Stacy,

How upsetting this must be for you to be a part of this sad infant death;
hopefully, your hospital will provide some venue of grief work for all staff
involved.  Rather than blame breastfeeding, could not the parents be reassured,
that horrific as this is for them, that at least their baby had the pleasure of
breastfeeding and closeness to mom before leaving this world.  I would think
that helping mom, especially, to treasure that brief attachment to her baby
could aid in her healing.

A long while ago, I worked with a mom through LLL whose infant of several
weeks died suddenly while breastfeeding and she blamed it on the fact that she'd
been staining her deck and feared the chemicals had contaminated her
breastmilk.  I spoke with a pediatric cardiologist acquaintance who said it was likely
a cardiac defect that hadn't been discovered, based on symptoms at time of
death, and unfortunately that these tragedies sometimes occur.

I know how traumatic it was for me trying to offer solace and reassurance to
this mom just over the phone, so can only imagine what you're going through,
Stacy.  Hopefully, when the shock of this infant death wears off, hospital
staff will be able to realize that altering policy on breastfeeding after birth is
not the answer.

Barbara Latterner, BSN, RN, IBCLC

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