dear lactnetters,

this came from a midwifery acquaintance.  any help would be greatly appreciated:

<<...had a daughter a couple of months ago and who has been diagnosed
with biliary atresia and needs a liver transplant.  They have told her
she needs
to supplement with formula that has medium chain fats.  If you have any
information about how the body processes the fats in breastmilk or about
medium chain fats I would appreciate any resources.

Of course, I want to know if the mom *really* needs to supplement....
>>

i just found this:
http://www.pidsnz.co.nz/liver/biliary.htm
<<Growth problems: bile is necessary for breaking down fat. If there
is  too little bile flowing from the liver to the gut, your baby will
not be able to digest  the fat in the breast milk or formula. This
will result in poor weight gain. Special feeds  and vitamins A, D, E
and K are given orally to help your child to grow. Sometimes tube 
feeding is required because of the large amount of calories your baby
needs to grow.>>

need more calories b/c those coming in aren't assimilated well, or
just flat out 'more calories' than is typical.   dr's, what about
adding appropriate amounts of lipase and lecithin to help breakdown,
emulsify and abosrb fats and fat soluable vitamins?

thanks much,
katherine in atl

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