>Arly:
>
>   It makes sense for a pku mom to stay on her low phen. diet... BUT some
>phen is necessary. this is why one can combine bf /w the low fenlac...

Yup, phenylalanine is necessary for mom and baby.  Did the baby have PKU,
too?   Was it mentioned in the post?  Or hasn't the baby been born yet?

Anyway, I would hate for the mom with PKU to give a "normal" baby the same
retardation it would have if it did have PKU and had too much phenylalanine
in its diet, by putting herself--the mom, that is--in a state of
phenylketosis.  Importantly, it is not PKU--the inborn error in
metabolism--which causes retardation, but only the effects of the
by-product of the abnormal metabolism, phenylketone, when too much
phenylalanine is ingested.  ("Too much" being a relative term, involving
what are normal levels of ingestion for normal metabolisms.)  So I would
conservatively have the mom with PKU stay on her low-phe diet for that
reason. Now, if the baby did not have PKU, I would imagine it could have a
straight breastmilk diet, no special formula, as long as the mom was being
closely monitored for PK levels.

I am trying unsuccessfully to remember the genetics of PKU, to decide
whether a mom who had PKU could have a baby who did not have PKU.  The more
common situation, by far, is a mom without PKU having a baby with PKU; this
is a different situation.


>   There is an md at emory in atlanta who is one of the world reknown people
>in this field... there is also a gove publication re combining pku and bf..
>unfortunately retrieval from the gpo is not an easy task....
>
>                        patricia

I know someone in this state who is monitoring PKU levels, and I could ask
her if the original poster doesn't find a similar person to ask.

Arly in Northern Utah                [log in to unmask]
MS, CLE, IBCLC