In advance of the baby's birth, it is impossible to predict the physical
status of the baby.  There are wide variations in the degree of disability
of babies with this condition.

One child I knew could do everything my 2 year old could do; was very
bright, still breastfeeding at 2 years.  Since none of the children in our
play group at the time was potty-trained, there was absolutely NO WAY to
tell that this child had spina bifida except that her mother told us while
soliciting ideas about how to help her daughter with scheduling trips to
the bathroom when she was older and her age-mates were no longer in diapers
or training pants.

Still other children have some degree of paralysis (usually of the lower
limbs only) with all kinds of situations in between.

On its face, there is no reason why a baby with spina bifida could NOT
breastfeed, except perhaps during hte period when surgery is occurring.

The condition affects the lower back and some other areas (my
understanding. Please correct me if I err here.)  None of the children I
have seen with spina bifida had any difficulty whatever with breastfeeding.
The mothers sometimes needed to be creative about positioning at the
beginnning, to take into account the area of involvement, corrections done,
etc. but this is much like any other situation where a medical treatment
has been applied to the same area of the spine.

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"We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly
disguised as impossible situations."
Kathleen G. Auerbach,PhD, IBCLC (Ferndale, WA USA) [log in to unmask]
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