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Subject:
From:
Jenny Morris <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 2 Sep 2002 20:54:31 -0400
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Hello friends,
After all the 'heavy' legal stuff, thought I'd pass along a glimpse of my
weekend.  Hubby, 3 kids and I went to visit his mom who lives about 90
minutes away in a very rural area.  I knew there would be collie pups there
who are about a month old---born the day my father-in-law died, which is a
whole 'nother email.  But anyway, when I got there I noticed that the
smallest of the 10 puppies was not very active; would stand, but could
barely walk.  The next morning she looked even worse.  My sis-in-law, who
is a dentist was there, and another sis-in-law who is a home-health nurse
was visiting, too.  We called the vet, who instructed us to feed by bottle
this recipe:  1cup of whole milk mixed with 1 egg yolk and 1 tablespoon of
corn syrup.  We were to feed 3 ounces every 3 hours.  I insisted there was
no way this puppy was strong enough to bottle-feed, so the dentist went to
her office and brought back a bunch of periodontal syringes.  The nurse fed
one 10cc syringe of the "formula", which the pup vomited about 30 minutes
later.  I figured it was probably too much for her little dehydrated system
to handle, and they agreed that maybe we should try rehydrating with
glucose water before attempting any more milk feeds.  My thinking was that
when the pup was strong enough to stand, we'd isolate her and the momma dog
so they could be alone.  The momma dog would stop by where we were sitting
periodically to lick the pup all over, then run away.  The pup did regain
some strength, we tried milk feeds a few more times, but then she began
having black bowel movements, which I vaguely remembered reading somewhere
on Lactnet could be due to intestinal parasites.
And so to make this BF-related, the sister-in-law who had planned to adopt
this pup arrived later in the day.  She was distraught as we told her all
that had happened.  Then the most amazing thing happened.  This sister-in-
law, who had been a staunch bottle-feeder with her children, took the pup
to her momma, and tried in vain to get the pup to latch on.  After a few
minutes of trying, her 14 year-old daughter came by and asked her mom why
she was doing that.  My jaw was probably on the floor as this sis-in-law
replied, "It's really better if the puppy gets the milk from her momma;
it'll help her fight off the germs causing this."  I was shocked!  Maybe
she DID learn something!  Maybe there's hope that her own daughter will
breastfeed one of these days.
Anyway, after several more vomits, and more dark stools, we took the pup to
the vet who felt sure that probably the root of the problem was hookworm.
We left the pup there to be treated overnight, but, unfortunately, it was
all too little, too late.  The tiny pup died less than 24 hours later.
The other thing that happened was that I took some copies of LLLI's press
release about a free book for moms who delivered on Labor Day (9-02-02) to
our local hospital OB unit.  The nurse I handed it to barely looked up and
said "Oh,yeah, I've heard about this free case of formula you're giving
away."  Oh brother!  I made sure she knew that I wasn't the formula rep
before I left!
With a weekend like this, I can't wait to go back to work tomorrow!
Thanks for listening.
Jenny Morris, in Charleston, WV

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