A recent Breastfeeding Review (1998, 6(2): 23-25, "Breastfeeding a baby with
gastric reflux", by "an Adelaide mother") had an article by the mother of a
baby w/ severe GER.  Her description is graphic.  The article begins "I read
with great sadness the fate of Michelle Foley, and Australian mother who
pleaded guilty to infanticide of her nine-month-old baby in 1997.  I knew it
could have been me.  The words 'I felt like throwing him off the balcony'
rang in my ears.  I had the same thoughts two years ago.  Let me explain..."

It doesn't offer solutions, really, but it does offer a validating voice:
"My bad feelings are okay to have.  This woman had them too.  But she still
loves her baby."  I gave the article to a woman I wasn't finding solutions
for.  She read it, and cried, and felt less alone.  In her case, the problem
apparently was severe foremilk/hindmilk imbalance or lactose dumping or
whatever we end up calling it;  her baby finally smiled when she started
spending *6* hours on one breast, 6 on the other.  But the "fallout" -
desperately crying, sleepless baby - was the same as with GER.

Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC, LLLL  Ithaca, NY

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