Dear Debbie,
I wonder often about the prenatal nutrition of many of these mothers.
Often the goal prenatally with mothers is not to gain too much weight,
neglecting the baby's need for protein, omega 3s, and important vitamins
and minerals. Birth and breastfeeding is not the beginning of nutrition
for our newborns. The foundation is already laid.
A few years ago, I was told of a young breastfeeding child that was
admitted, deathly ill, to the hospital with botulism. The pediatrician
repeatedly stated the only children he had ever seen with botulism were
breastfed children. Of course, the staff felt the mother should not
continue to breastfeed because "of the danger in her milk." The
pediatrician then clarified, the only reason he saw only breastfeeding
children with botulism was because the others died and only in autopsy were
they discovered to have had botulism.
I suppose I always think of and fear "what could have been" and praise the
mother for her choice to breastfeed. I agree, breastmilk is God's perfect
food, yet we often miss all the intended blessings through our own efforts
(lack of sunlight, environmental toxins, prenatal nutrition, smoking, ect.).
Penny Lane RN, BA, IBCLC
Maternal & Child Health: Lactation Consulting
Believe - Assisting Families through Birth & Breastfeeding
> [Original Message]
> From: <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: 1/27/2004 5:10:03 PM
> Subject: The Breastmilk as "Magic Fairy Dust" issue
>
> To a great degree I agree with and to a reasonable degree understand, both
> Valerie's and Nikki's point of views.
>
> What Valerie writes and cites and has documentation for is fabulous, and
> should be broadcast worldwide,........
>
> But, in the forms and amounts Valerie has been exposed to and taken the
> initiative to investigate and study, and to the degree and depth that she
> understands, this knowledge is still mostly unknown to the public, I
continue to work
> on grasping the full scope and implications of it, ....So that may be
problem
> #1 and a problem that her book could remedy.
>
> I also feel I currently live in Nikki's world, or what I think may be
Nikki's
> world, ...ie;out there with those occasional moms who swear on
*exclusive* BF
> and still have sick babies/children, ...ie; a nurse who relates that her
1st
> exclusively baby was never ill, until first ear infection at a few years
old,
> ...her second reportedly exclusively BF baby hospitalized with serious
> infections more than once, first time at 7 weeks of age, one of those was
reportedly
> septicemia, ....same story with third reportedly exclusively BF baby, moms
> states firmly nothing but breastmilk for many months and still during
that period
> had these sick hospitalized BF babies and how this she found very
upsetting
> and disappointing,.... and surprising.
>
> For these moms who then demand an explaination from me on how this can
> happen, I cite the statistics and how statistics are statistics, and
based on
> statistics how much less ill there babies were due to BF, ........and
what other
> variables could be at play.
>
> I do believe that breastmilk is magic fairy dust but it does not work
100% on
> everyone all the time, but vastly most everyone vastly most of the time.
>
> Valerie, what do you think is the best response for LCs to give these
moms?
>
> Debbie Tobin
> RN BSN IBCLC LCCE
> LCAGW Co-VP
> Springfield, Virginia USA
> In the Fairfax County suburbs outside the Washington DC beltway
>
> www.BestBreastfeeding.Info
>
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