Hi All,
My best friend had her twins today - one at home the other at the hosp
because baby 2 got stuck.  Poor thing pushed for 4 hours before they
transported her.  But that is another story...
Anyway, baby 2 is having breathing problems and is in the ICU.  Mom and Dad
were told that the baby would be fed ABM by bottle since he was little and
probably had a blood sugar problem.  :/  Mom said absolutly NOT.  No cows
milk ABM (family history of severe dairy allergies) and NO bottle.  If baby
must be fed ABM then it must be Nutramigen and by SNS via finger feeding or
by gavage.  So baby was fed cow's milk based ABM by gavage.   Yes, you  read
right.  I discovered this when I went to see the baby by myself.  I reminded
them that they were specifically told NOT to give the dairy ABM becasue of
the family history and gave details about the problems the family has.  The
Ped says "Well, 2/3 oz won't do anything anyway.  We'll just give him the
Nutramigen next time."  I BIT my tongue - no kidding.  I suggested that they
get her the pump she had been asking for for 3 hours so she could pump and
then they could give him her colostrum.  "Oh, that would work too, I guess.
But wouldn't it be easier to just give him the formula and try the BF
later?"  Again I BIT my tongue. Very nicely - "NO, she wants to BF or at
least give him EBM."
So we go to my friend and she reiterates the NO cow's milk based ABM.  The
Ped says, yeah we'll give him the nutramigen, it is less allergenic than
breastmilk anyway.  &#^$%$#&^#*  MORE tongue biting.  FInally, we were able
to go use a breast pump (they have all of 2 in this major hosp)  she got 1/2
oz.  yeah!
Hopefully they will get her at the 1:30am feeding rather than put more of
that stuff down his throat.
Oh, did you know that moms body is unable to keep baby's body temp stable
when they are a bit early and having a hard time regulating his temp???
And,A baby who has been stressed at birth will ALWAYS drop his blood sugar
and require ABM because colostrum just won't take care of that blood sugar
level.  #&$^&#*#($#  More tongue biting.

My tongue is literally sore from all the things I wanted to say, but
couldn't.  If it had been my baby, I'd have been arguing points with them at
every turn (I am a bit of a snot that way...), but my friend was exhausted,
and was doing her best to be firm with them, she actually did a great job,
being VERY clear about what she would and would not accept.

Well, just thought I'd vent a bit and let you know what we have to deal with
here...I know it isn't that big a deal, but this inaccurate dispersal of
information realy pisses me off.  No mincing words here.

'Tis late and I need to get up early to go back to the hosp to see her and
the babies and help with the BF.  Hopefully we can get baby 1 (the one who
is fine) to finally get in a good BF - only had one so far, while mom was
trying to push out baby 2 - and hopefully baby 2 will be able to try to BF
without having to labor at breathing.

Thanks for the collective "ear".

Jay

Jay Simpson, CLE
Sacramento, California, West Coast, USA
"No Miracles performed here, just a lot of love and hard work."