Hi,

I just got a call from the husband of a friend of mine. Apparently she was hospitalized yesterday morning with severe headaches and vomiting. I don't know all the details, but the doctors suspect she has meningitis. They told her to pump & dump as the "breastmilk could infect the baby" and because she's on morphine and a number of antibiotics. ARGH! I suppose I should be grateful that they at least are having her pump so she reduces the risk of developing engorgement or mastitis on top of everything else.

Meanwhile, they have a five-month-old exclusively breastfed baby at home. Husband is frantic because baby will not tolerate formula--what little she drank gave her painful gas. He tried also tried a hypoallergenic formula but it smelled "disgusting" and baby would not take it at all.  She's eaten nothing in the past 24 hours but a little pedialyte. He wanted my advice on what/how to feed baby.

He had said to me "obviously, she can't breastfeed." So I asked why it was obvious, and that's when I found out that she had been instructed to pump & dump for the reasons given above. I said that even if mother has an infectious disease, baby was already exposed to it before mother went into hospital. Morphine is L3 in Hale and AAP says it's a "maternal medication generally compatible with breastfeeding." Husband didn't know the exact antibiotics.

My suggestions to him:

1. Save the milk, as there's a chance that it is fine for the baby.

2. Ask for a lactation consultant from the maternity ward to visit mother and look up all meds, talk to drs, help with pumping, etc. I also offered to visit her, but apparently she's in isolation so I don't think I will be allowed to. In any case, an LC who works at the hospital will have a lot more influence & power to get things done (I hope!).

3. For baby, experiment with sippy cups or straw cups for liquids. Maybe start solids, like mashed banana, which of course I wouldn't normally recommend but this is an emergency situation and she is five months old, not a newborn.

My questions for all of you:

What do you think of my advice--was it okay? Anyone here have experience with meningitis and breastfeeding? Anything else I should know or pass on to my friends?

Thank you so much!

Jennifer Sokolow
Long Island, New York

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