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Subject:
From:
Pamela Morrison IBCLC <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 26 Sep 1998 13:17:57 +0200
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Several years ago over dinner I had the opportunity of hearing the story of
a white family (friends of friends) who had been abducted in Mozambique.
They were missionaries living in Zimbabwe and for some reason had gone to
Mozambique on a short trip.  In the middle of the night the wife, the
husband and their l8 month old baby daughter were attacked by bandits.  I
think there were also another couple of men in the party.  Although no-one
was injured or physically assaulted they were forced to leave the house
where they had been staying and over the next six weeks were forced to walk
600 km up to Malawi where they were eventually released. The wife described
how she had not been allowed to get dressed and so she spent the next six
weeks walking through Mozambique in her nightie and slippers (the slippers
soon fell apart). All of them had badly injured feet by the time the
terrorists let them go, and the wife eventually had to be carried.
FORTUNATELY  the l8 month old baby girl was still breastfeeding. The
captives never had enough to eat and consequently the baby returned to
almost exclusive breastfeeding.  The mother described how her milk supply
seemed to increase to meet the need.  Both the wife and the husband lost
about 25 lb each in weight, but the little girl not only didn't lose weight
- she gained!  The medical staff who looked after them in Malawi were amazed
at how healthy she was!   Around the dinner table this brave lady described
how thankful she had been that she could keep her baby alive through this
ordeal and wondered aloud what the effect on the baby would have been had
she been already weaned.

Pamela Morrison IBCLC, Zimbabwe

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