What do you folks know about this condition/disease/disorder, or whatever it may be? I have a client whose baby was thriving, smiling, developing well, for the first 4+ months. Then she had surgery for a severely misshapen head. After the surgery she grew less responsive. She regressed in development and general muscle tone. She had a breathing crisis when she was 6 months, which led her to the hospital. With an ongoing battery of tests, one thing that has been discovered is that she is not absorbing Vit B12. She was on IVs for a couple of weeks and now has a stomach feeding tube because she lost her suckling capability during the IVs. This seemed to be part of a general loss of muscle tone. In all of this, "of course", breastmilk has been withheld. They can better discover what is wrong with the baby if she is on the measured concoction. Well, now they have her on Similac with Iron and the concoction, but will not allow breastmilk because they need to know how much.... They still are not certain of what is going on, but they suspect Methylmalonic Acidemia. Her acid amino levels are too high. Mom has been told that she can't give her breastmilk because her milk will make it all worse. She was keeping in a good supply for a while, until the dietitian told her that she was wasting her time because she would never be able to feed her breastmilk again. The gastroenterologist said to ignore that, because there is no indication that she couldn't return to the breast. He's a real bf advocate, but even he isn't saying return to breastmilk. Mom says that several doctors are meeting about the case regularly and they, together, decide what is to be done. Mom and Dad are totally overwhelmed and frightened. Mom is pumping again, but can't understand why her baby can't have her milk instead of "plain old formula." She breasfed her 2 1/2 year old son and wants to feed her sick little girl. Someone believes that this rare condition is what this baby is suffering from, and they keep doing tests to "prove" it. (My bias is showing here.) Baby is home now and is beginning to suck on a pacifier. She is also looking at people. When she entered the hospital she wasn't focusing on anything or anyone. She was in bad shape. Have you heard of this condition? What do all of these symptoms sound like to you? If you do know about it, what about breastmilk vs artificial baby milk? Is it just a product of the prevalent attitude that they can trust abm more than they can that nebulous breastmilk? This happened while the baby was breastfed, so it is assumed that breastmilk is part of the problem. If baby had been abm fed, where would they have gone? Would they have called the breastmilk bank for human milk? Any enlightenment will be appreciated. I am just encouraging her to maintain some milk supply so that "when" she can return to breastmilk there will be some. Pat Gima, IBCLC Milwaukee, Wisconsin Mailto:[log in to unmask] *********************************************** 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