Hi Karleen,

I was interested to see on the news last night the story of "baby 81".  This
wee baby was found in the rubble in Sri Lanka, alive and parents missing.
The baby was taken to a nearby hospital where NINE sets of parents claimed
the baby as their own over the next while.  Film footage showed a set of
parents distressed trying to tell authorities the baby was theirs while the
mother held the baby in her arms in a breastfeeding hold, desperate to feed
her child. (This couple turned out to be the biological parents).  However,
the authorities wanted proof of identify so these parents (and I guess
others) had to wait 8 weeks for DNA results to come through and prove the
baby was theirs.  Meanwhile the baby is taken very good care of by hospital
staff and bottle fed, of course.

So, the DNA results come back and the world press are there to see parents
and baby united.  Big story? Yes.  Happy ending?  Who knows.  The baby has
gone back to her loving parents who are now homeless, poor, in a disease
riddled area and  have to artifically feed this baby!  Now you tell me how
this baby will survive.

I watched the film footage showing this mother desperatly wanting to
breastfeed her baby (as every instinct was screaming at her to do so), but
the authorities kept her away until proof was available.  A bitter - sweet
story.

Karen Palmer
Midwife, Hamilton, New Zealand


----- Original Message -----
From: "Karleen Gribble" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2005 7:40 PM
Subject: Breastfeeding after the Tsunami


Has anyone read any news articles describing breastfeeding post Tsunami, aid
orgs assisting this etc?? Know stories from contacts of successful
breastfeeding, relactation, wet nursing ?
I'm working on an article for a parenting mag and some good stories to go
with the problems of disorganised infant formula dist would help.
Karleen Gribble
Australia

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html