Okay.  I hope I am not going to get laughed off of lactnet for this one,
but here goes.  First, let me set the stage.  I work in conjunction with
a tertiary care hospital that has a  60 plus level 3 NICU.  Our hospital
serves a  high risk community with more than its share of psychosocial
issues.  Mother's own milk and banked breastmilk are used predominantly
for the premies.  
 
I got a call from the lactation consultant on duty that she was
suspicious of some colostrum that was brought in.  She is a new IBCLC
and she wanted to check some colostrum that she said looked just like
urine that a patient's family brought in.  There was about 20 c.c.s of
liquid that looked yellow, thin in consistency.  I told her, not having
seen it, that colostrum comes in all different colors and consistencies
and that I would give it.  I haven't seen the 'colostrum' personally.
Next day, another lactation staff member tasted a sample and said it
tasted very salty and it appeared to look like urine to her also. Can
colostrum have a high sodium content?
 
While I feel it is highly unlikely that the substance would be anything
but colostrum, it could be that the mother got things mixed up.  The
question is: how can we easily test this milk on the Q.T.?  We do not
want to send it to the lab.  If we do,  the next thing we know, there
will be some sort of  policy in place that will make us test all breast
milk.  
 
Thanks,
 
Mary Westra R.N. IBCLC
 
 
 

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