Hi Everyone,

It's been a very long time since my last post, so let me re-introduce myself.
 My name is Veronica Scott and I'm the Breastfeeding Peer Counselor
Coordinator for my local county health dept. in FL.  I've been reading posts
and have some information for all of you regarding the baby that was starved
to death by the mom who wasn't producing enough milk and was refused care due
to the baby's not having a medicade card.  A friend of mine emailed me a copy
of the article from the paper.  Hope this clears up some of the questions you
all might be having about this topic.

Also, I read about the posts regarding lactational amenorrhea:  I don't have
any cited studies, but here's some personal feedback for you:  I, personally,
did not skip one cycle after my first child, but did with my 3 future
children and it seems each span got longer if I remember right.

One other thing I would like to touch on, the question about miscarriage and
breastfeeding.  I had 3 miscarriages and when pregnant with my 4th son, I was
told to stop nursing my 3rd who was 11 months old at the time.  My OB felt
that breastfeeding might increase uterine contractions and with a history of
1st trimester miscarriage, that it would be in my best interest (and the
unborn child's) to stop breastfeeding.  Since so many people (including prior
doctors) had told me that there was nothing I could have done to stop the
miscarriages, that it was "nature's way" of getting rid of a baby that was
probably genetically deformed, and that I would probably have a perfectly
normal pregnancy in the future, I decided (disclaimer:  I AM NOT GIVING
ANYONE ADVICE HERE) that I wanted to continue breastfeeding my 11 month old
son.  My milk pretty much dried up during pregnancy, but my son continued to
suckle and the pregnancy continued without negative consequence, in my case.
After my 4th son was born, his lungs were underdeveloped due to a planned
c-section that was planned a little too soon for baby, and he was put on a
bottle for a few days (I wish I knew then what I know now!) and I was given
an electric pump to pump my milk for him.  I couldn't get a drop out, so I
had my 3rd son breastfeeding in the hospital...got the milk flowing really
fast! :)
Ok, see what happens when I don't post for a while!   Here's that article:

Mother whose breast-fed baby died gets no jail time
NEW YORK (AP) - A Bronx judge on Wednesday gave probation rather than jail
time to Tabitha Walrond, a woman whose infant starved to death in part
because her surgically reduced breasts failed to supply enough milk.
Supreme Court Justice Robert Straus could have sentenced Ms. Walrond, whose
attorney blamed the tragedy partly on a bumbling welfare system, to as much
as four years in prison for criminally negligent homicide in the death of
2-month-old Tyler.

The judge had been asked by the Bronx district attorney to send the mother to
jail for six months, but instead he sentenced her to five years' probation.

"I do not believe in this particular case that incarceration would serve the
public interest," Straus said.

Ms. Walrond also was ordered to undergo counseling and must either hold a job
or attend school during the probationary period. If she has a baby during the
next five years, the judge added that her therapist should consider requiring
her to attend parenting classes.

The baby's paternal grandmother, Marsha Purrell, spoke at the sentencing,
holding up photos of the baby as a healthy 8-pound newborn and as an
emaciated 5-pound corpse.

"Tabitha, how could my beautiful grandson change from this to that? How could
your mother -especially your mother and her family - allow this to happen?"
she asked.

Assistant District Attorney Robert Holdman told the court that "this case was
not a persecution of the loving act of breast-feeding. This was the
prosecution of a woman who let her baby starve to death."

Ms. Walrond's lawyer, Susan Tipograph, called the situation "a terrible,
terrible tragedy and a preventable tragedy" but begged the judge not to
incarcerate her client. "She did not mean to hurt him," Ms. Tipograph said.
"Consider the pain that Tabitha is already experiencing."

The judge acknowledged that he had received 900 letters about the case from
mothers, health professionals and academics - all supporting Ms. Walrond, who
claimed that she did not realize her effort to breast-feed was leaving the
baby malnourished.

Ms. Walrond's breasts had been surgically reduced before her pregnancy, which
impeded breast-feeding, and she had been turned away when she tried to take
him to a clinic because he did not have a Medicaid card, Ms. Tipograph said.

Addressing Ms. Walrond, Straus said: "You must accept responsibility - your
responsibility - as a first step toward rehabilitation, and reject
victimization."

He urged her to accept mentoring from a local women's group and to seek out a
way to speak to other new mothers about the pitfalls of breast-feeding.

Ms. Walrond did not speak during the proceeding. When it was over, she wiped
away tears when a friend walked up and hugged her.

Ms. Walrond was convicted in May by a jury that found her baby had starved to
death because she ignored signs that he was wasting away and that she failed
to obtain help for him. The evidence included graphic photographs of the tiny
corpse, with hollow cheeks and skin hanging off the bones. Tyler died in
August 1997.

Ms. Tipograph portrayed Ms. Walrond as a loving mother who didn't know the
baby was dying.

Ms. Walrond still faces sentencing on an unrelated charge of marijuana
possession.

She was arrested in a Bronx park in June by police responding to a complaint
that people were smoking marijuana there; she allegedly had bags of the
substance in her pocket. That sentencing is scheduled for later this month.

Hope this answers some of your questions,
Veronica Scott,
Breastfeeding Peer Counselor Coordinator, WIC Program

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