It's wonderful to hear the mother will have access to her baby (and the
baby to her mother) and that breastfeeding can resume!

I hope the baby has been seen by a geneticist by now. Some congenital
disorders (e.g., hemihypertrophy) result in higher risk of other disorders,
including childhood cancer (e.g., Wilms tumor (childhood kidney cancer),
liver cancer, adrenal cortical cancer). If such a large abdominal mass was
so late in being recognized, what else might have been missed? It is not
uncommon for congenital disorders to go un- or misdiagnosed for many years.

"Diagnosis is often experienced as a long and difficult process. It is not
uncommon for several congenital disorders - differential diagnoses - to be
under consideration for a time. While some disorders may be immediately and
accurately diagnosed (e.g., cleft lip), others, especially rare disorders,
may take years. Approximately one out of three people with a rare disease
will not be correctly diagnosed for one to five years; one out of six will
wait for over six years (National Organization for Rare Disorders 1989). A
delay in obtaining the correct diagnosis will delay the information and
support the mother needs to care for her baby and can negatively impact her
ability to access appropriate medical care as well as specialized
breastfeeding support." (Good Mojab, C. A. "Congenital Disorders:
Implications for Breastfeeding." LEAVEN, Vol. 35 No. 6, December
1999-January 2000, pp. 123-28
 (http://www.lalecheleague.org/llleaderweb/LV/LVDec99Jan00p123.html)


Cynthia Good Mojab, MS Clinical Psychology
(Breastfeeding mother, advocate, independent [cross-cultural] researcher
and author; LLL Leader and Research Associate in the LLLI Publications
Department; and former psychotherapist currently busy nurturing her own
little one.)
Ammawell
Email: [log in to unmask]
Web site: http://ammawell.homepage.com

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