Microwaves action on milk for infants

[Karl Wilding]

hutchins at fiona.umsmed.edu (Jim Hutchins) wrote:
>
> Stephane Corteel (scorteel at resulb.ulb.ac.be) wrote:
> : As a young father (my baby now is 7 weeks old) I read a lot...
> : I've read (and some people also told me) that warwing up a feeding
> : bottle using a microwave oven is not recommended because the microwaves
> : cause molecular changes in some proteins of the milk.
> 
> I find this difficult to believe; it is not clear to me how the
> method of heating would have any effect at all.  Heating is heating,
> as far as proteins are concerned.
> 
> : But, at this time, nobody could confirm that or give me an more
> : scientific explanation.
> 
> There is a *good* reason not to heat baby bottles in the microwave,
> however.  Heating in the microwave tends to be uneven, and unless one
> is *very* careful to *completely* mix the bottle after heating, it is
> likely that the baby's mouth or digestive tract could be _severely_
> scalded by a zone of superhot milk surrounded by cooler milk.  The old
> way of placing the bottle in a hot water bath allows sufficient time for
> convection to occur and heating is, in general, more even.
> 
> If I am wrong about any of this, someone correct me.
> 
> --
> Jim Hutchins                    []     E-Mail: hutchins at fiona.umsmed.edu
> Associate Professor, Anatomy    []     Assistant Professor, Neurology
> Univ Mississippi Med Ctr        []     Jackson, MS