Chrysta,

I know there are several pediatricians who do prescribe differently depending on the feeding choice.  My ped in Kansas said that breastmilk was considered a clear fluid and to continue feeding her.  She was 18 months at the time and all she could keep down was human milk whether from a bottle or breast.  She also had severe diarrhea.  I worked full time and so my family fed her when I was away.  I was able to call in sick when she got worse.  She became very lethargic over that week (I am sure it was to conserve calories).  The doctor told me to meet him in the ER and that they would draw lab work to see how her electrolytes and CO2 were doing.  Well her lab work came back very good and he said normally he would have to admit a child who was this ill for this long.  But probably because of being breastfed she did not need to be admitted and to keep doing what we were doing and ride it out.  She was better over the next two days and did not lose any noticable weight.  This was 10
 years ago.

The same thing happened when she was 6-7 months old.  She came down with bronchiolitis and had a hard time.  The doctor (a different ped in the same practice) said he normally would admit a baby that sounded like my daughter.  But she was exclusively breastfed ( I worked part time) but that he felt comfortable watching her as an outpatient.  She was better over the next 4 days.  She never stopped nursing and so received plenty of nourishment.  And I guess breastmilk is not as "clogging" to the passages for phlegm etc.  I dont think I started her on complimentary foods or solids until she was 8-9 months old.  There was also an allergist nearby who made known that exclusive breastmilk was best for the first 8-9 months.   So the bar had been raised higher and although this was my 3rd child I had to try. (The first 2 were exclusively breastfed for 6-7 months)

I know I was really lucky to have these 2 peds.  1 of them went on to promoting breastfeeding exclusively and became a member of our breastfeeding coalition.  He also valued breastmilk enough to support his wife in lactating for an adoptive baby.  I remember him saying that he prefers to take care of breastfed babies because of their health and the parenting that comes with it.

Interesting....
Theresa Johnson
Orlando Florida

Sheldon Farberman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
i'll be brief, i love reading but i have always found it difficult to get
my thoughts on paper. hope i'm clear. i was wondering if anyone here has
had these thoughts and where they went with them...

i'm really struggling with wanting people to "make the connection" between
increased risk and not breastfeeding.

why isn't caring for a formula raised child or adult a different branch of
medecine?
could medecine be practised differently? could you try a natural remedy for
an ear infection or wait a day (not until perforation of course) when the
child is bf versus formula fed? what about gastro? they usually say no
milk - just give pedialyte or gatorade this much this often. do they give
bf infants different advice? do dr's look for certain ailments in formula
fed adults bc of the researched risks? the body's response to infection,
disease etc - on a cellular level - are their differences? if there are
risks of not breastfeeding then their must be. why aren't these differences
taken seriously?

if you visit the paeds floor and look at the pt board and then at ages and
dx, do you wonder about how they are or were fed and then make a connection?
do the other nurses or physicians ponder these things?
could we ask, look in the chart and talk about it?
ie someone tells you they were just diagnosed with MS, or high blood
pressure, or diabetes or some auto-immune disease etc. after other
appropriate conversation, could you throw out the "do you know if you were
breastfed" question?
do you think this is appropriate? helpful? - to them i mean in terms of
making a connection and planting bf seeds in them and people in their lives?
of course, intent would not be to frighten anyone, just to casually make a
connection....

wish i studied marketing. must read the book recommended not long ago by
janice.

chrysta in toronto

***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html