I have just finished talking on the phone with a mother who hired a
breast pump because of a small preterm baby.  The mother has been pumping
and dumping for ten weeks because she had staphyloccocus bacteria in her
breastmilk.  If I had known about the pumping and dumping I would have
been on to Lactnet sooner because I can't believe that was necessary, but
now the baby has come home.  The baby is now almost 5 pounds.  The doctor
has told her she shouldn't breastfeed because she still needs to take
antibiotics for the staph, she hasn't breastfed for ten weeks so it is
too late to help the baby's immune system and it is too difficult and
expensive for her to continue pumping. He doesn't want to have to
continue giving antibiotics to the baby because he has caught an
infection from the mother. She has been changed to erythromycin as the
flucoxacillan (?spelling) doesn't seem to have worked.  This is a fifth
baby and she breastfed all the others.  Breastfeeding is an important
part of her mothering experience.  She was devastated by the doctor's
remarks, so I was franker than I might have otherwise been.  (We shared
opinions about male doctors and female health professionals who had never
had children or breastfed.  Sorry to all the wonderful professionals on
Lactnet!)  I told her that staph is a bacteria that is common and the
best was to protect the baby was to get antibodies from breastmilk, that
staph often lives in the nose so she could give it to the baby by
sneezing if it was going to be a problem.  I told her I could only talk
in general terms as I'm not medically qualified, but there was nothing
that would normally exclude breastfeeding.  The known risk of artificial
feeding probably far outweighed any theoretical risk of breastfeeding,
but if there were specific medical reasons why this baby shouldn't be
breastfed than the doctor should be able to explain it to her
satisfaction.

My view is that if the baby is well enough to come home then the baby is
well enough to breastfeed.  Is there any reason to change that view?
Thanks for being a safe forum to express my rage, though if you confirm
my feeling that it was unnecessary to pump and dump for ten weeks I'm not
sure I'll be able to contain myself.

Jill Dye
La Leche League leader, Great Britain