The following story comes from Sue Murray, a lactation consultant in
Victoria. It was published in a recent issue of the Network of Australian
Lactation Colleges Newsletter. I think it is a great story and I hope you
do too.
The phone rang just as I was about to finish my morning shift as a
lactation consultant. It was Ian, our paediatrician, who casually asked if
I saw monkeys. My heart sank to think that he had joined all the others who
teased me about my work. I listened.
He told me that he wanted me to go to see a baby monkey whose mother had
postnatal depression and this had caused her to reject her baby. He was
refusing to drink by any method and was becoming very ill. Some story!
However, Ian was very persuasive so I reluctantly agreed to at least check
out the situation on my way home from work.
I called at the Eltham Wiregrass Art Gallery. It was a public holiday and
there was quite a crowd of people browsing through the gallery to see the
exhibition of spider web paintings by Georgina Lawry.
I met Georgina and she told me that indeed Ian had been very accurate with
his story. Georgina and her husband, Colin, run a private zoo at Buxton in
country Victoria. For the past week Georgina had been ‘surrogate mother’ to
a tiny little Rhesus monkey named Gram, now six weeks old. Georgina was
desperately trying to get fluid into Gram but he flatly refused to drink
the formula offered. Georgina said that his mother had been breastfeeding
him but that the baby had given her a nip and she became very angry. She
had beaten her baby quite severely and would have nothing more to do with
him.
Gram was being minded in the front garden of the Gallery by Jethro, the son
of the Gallery owners. Young Jethro was doing a lovely job of caring for
Gram, cuddling him up close in his tiny blanket. The little monkey had made
a friend. Gram didn’t like the look of me.

Gram had his own ideas about just what he would eat or drink (as I was
about to find out). I tried to give him the formula with a tiny soft bottle
and teat, tried to finger feed him with a premature infant feed line, tried
to cup feed him, but with no luck at all. He was most unhappy with me,
clamped his jaw firmly shut, and tried to hit me away. By this time I was
surrounded by a very interested crowd of onlookers.
At that stage I wondered how many little human babies would have liked to
have hit me away. I must admit that this was the first consultation I had
had with a baby monkey so I was not an expert in this field. It did not
take much experience, though, to tell that Gram was not at all well and
really needed some nourishment. He was existing very poorly on some fruit
and yoghurt.
I was racking my brains when suddenly I thought of Lael, a fellow midwife,
who had recently had her second baby and was happily breastfeeding little
Daniel. I asked Georgina if she thought some mothers milk would help her
little charge. Georgina beamed and said that monkeys love human milk and
that this would suit Gram very well.
We trooped into the Gallery, followed by a large entourage of onlookers.
They were not going to leave without the end of this story. By this time I
was in a bit of a lather. I felt as though my whole reputation was in the
balance as I dialed Lael’s number. 
The phone rang and Lael answered. There was no other way than to make a
direct plea. “Lael” I said, “this is a big ask. Can I have some of your
milk for a sick little monkey?” Lael asked a few questions, recovered, and
in true style quickly agreed. New mothers really are wonderful where babies
are concerned. Suddenly our conversation stopped and I heard Lael say “
it’s okay Tim I’m just going to donate some expressed milk, I’m not going
to feed him directly.” She later said that the look in her husband’s face
was quite remarkable.
Jethro, Gram and I got in the car and went to see if we had found our
solution. When we got to Lael’s we were greeted by Tim who could now really
see the funny side of all this. Daniel’s big sister Katie was fascinated to
have a little monkey for a visitor. Lael finished feeding little Daniel and
then expressed some breast milk to tempt Gram. We put it into a tiny
medicine cup and let him investigate. Despite the fact that Gram was very
weary of me he looked pretty interested, licked his lips and drank about
10mL of breast milk. This was a whole lot more than earlier when we had
struggled to get a few drops into him. We were all very pleased. It looked
promising. After thanking the O’Brien family and accepting a wonderful
donation of frozen breast milk it was back to the Gallery to report back to
Georgina.
The previous year I had been fortunate enough to spend some time with the
British researcher, Michael Woolridge, who talked me through the technique
of cup feeding human infants. I relayed this to Georgina: to hold the baby
upright, to fill the little cup brimful of expressed breast milk, to give
the baby a little sip, and then to hold the cup tilted so that the baby
could help himself.  Mike had stressed that it was important not to
frighten or force the baby but to follow the baby’s cues. Georgina told me
that she would try this. I arranged to call by and see them the following
week.
During that week I received another call from a colleague, Judy, who had a
few problems feeding her new baby Samantha and wanted a little help. I told
her that there was now a fee - no more free consultations. The price was
some breast milk for the little monkey. Judy laughed. By the time I got to
her house the next day she had enough breast milk gathered to feed the
entire monkey population and the Melbourne zoo. Judy had taken her
responsibilities very much to heart and had phoned around and recruited
some of her breastfeeding friends. On the way home I called at the Gallery
and left the donated Milk for Georgina’s next visit. Apparently Gram had
continued to take the milk but he was still quite unwell.
The following week-end Georgina was back in Eltham and I called to see
little Gram. He still looked thin and ill. Georgina had however, been able
to increase his fluid intake by using his own little blue bottle top as a
cup for his breast milk. He now recognised this cup and was starting to
reach out for it.
Another week passed. Lael and Judy were very keen to know how little Gram
was faring. I was not so keen to phone and find out. I must admit I
expected the worst as I dialed Georgina’s number. I really thought the
little fellow would not make it. Colin answered. I told him not to hold
back, and not to worry about being direct with me. Colin laughed and told
me, “as a matter of fact Gram is as large as life and sitting on my
shoulder right this minute”. The monkey lived! The mothers’ milk had saved
him.
P.S. Georgina tells me that she has freighted some of the excess frozen
breastmilk over to a friend who has a zoo in Western Australia. Another
little baby monkey in a similar predicament has been saved.


Isn't it a great story!
Laureen Lawlor-Smith
South Australia