Lydia posted on this topic and asked for responses.

I have never heard of this condition, but it sounds frightening.
Lydia reminds us that this is a third-hand account, and there may be
inaccuracies at each juncture.  There may also be untruths or distortions of
fact, resulting from misinformation given by others to the mother, or
misinformation given by her to others in her peer group.  This could in each
case be willful or accidental, and for our purposes it doesn't much matter.

Still, it sounds very unusual that a baby close to fatal shock from terminal
kidney failure would have no signs of anything amiss until it suddenly dies.
Thus, I am assuming that the analysis of the mother's milk was done after
the fact, if the baby indeed had no problems which would have spurred an
investigation beforehand.

In the WHO booklet on mastitis published this year  (WHO/FCH/CAH/00.13:
Mastitis- Causes and management), it is stated that an increased
sodium-potassium ratio in milk has been observed when the number of
breastfeeds has been decreased, so that milk production falls below 400 ml
per day (Neville MC, Allen JC, Archer PC et al. Studies in human lactation:
milk volume and nutrient composition during weaning and lactogenesis.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1991, 54:81-92).  This is described
in a section on sub-clinical mastitis, defined as a condition diagnosed on
the basis of milk with increased sodium content and an increased
concentration of interleukin-8, a substance produced by the body, associated
with inflammatory response.
    And of course sodium content increases with acute clinical mastitis,
which a mother who abruptly stops breastfeeding such a young baby is at
higher risk for.  So by the time her milk was analysed, the sodium content
was likely, for several reasons, to have been significantly higher than it
was when the baby was drinking it.

There is obviously much we don't know about this case. I can not claim that
the mother's account, as related in Lydia's post, is untrue.  I do think we
should remember, when hearing hoofbeats in Texas, that zebras are the least
likely source.

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway
prepared to see stripes but equally prepared to see horses of any other
color too
fourth straight sunny day!

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