Hi all,
I am just devastated over a client who just lost her baby girl. The Mother
delivered C-section 5 weeks ago at our hospital and the breastfeeding got
off to a poor start but they were diligent. The parents had attended my
childbirth and breastfeeding classes taking notes and asking lots of
questions. They actually live near me so I made a home visit and assessed
the feeding. The baby nursed beautifully while I was there but mom stated
that she would only latch once or twice a day and they were finger feeding
and sns the rest of the time. Mom's milk supply never got well established
so she tried fenugreek and I had also give her the info about the
domperidone. The Ped. was worried about her slow weight gain so she would
nurse first and then feed formula after. I did have her stop using the
finger feeding because I thought that was wasting too much energy and felt
she needed calories more than anything at that point. Mom was going to
continue pumping and give her all ebm as well as put her to breast each
feeding with no pressure to nurse. I kept in contact on phone and stopped by
quickly after work 9 days ago and the baby was still in the pattern of
nursing once or twice a day but refusing the rest of the time. She had a
rash over most of her body but I attributed it to formula allergies which
made the mom and I more determined to get her supply back up so the baby
could be exclusively breastfed. She called me Thurs. and said they'd been in
the hospital all week having tests and the baby was having surgery Friday.
The dx was biliary atresia. Three days after I saw her, the baby turned
totally yellow. The mom had wanted me to talk with her OB about the
domperidone so she could get her supply up after the surgery. Anyway, the
baby had surgery yesterday but coded last night and died this morning. I
truly am devastated. How could we have missed it. I know it doesn't show up
till 4-5 weeks but I am just in shock. I really thought if we could just get
her back on exclusive breastmilk everything would be ok. This is about the
saddest thing I've ever experienced and I am at a loss here. I will go over
tomorrow and it will be one of the hardest things I ever have to do! Tonight
I just needed to vent. Please hold your children a little bit closer tonight
and say a prayer for this family. This was such a precious, beautiful little
girl!
Kym Dunton, RN, IBCLC

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