Breast is Best

Bloomberg.com: Asia: "The Geneva-based World Health Organisation (WHO) says exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a child's life is the single best strategy for the infant's survival, growth and development."

The recent scandal in China where melamine was discovered in infant formula exposed an increased reliance on formula by mothers in asia.

In the Philippines, where $465 million of formula is bought each year, one in six babies depended on breast milk at 5 months of age in 2003, a decrease from one in five infants in 1998, the WHO said. ``Inappropriate feeding practices, including the use of infant formula,'' is linked to the deaths of about 16,000 children younger than 5 annually, the agency said