>Dear Nikki,
      These are similiar circumstances that my grandson with the drool was born under...except they induced
for over 24 hours( it was not quite 2 weeks beyond "due date") ,did break the water 1 1/2 hours into the
induction after my daughter asked them not to as she did not feel ready to deliver, she had an epidural for 10
hours, ended up with an unnecessary c-section about 30 hrs after entering the hospital.  Then to  add to the
insult, the nursery nurse decided to keep him in the nursery for 7 hours because she thought that the mom
needed to rest even though the request went down to bring him up to the room.  The ped said something
about her ruling the babies in her nursery.  The baby  did not recover with mom.   The poor little guy did not
know what his lips were for, had a bunched tongue, a chomp so tight one could probably have  picked him
up by sticking a thumb in his mouth  He did not like skin to skin, was one tense little body from head to toe.
He could suck,though weirdly.  He had no response to stimulating his lips.  He did root when stroking his
cheek.   He was not really  latching at discharge at 3 days.  My daughter pumped and we did suck training
,used an eye dropper while she positioned his tongue.    He would have nothing to do with the SNS but
would work with a flat eye dropper!    We did full body massages to calm him down, (he had been assaulted
as far as his loving grandmother is concerned)  did facial and gum massages, marsupialed him for ever, and
swaddled him for over 3 weeks.   It was incredibly, awfully hard.   I am extrememly proud of this mom, there
were tons of tears...then and when the dr office got his billi mixed up with another baby and he ended up in
the hospital for a day and a night with a 13 at 1 week! aaarrrggghhh.   The outcome is a baby who finally
nursed well but has this drooling thing going on.  He is now 3.   He still nurses but my daughter has a new
baby and she says that he nurses so differently than Jeff (3).  Holden's birth was vag and she did have an
epidural for 1 1/2 hours.   Again, he was wisked away and did not see mom until he was 2 hours old.
Weird.  This is in a hospital that does have a LC and once had a milk bank!  You can imagine how they keep
that LC hopping!   Best of luck with your mom and baby...my daughter said that she would do it again if
necessary.   It was soooo hard but it worked finally and she is soooo happy that she perservered especially
when she soooo ready to chuck it all at times.  They are trying to locate a therapist.  Her ped had been telling
her that she had to wait until he was three, when she finally was given the number for the early on program,
they said that the insurrance covers UNTIL age three )-: !   Thank you for all your help, will keep you
posted.  The OT is still saying it was the epidural...the c-was rough though, we reviewed the film last week!
~ Mary Shine



>Date:    Sun, 24 Jan 1999 14:37:48 EST
>From:    Nikki Lee <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Rant
>
>Dear Folks:
>  I am seeing a baby tomorrow. He is three days old. Mom went into spontaneous
>labor, received epidural and pitocin, baby was posterior and delivered via
>vacuum (failed several attempts) and then forceps. Baby won't suck. Was
>discharged yesterday.
>  Now (this is the rant part) how can a major medical center discharge a baby
>who has documented feeding difficulties? Who can't do the basic survival
>activity of the newborn? How can the pediatric department, knowing that this
>boy can't feed well, make the first follow-up appointment in TWO WEEKS. (you
>bet I'm shouting!)
>   This baby boy has been so hurt by the delivery and by the "screw the light
>bulb in" technique of breastfeeding help that he can not do skin-to-skin care
>without getting upset. Fortunately, he was not circumcised and I have asked
>the parents to consider postponing the bris until he is breastfeeding well. I
>will be starting cranio-sacral treatments tomorrow as well as all the basic
>reattachment techniques of remedial co-bathing, co-sleeping, double pumping to
>get him off breastmilk substitutes and onto mother's best. What a mess for
>this family. I'll keep you posted. Warmly, Nikki
>
>------------------------------S