Someone wrote:

Donna wrote:  My SIL recently found out she may be having a baby with Down
Syndrome.  Her AFP test indicated the possibility.

A positive AFP for Downs syndrome equates to a 1 in 30 risk of actually
delivering a baby with this problem. So the good news is that your SIL is
still extremely unlikely to have a baby with Downs syndrome.


Finding out that you're having a baby with Down Syndrome doesn't have to be
BAD news.  Children with Down Syndrome are wonderful -- I know, I have one.
Here's the post I sent to Donna:

My son Peter (who happens to have Down Syndrome) is a delight -- he's in 5th
grade, he reads at about the 2nd grade level, and does simple math.  He
walks, he talks, he cracks jokes, he quotes lines from movies, he *loves*
Louis Armstrong and the Eagles, and is in hog heaven that the Star Wars
movies are now available on the big screen.  His favorite restaurant is
McDonald's, of course.  Children with Down Syndrome are great!!  Did I
mention that he's also incredibly cute?
>>
>>Seriously -- tell her to breastfeed as long as possible (years!), and if
>the baby is really hypotonic, that may involve a lot of pumping and feeding
>with an SNS or a bottle even. Tell her to read "Babies with Down Syndrome"
>and not to read anything older than 10 years (published before 1987).  Tell
>her not to believe ANYTHING negative anybody says about people with Down
>Syndrome.  Tell her this will be a baby/person first and foremost.  Tell her
>her other child/children will be much better people for having had a sibling
>with Down Syndrome.  Tell her to read "Count Me In" -- written by two
>teenage boys with Down Syndrome!  Tell her "Corky" from "Life Goes On" is
>pretty typical of the most recent "crop" of kids with Down Syndrome, raised
>in loving homes with good early infant intervention programs and going to
>regular schools.  Tell her everything is possible -- tell her eventually it
>won't make a bit of difference, except that her child will be happier than
>most people on the planet.  Tell her she'll get to meet lots of great people
>that she might not have met before.  Tell her there's tons of resources and
>support groups and friendly folks (like me) who know how interesting and fun
>life can be with a child with a "chromosomal bonus."


Please let's not all act as though a diagnosis of Down Syndrome were the end
of the world.

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Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.                         email: [log in to unmask]
Anthropology Department                               phone: (409) 845-5256
Texas A&M University                                    fax: (409) 845-4070
College Station, TX  77843-4352