Last night on "Trauma: Life in the ER" there was a mother who came into the
ER half-delivered of a 29-week footling breech baby boy.  The mother visited
the baby in NICU several times, then disappeared for a week.  Both mother
and baby tested positive for cocaine, and there was much discussion about
whether the mother would be *allowed* to keep the baby.  It ended with the
mother agreeing to go into a rehab program so that she could at least
perhaps get to keep her baby, who was going to be in the NICU for a long
time.  This is the sort of "choice" we give drug-abusing mothers in the US.
I'm not saying it's right or wrong, I'm just still trying to figure out a
good way to express why/how this is different from the choices we give
mothers about how to feed their babies.  By the way, no one mentioned to
this mother that she might want to express breast milk for her baby, either
before or after she tested positive for cocaine.

Imagine if a mother said "I'm not planning to breastfeed my baby" and the
hospital said "Well, fine, but in that case you will lose custody, and the
baby will be given to a mother willing to induce lactation."  Ha!

Also, on "Birth Story" on Monday, I saw just the end of an episode where a
woman was adopting a newborn and it showed the adoptive mother nursing with
an SNS, and she very casually explained how it worked and that she probably
wouldn't be able to develop a full milk supply, but that she was already
making some milk for the baby.  It was cool.  Although later the baby was
shown getting a bottle.

It's spring break here, and I'm home with the boys, which is why I'm
watching so much TV!!

Kathy Dettwyler