I saw a brief piece on CNN the other night about babies born during the war
there; they said that 60 babies had been born in Tirana (sp.??)since the
NATO action started , and that about 10 of them were premature, which the
doctor they were interviewing said was about double the average rate of
preemies for that time period. They talked about breastfeeding (and NOT
about ABM!), saying that virtually all of the babies now being born,(and
some older babies whose moms had recently stopped nursing as well), were
being breastfed, but that some of the mothers were finding that their milk
was "drying up because of the stress". They also said that other mothers
were helping out by providing BREASTMILK! I was so pleased to hear this,
said very matter-of-factly, instead of the pitch for formula donations that
I feared would follow. The piece emphasized that these babies born under
such stressful conditions were remarkably healthy. They had an interview
with a mom (terribly pale and exhausted and of course tearful) who had given
birth between villages, while fleeing from one to another, and then when she
got to the place they were going no one could help her because they too were
evacuating. She had had "some complications" - looked to me like she must
have bled a great deal. But the 6-day old baby was beautiful and perfect and
healthy and strong. Cute too!

Cathy Bargar, RN, IBCLC Ithaca NY

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