfeeding and vitamin D supplementation for breastfed infants. These recommendations will serve as updates to the statements found in Nutrition for Healthy Term Infants published in 1998. An updated version of the document Nutrition for Healthy Term Infants reflecting these two revised recommendations will be posted on our web site in the coming months. The recommendation on vitamin D supplementation for breastfed infants is based on the advice of the Dietary Reference Intake Expert Advisory Committee and input from leading Canadian vitamin D experts. The recommendation on duration of exclusive breastfeeding was informed by the Expert Advisory Panel on Exclusive Breastfeeding. Stakeholders also provided valuable input on both recommendations through a comment period held in early 2004." [The good news is, Health Canada has boosted its exclusive breastfeeding recommendations to be in line with the WHO - six months exclusive. The bad news is, the Vitamin D supplement recommendation remains for all breastfed babies. - JC]

Research studies effects of soy baby formula on intestinal development
Public release date: 16-Dec-2004
Contact: Phyllis Picklesimer, Media/Communications Specialist
p-pickle@uiuc.edu
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
"URBANA, Ill. -- Two studies by University of Illinois food science and human nutrition professor Sharon Donovan show that the soy isoflavone genistein, in amounts present in commercial soy infant formulas, may inhibit intestinal cell growth in babies. So what are we to think about soy in a baby's diet? Donovan said it's an important question to ask because almost 25 percent of formula-fed babies in the United States consume soy formula. Although babies on soy formula appear to grow normally, these formulas contain very high concentrations of genistein, from 32 to 45 milligrams, which is higher than the amount found to affect menstrual cycles in women, she said. 'I'm struck by the fact that these babies are receiving isoflavones at such high concentrations,' Donovan said. 'Formula is the sole source of nutrition for these infants for the first four to six months of life, when so many important organ systems are developing.' ..."