Dear Friends,
I have been nomail for awhile trying to get some things in order and just
rejoined you a few days ago. I was going to post last night about a story
taking place here in Indiana, but it was late and I needed to get to bed, so
I left it until today. Today, there is a sad ending to this story.
A little Afghan boy stole the hearts of Hoosiers when he was brought here,
along with his father and an interpreter, for heart surgery at our
children's hospital. He was 14 months old when he came, underweight and
showing the effects of Tetrology of Fallot. In fact, it was said to be a
miracle that he had lived so long with this condition in a refuge camp in
Kabul. He was tentatively diagnosed by someone from a Hoosier Guard group
there at Camp Phoenix after his father hiked 2 hours out of the hills with
his son to get help. The Rotary Club and the hospital paid for the boy to
be brought here for surgery, which was successful. This is the hospital
system where I used to work, and I've posted about their hostility to
breastfeeding. I can only surmise that this boy was breastfed and that is
probably why he survived so long untreated. However, in the 2 months that
he was here, in almost every picture and video I saw of him, he had a bottle
(of formula, I'm sure) or a pacifier; usually a bottle. In the six weeks
between his surgery and his return to Afghanistan, he picked up 5 pounds!
This was all over the media, as you can imagine. But I couldn't help
thinking, 5 pounds due to breastfeeding...great; but 5 pounds due to
formula...what are we doing to him?! I wondered why he had these things
when he was over a year, and they advise getting a baby off the bottle by 1
year of age. I'm sure he didn't have them when he came! Anyway, I had a
sense of foreboding when I saw all the formula and how much weight the child
put on in such a short period of time, and with a heart condition to boot.
The child left here Monday to go back to Afghanistan, with reporters in tow
and after living like a celebrity for 2 months. This morning the news came
that he died. Two days after returning home to his mud hut in a refugee
camp, he died in his father's arms. I can't help wondering if he had gotten
breastmilk instead of formula throughout, what might his outcome have been.
I am shocked that, with our current problem with childhood obesity, this
sudden weight gain (from formula) was celebrated. I considered it a red
flag, though I didn't expect the child to die so suddenly. Any number of
things could have been the cause and perhaps it was more than one thing, but
this just speaks volumes to me that a child survived better breastfeeding
with a heart condition than he did with that condition fixed, on formula.
It is a sad, sad day here in Indiana.
Here's the story:
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050415/NEWS01/504150519
Scroll down to the photo gallery and look through the pictures from before
surgery to his return home. This was a span of about 6 weeks!
Marsha
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~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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