H*ll-bent Georgia is so right about Down's being on a real continuum. I've
helped three moms and babies in this situation...One of them said I was the
first health professional who looked at the baby, not the diagnosis. So I
think that always has to come first no matter what the situation!

All three of these babies had low oral tone. The first one I worked with,
mom and dad were experienced at breastfeeding. She nursed and pumped, and
they finger fed expressed milk as supplement. Dad told me on my 2nd visit
(5th day of life) that he could tell R's suck was improving. By two weeks
she was a happy breastfed baby who only fed at breast and gained well. She
is a young teen now who is a great singer and contradancer.

Baby two was fingerfed with mom's own for 3 months, put to breast for
comfort. Mom was back to work at 6 weeks and Dad fed babe. This little cutie
finally did go to breast and I can't remember whether she got bottles when
mom was at work. She is a favorite front-page picture gal for The
Brattleboro Reformer, and I'm sure I'm the only person who looks at her and
says, "Look at that great breastfed bone structure! I helped with that
smile!"  I remember that the thing I helped with most with this baby was to
say, "I don't know what will happen - let's try and see."

I also introduced her to the 3rd mom I've helped, a personal friend. J's
oral tone was good enough (and mom's supply sufficient with this Baby #4)
that he was mostly at breast with some supplementation.

J needed a good deal of cardiac surgery early on. Breastfeeding was good for
cuddling and loving as well as the best nutrition.

All three of these little ones nurses well over two years.

Dawn Kersula
in Southern Vermont
Where the world is red, orange and gold in the fog

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

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(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html