I worked with a mom last year who produced what looked like *mostly*
reddish-brown quite thick blood bilaterally for a 34 week prem baby.  As she
manually expressed these precious drops you could see that some nipple pores
produced rustier milk than others.  Neither the paediatrician, nor his
locum, nor NICU staff were remotely concerned about this.  The breastmilk
took several days to "come in" (increase in quantity) so the rusty droplets
were mixed into the formula supplements and given to the baby as if they
were the "liquid gold" that is usually produced.  As the breastmilk supply
increased so the rustiness disappeared, first from one breast, then the
other.  Mom was horrified at first, and even I was a bit non-plussed,
checked everywhere and asked Lactnet opinion as I recall (so maybe in the
Archives) as I have never seen it this dark before, but it did eventually
clear after about 8 days and of course the baby thrived.

Darlene's report about her experience is frustrating, "Lawrence states that the
baby could have the rusty milk, but the docs weren't convinced.  They
were afraid that they would find blood in the stool and not know if it
was the milk, or another problem." because surely the issue of blood in the
stool would not be investigated unless the baby manifested *other* symptoms
of illness??

Pamela Morrison IBCLC, Zimbabwe