Hi Laurie,
Thanks so much for your response and advice. I cringe to think about what
has gone into this baby in the past few weeks. The mother is taking
fenugreek, blessed thistle and drinking mother's milk tea. I told her about
oats, almonds etc.. she is using a tube at breast a few times a day with
donor milk. I mentioned that I wasn't comfortable with unpasterized goat
milk, and she and her husband, were like, but that's the point! Oh and the
almonds are sprouted before she milks them.
Now that her friends are nursing her baby, she is nursing less. Her nipples
are sore despite good positioning and latch - it doesn't hurt her friends to
nurse this baby - and she is suffering from vasospasms after breastfeeds,
though using a heating pad is helping and she is taking vitamin B6
(interestingly enough she was ready to take the nefidrine but the doctor
wouldn't prescibe it). She won't pump either because of pain so I have been
trying to help her find a way to keep her own milk moving.
I have no idea what happened to this woman's milk supply. She is 32 years
old, no history of any red flags. Her breasts hardly grew during pregnancy
of after. She felt her milk come in on day 3 and has been sort of lumpy
since but not full and never engorged. Baby was born at a friends house
after a long labor and 2.5 hours of pushing. He was born 3.02 kilos. He
nursed around the clock every few hours at least and for an hour. His poops
turned lighter on day 3 and then turned dark again. A doctor came on a home
visit to check the baby but didn't weigh her. Said that she was yellow and
left it at that. He came back four days later and said that she is less
yellow. At 3 weeks an "LC" (not IBCLC) came to help mom with painful
feedings and sent her to the doctor for possible thrush. Dr. weighed baby
and she was 3.06 kilos. The next day the mother went to the doctor because
baby had blood in his stool. He weighed 2.90 kilos. Dr. said not to worry
about the stools but to worry about the weight. Mom called me and ofcourse
along with other suggestions, I mentioned that her baby needs to be
supplemented. So here we are. Baby was up to 3.330 Kilos on Thursday. Its
hard to say what's the best supplement after ebm. I mean, formula is not
harmless either. It is what I've always reccomended to people who must
supplement with something other than ebm, though, I guess because people are
ussually ready to use it. So this is really something new for me.
I found this site today claiming that:
"Of course mother milk is the best, no doubt about that. Scientist found
that the "almost" ideal replacement is Almond Milk"
http://rawfoodinfo.com/real%20letters/ltr_infant%20milk.html
Its a raw food site. I imagine the above sentence and the "proofs" that
follow it on the page would be enough for this mother. I told her that I
had learned that the closest milk to mother's was weasle or otter or
something like that which isn't available or kosher even if it was.
Hope you don't mind me sharing this case with you.
Thanks again,
Chayn
----- Original Message -----
From: "laurie wheeler" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 2:53 PM
Subject: almond milk
> Hi Chayn,
> This is a tough situation. And the baby is only 5 weeks and getting so
> many
> foods! First, NO, almond milk is not the best milk for this baby. However,
> from what you've said so far, I don't think the parents will be very
> receptive to convincing them that almond milk is not the best milk. What I
> would try to do is to focus, instead, on the things she *is* doing that
> are
> healthful for the baby. So I would try to bring her attention to
> continuing
> donor milk, and to any and all galactagogues for herself. Obviously she
> has
> some strong feelings about natural foods. So share info with her on
> herbals,
> teas, fennel seeds, oats, oatmeal, etc. See if you can do an archive
> search
> and come in excitedly with all the stuff she can eat or brew. Try to get
> her
> excited about this.
> What I would do would be to try to explain that almond milk and rice milk
> are not really milks. That milk is something a mammal makes for its young.
> You could share that possibly gorilla milk would be the best thing but
> that
> it would be very difficult to get milk from a gorilla! Possibly explain
> that
> you could take white paper and add water to it or do the same with baking
> soda, and make a "milk" out of it, but it wouldn't really be a "milk" and
> would be very deficient in nutrients for her baby. If she seems receptive
> to
> some research, you could share how certain foods show high rates of
> allergy,
> such as tree nuts, etc. If she is at all scientific, you could share about
> gut closure.
> So, the bottom line is I would not try to argue over whether almond milk
> is
> better than rice milk is better than hemp milk, I would try to make the
> case
> that these are not really milks at all. I would try to make a strong case
> for human milk, preferably hers, and see if there is any way to increase
> it.
> This is what I would try to get her to focus her energy on. Donor milk, if
> still available, would be next, you *might* even talk about home
> pasteurization of same. I would then try to make a case for a mammalian
> milk
> if a substitute is needed. I don't think I would try to sway her to one
> species or the other, other than raw is not a good idea, in my opinion.
> Good luck with this situation.
> Laurie Wheeler RN MN IBCLC
> Mississippi USA
>
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