HI,
I am not sure what we are supposed to do with this. Reading this would
leave you with several conclusions, the most obvious one being that
breastfeeding puts your child at risk for rickets. I would not want to be
posting this all over the place with out some breastfeeding friendly
suggestions to go with it.
I'm interested in what others think of this (besides how unspeakably awful
it is to both the baby and parents that they have been seperated)
Thanks,
Chayn IBCLC in Israel
On Sat, Jun 13, 2009 at 8:50 PM, cillakat <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> The 300 line limit prevents successful distribution of the 487 line
> article.
> The full text can be found at the link below. Per request of the Vitamin
> D Council, please post on bulletin boards, forward and reproduce with
> abandon and be sure to include the link.
>
>
>
>
> http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/newsletter/child-abuse-or-vitamin-d-deficiency-rickets.shtml
>
> The Vitamin D Newsletter
>
>
> Child Abuse or Rickets
> June 13, 2009
>
> This is a periodic newsletter from the Vitamin D Council, a non-profit
> trying to end the epidemic of vitamin D deficiency. If you are not
> subscribed, you can do so on the
> website<http://list.netatlantic.com/t/45994349/77824903/112685/0/>. If
> you want to unsubscribe, go to the end of this newsletter.
>
> This newsletter is not copyrighted. Please reproduce it, post it on
> Internet
> sites, and forward it to your friends and family. Dana Clark, our underpaid
> but superb webmaster, will post this newsletter on the
> website.<http://list.netatlantic.com/t/45994349/77824903/112686/0/>
>
> "By the streams of Babylon we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion."
> (Psalms 137:1)
>
> *Dear Dr. Cannell:*
>
> I am writing to ask your help because I think my problem has something to
> do
> with Vitamin D. Six months ago, Marissa, who is now one-year-old, developed
> a painless bump on her arm. I watch her closely; I know she did not fall;
> she was only six months at the time. In the emergency room they found a
> broken bone in her arm and then x-rayed her entire body and found two more
> broken bones, but these other two places were not swollen and Marissa did
> not cry when the doctor pushed on the area.
>
> Well, a child abuse expert was called in and we were accused of abuse and
> they took our baby away, saying we had beaten her. I can’t forget Marissa
> screaming when they tore her out of my arms. We were shocked. We could
> never
> do such a thing. Even though they could not find any evidence of abuse
> except these broken bones, the DA tells me if I don’t plead guilty and
> testify against my husband and say he did it, I will be prosecuted as well
> and never see my baby again. Our lawyer says I can be forced to testify
> against my husband in child abuse but he would never hurt Marissa. I don’t
> know what to do. My husband is ready to plead guilty to save our baby from
> foster care but I don’t think I can let him do that.
>
> I have learned of other African American parents in the same
> situation. Neither of us would ever abuse our child, it took seven years of
> trying and then infertility treatment to have her. The reason I am writing
> is because I have read about cases of rickets where unexplained fractures
> are common, especially in African Americans like us, that are being called
> child abuse. I breast fed Marissa but I now know that breast milk doesn’t
> have enough Vitamin D. We should have given it to her but our pediatrician
> never said anything about it and La Leche league says breast milk is all
> infants need.
>
> When we learned Vitamin D may be involved, I asked my doctor to test me and
> my level was 5 at first. He prescribed Drisdol and now it is 18 after
> taking
> 50,000 IU per week for two months. When our lawyer brought up rickets and
> Vitamin D deficiency the DA had Marissa x-rayed for rickets and tested for
> Vitamin D; her x-rays were normal and her blood level is now 21, but the
> child abuse doctors never tested her for Vitamin D when they first took her
> away from us and she had been on 400 IU formula in foster care for five
> months when they finally tested her.
>
> We had another radiologist look at the original x-rays and compare them to
> her current ones. He said it looked like rickets and he said her bones look
> much better now at the growth areas. However, when he found out it was a
> child abuse case he said he would not get involved.
>
> From your website, I learned breast-feeding mothers have to take 6,000 IU a
> day to get enough Vitamin D in breast milk. Marissa never went in the sun;
> our pediatrician said babies should never go in the sun. I don’t know what
> to do. I know you used to testify in child abuse cases, will you help us?
> We
> can pay.
>
> Kathryn
>
> Boston, MA
>
> *Dear Kathryn:*
>
> No, I won’t testify. The American legal system, when it comes to child
> abuse
> allegations, is no Zion. My years testifying in child abuse allegations
> involved the “memory
> wars<http://list.netatlantic.com/t/45994349/77824903/112687/0/>,”
> and those wars are over, won by plaintiff attorneys suing psychiatrists,
> often with the help of my testimony. However, I will put you in touch with
> a
> pediatric radiologist who may be able to help.
