A colleague of mine had a very unusual bfing problem, and we are both
curious to know if anyone on Lactnet has heard of this. After a normal
pregnancy and labour, her newborn lost 27oz. by 6 days postpartum, although
mom was nursing often.  She had been drinking large amounts of water since
6th month of pregnancy, approx. 20 cups/day, and this increased due to
intense thirst to 30-40 cups/day postpartum.  The babies blood had excessive
salt levels and breastmilk had 55mmol sodium per litre (normal is 7 to
9mmol). Baby was carefully rehydrated and mom pumped breastmilk until the
salt levels became normal.  She continued to breastfeed, although she
experienced a repeating 9 day "boom or bust" cycle from excessive production
to barely enough. This cycle lengthened to 11, 14, 20 etc. days until around
4 mos where milk production seemed to stabilize.  Her thirst declined
slowly, but not completely until weaning at 2 years.

A local endocrinologist suggested that her pituitary gland, enlarged with
oxytocin and prolactin activity, "squished" the posterior pituitary,
preventing the anti-diuretic(vasopressin) from working adequately. This
caused a salt build-up which resulted in the excessive thirst. An article in
the May/June 1991 Contemporary Pediatrics entitled Pediatric Puzzler - The
Salt of Life, discusses similar cases but offers no explanations.

Has anyone heard of this condition? Thanks

Aida Puim