Hi  Lactnetters,
I'm wondering if all LC's have dinnertime conversations as bizarre as we had
tonight.  At my favorite farmstand  I saw a sign posted today - their twin
lambs had finally been born.  I asked if they were *out back* with the other
animals available for visiting children to observe.  The farmer said the mom
rejected both baby lambs;  she totally refuses to nurse one, and nursed the
other for only 2 days, for only 1-2 minutes at most, and only if the mom lamb
was held while she nursed her baby.  They're keeping them in the farmhouse,
hand feeding them.  The farmer was obviously VERY upset with the mother lamb.
I had a fleeting thought about LC's for lambs. When asked what the baby lambs
were being fed, the farmer said he had obtained a commercially produced
formula specifically for lambs which was very costly hence his anger.
Over dinner tonight I shared the story.  One member of my family thought the
mother lamb's rejection of the babies might be connected to the fact that the
mother lamb had become too domesticated since she was part of a kids zoo at
the farmstand.  I reminded him that our dog was the queen of domestication and
she breastfed her pups and later (as I've mentioned previously on Lactnet) our
kittens.  He countered that dogs are smarter than lambs.  What documentation
does he have for that, I asked, as I have learned to ask from Lactnet.  <VBG>
His response: Dogs don't end up in stew. <moan, groan>
Joyce Blangiardo RN, FACCE, IBCLC, grateful to have been eating a veggie
dinner at the time.