Hi everyone,

I’m working with a mom who has a newborn in her care, at present she is the
foster mother, but she will in time be her adoptive mother; the adoption is
in the works for this new baby and her toddler sibling.  She has also been
caring for the toddler and breastfeeding her.  One social worker told her
she could not breastfeed the baby, another one said yes but just don’t tell
the other.  I’ve done some searching on Lactnet about adoptive breastfeeding
laws and in my LLL answer book, but no where can I find that it is illegal
to breastfeed a foster child.  This baby is having some latch issues and my
initial thought was maybe some cranio-sacral therapy could help, but mom
said she’d have to be careful because she is afraid of the doctor finding
out.  So legally speaking can DHS remove this baby from her care for
breastfeeding?  Has this happened before? In talking more with the the
foster mom she states that the state removed the newborn and that there will
be no chance of reconciliation.

About the feeding problems:  The babe is not latching well and birth mom had
a difficult delivery.  What happens at the breast is babe moves around head
as if she can’t find the nipple and when she does latch only stays on for
about 5 minutes.  Babe is biting and also has trouble keeping her tongue
down for feedings.  Mom is using a SNS where she receives about 2 oz’s of
Isomil along with breastmilk. She does have a supply but mom states her
supply fluctuates quite a bit, shes also been nursing the older sibling who
is a little over 12 months of age.  Mom says its taking a long time to get
her fed, but that baby hasn’t been crying or fussy at the breast.  I
suggested doing some finger suck training before feeds to help with the
tongue going to the roof of her mouth.  We also discussed trying a nipple
shield since baby received bottles first 2 days of life and shield could
help with the transition back to breast.  And then I did mention
cranio-sacral therapy for helping with biting issues.

Thank you for any help.

Sheena Carnes
RN, LLL Leader
Tripoli, IA



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