Here is my (unsatisfying) update on the baby I wrote about earlier. He was 19 days old, and struggled to breathe *only* while at the breast suckling. Several excellent suggestions were made; many from Lactnetters: check for submucosal cleft, velopharyngeal insufficiency, tracheomalacia, choanal atresia, narrow nasal passages. I sent two different reports to the pediatrician's office, a total of four *detailed* pages, politely but firmly asking that a referral to a pediatric ENT be made so that someone can stick a tube or a light up this kid's nose and find out what is happening. Mom and Babe were seen in the office twice, by two different pediatricians. No #1 had my first report; #2 had both reports. #2 is considered very BF-friendly; #2 was seen by Yours Truly at the hospital, when she was a lactating mother of her own newborn (now about 2 years old.. Sounds good right? But both docs tell Mom: since baby can drink from a bottle or nipple-shielded-breast, there is no need to refer to a pediatric ENT. But here is the part that just floors me. While the baby was in the office for the second visit, he just-so-happened to vomit up some yellow bile. SO: they send the family off to the local emergency room. The baby (now about 26 days old) is "slightly dehydrated" so they give him intravenous fluids (an agonizing experience), and all sorts of GI tests and probes. Baby is fine. He apparently, um, just threw up. Mom and Dad are a wreck, having watched their son go through these procedures. Apparently throwing up gives you a Free Pass to specialist''s care .... but an IBCLC, who sends four pages of evidence-based-and-cited material, to a pediatric office that historically is BF friendly, describing a baby who CANNOT BREATHE PROPERLY while doing one of nature's most basic survival skills, is blown off. The mother, for whom going *back* to the pediatrician's office to further debate this issue was a major (personal) milestone, is blown off. This poor baby, who no doubt wanted to nurse after having been stuck and poked at the ER, couldn't even have the satisfaction of a nice, long, unstressful, cozy, soothing breastfeeding, is even blown off. Sheesh. Liz Brooks, JD, IBCLC Wyndmoor, PA, USA *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html