An omphalocele results when during the 10th week of fetal development the intestines do not become properly enclosed in the developing baby's abdomen.  It can become a hernia of a single loop of bowel or of most of the intestines (Moore, Keith, Before We Are Born, W.B.Saunders), and will be covered by amniotic epithelium, a mucus membrane like tissue, instead of normal appearing skin.  The problem with not be able to breastfeed is probably more of a logistical problem of being able to bring the baby to breast, because the omphalocele will be covered with moist dressings and there will likely be serial surgeries to bring a skin covering over the exposed intestine and over time enclose them within the baby's abdomen.  What a blessing that surgeon's are able to do such wonderful, shall we say miraculous, repair!  No doubt any baby with this problem would greatly benefit from any amount of colostrum and breastmilk because he or she will need the wonderful protective antibodies therein.  I don't have the exact statistics but it is well known that babies in the NICU receive protection from expressed mother's milk if not able to directly breastfeed.  This includes protection from necrotizing enterocolitis which can become a big problem for a baby who must stay in NICU.  I worked with a mom whose baby had this problem a number of years ago and she and baby did well.  She pumped milk and brought it in regularly.  Her baby did learn to directly latch on before discharge.  Please do encourage the mom you are working with to learn everything she can about the benefits of her own milk as well as how to pump her milk.  She will probably be delivered by cesarean birth and should have a "hospital grade" pump to rent in order to bring in her milk supply without her baby's direct stimulation.  Hope everything goes well for the mom you are working with!   Ellie Lentner

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