>
> My interest in child abuse cases started with the McMartin preschool
> case<http://list.netatlantic.com/t/45994349/77824903/112688/0/>.
> (I immediately thought the McMartins and Buckeys all totally innocent as I
> recognized the most fatal of the psychiatric disorders, hysteria, in those
> prosecuting them. I still remember Ray Buckey looking into the camera, with
> panic-stricken media all around him, saying, “This could happen to you.”)
> My
> involvement in such cases ended with the Archdiocese of Boston
> case<http://list.netatlantic.com/t/45994349/77824903/112689/0/>
> . (I thought the priest I was hired to defend guilty.)
>
> My cases centered on recovered memory therapy, especially multiple
> personality disorder (MPD), a now discarded and discredited psychiatric
> diagnosis that destroyed thousands of innocent American families. Of note,
> during my 15 years of work in the field, every MPD patient I saw had
> excellent mental health insurance coverage. That is, the absence of mental
> health insurance apparently protects one from contracting multiple
> personality disorder.
>
> Cannell J, Hudson JI, Pope HG Jr. Standards for informed consent in
> recovered memory therapy. J Am Acad Psychiatry Law.
> 2001;29(2):138-47.<
> http://list.netatlantic.com/t/45994349/77824903/112690/0/>
>
> The issues you raise about Vitamin D deficiency being misdiagnosed as child
> physical abuse are so common they were recently the topic of four papers in
> *Pediatric Radiology*. First, Drs. Kathy Keller and Patrick Barnes, both
> pediatric radiologists, published four cases reports. The course of each
> child was similar. Concerned parents took their child to the doctor for leg
> bumps, well baby checks, or even the flu. X-rays showed multiple skeletal
> fractures that were asymptomatic. No mention of bruises, skin abrasions,
> retinal hemorrhages, parental drug abuse, parental sociopathy, nor evidence
> the child was frightened of their parents. The children had been seen
> previously by physicians, nurses, lactation consultants, day-care workers,
> audiologists, family and friends with no suspicions of abuse. Such parents
> often have a reputation of being the most protective and concerned parents
> on the block. Drs. Keller and Barnes thought all four children had rickets.
>
> Keller KA, Barnes PD. Rickets vs. abuse: a national and international
> epidemic. Pediatr Radiol. 2008
> Nov;38(11):1210-6.<
> http://list.netatlantic.com/t/45994349/77824903/112691/0/>
>
> The key here is the history as much as x-rays. These are often black
> children, living above latitude 35 degrees, usually breastfeeding without
> Vitamin D supplementation, often born in the late winter or early
> spring. The key on exam is that the fractures are painless, unlike
> traumatic
> fractures, and there are no bruises. A common finding in the neonatal
> medical record is craniotabes, or softening of the skull. About 20% of
> “normal” newborns have soft bones as evidence by craniotabes; of course
> these newborns are not normal, they are simply the newest additions to the
> Vitamin D deficiency pandemic.
>
> Yorifuji J, et al. Craniotabes in normal newborns: the earliest sign of
> subclinical vitamin D deficiency. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008
> May;93(5):1784-8.<
> http://list.netatlantic.com/t/45994349/77824903/112041/0/>
>
> Unfortunately, as 25(OH)D levels are not routinely measured on American
> newborns, we do not recognize the multitude of afflicted infants, and the
> infants seldom get Vitamin D, unless they are on formula. Even if they are
> on formula, 12 months later they are weaned on the empty calories of
> “natural fruit juice,” instead of “evil cow’s milk,” so the deficiency is
> just delayed by the Vitamin D formula, not prevented. That is why so many
> cases of autism present around 12-18 months; it is not the presence of
> vaccinations but the disappearance of Vitamin D; the two just happen to
> co-occur.
>
> Kathryn, as far as your pediatrician telling you babies should never go in
> the sun, he is just following the guidelines of the American Academy of
> Pediatrics (AAP). In 1999, the AAP advised mothers to always keep infants
> out of direct sunlight, use sun protective clothes, sunblock, and make sure
> children’s activities in general minimize sunlight exposure. Furthermore,
> quite inexplicably, the AAP scientists claimed there was “no evidence” such
> an unprecedented and radical bit of advice would affect vitamin D levels.
> (p. 330)
>
> ***********************************************
>
> Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
> To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
> Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
> COMMANDS:
> 1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set
> lactnet nomail
> 2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
> 3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
> 4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome
>
***********************************************
Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome
|
