Heather asked,
"I have not heard of Rh neg C antigen being a reason to withhold breastmilk.
Are the professional carers justified in withholding breastmilk, or are they
doing the sacrificing-breastfeeding-thing?"
I agree with Pat that blood factors don't get into the milk, so why is it an
issue? But, it does remind me of my experience with my own kids and I
wonder if this is where they are coming from. My first three children were
all Rh positive. I am Rh negative. All those kids got jaundice. Two were
kept in hospital (and my first was taken off breastmilk for 2 days as they
did back then) "because" of my being Rh neg and that (somehow, magically)
this was coming through my milk. This, they explained to me, was the reason
their bili's got "so high" or went up so fast. My last daughter, by
contrast, is also Rh negative, totally breastfed and never a trace of
jaundice. I think it could have something to do with the blood type (and in
my case probably did), but the milk isn't part of that cause/effect
scenario. Only that bili's tend to come down slower on breastmilk! Again,
another excuse to sacrifice breastfeeding. Consequently, I became something
of an expert on jaundice (as much as was known at the time!) and the reason
baby #3 didn't stay in the hospital for jaundice is that I didn't give them
the chance. We were home 4 hours after birth, with the blessing of our
nurse practitioner, who advised sunlight for his jaundice which, of course,
worked! If they are thinking something along those lines, that a blood
incompatibility is somehow propagated through mom's milk, I think that's
rather antiquated thinking, isn't it? Or am I just plain ignorant?!
Marsha, who doesn't like to consider the possibility that I might be
ignorant about breastfeeding!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marsha Glass RN, BSN, IBCLC
Mothers have as powerful an influence over the welfare of future generations
as all other earthly causes combined.
John S. C. Abbot
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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