Hi all,

I got a phone call from a mother of a 2 month old who is experiencing
stiffness of the joint and woke up one morning and could bare ly move
with out pain.  She went to her Family practice doc, who then sent her to
a internist and all Docs (they also consulted her pedi)basically told her
she would have to wean in order to be treated.  I told her the drug in
question was AAP approved for BF mothers but at this point she did not
want to confuse her baby because she had had a hard time getting her to
take a bottle

I called the internist to offer some info that I had about Naprosyn being
AAP approved for breastfeeding  and he told me that she may may have a
very serious illness,  and he MAY have to give her other medications and
he could not risk being sued if any of the meds caused the baby harm.  He
was very firm about this.

I  just sent him the following letter:

Dear Dr.

I am writing to you because of my concern regarding your patient
who was told she must wean her two month infant in order to be
treated for her recent illness.

You told me it was for medical/legal reasons.

Recently, I attended a conference and heard Dr. Jack Newman (thanks
Jack!) speak about Breastfeeding in special situations and he feels that
when there is a doubt it is almost always safer to continue
breastfeeding.  Some of his suggestions for treating illness in
the mother without interrupting breastfeeding are:

1.  Use a medication only if necessary.
2.  Use of older, better known drugs,
3.  Use drugs which are less toxic.
4.  Use drugs which are used for infants,
5.  Be flexible and look for alternatives.

There are known advantages to continuing breastfeeding during
maternal illness(one would be the development of antibodies that
then get passed on to the baby via breastmilk.)And there are
known short and long term health risks associated with formula
feeding .

Please feel free to contact Lactation Services if you have any
questions.

Sincerely,


Jane C. Crotteau RNC,IBCLC
Lactation Services

I hope he read this and thinks about it.  This young MD just had a baby
three months ago and his wife tried, but did not, successfully breastfeed
unfortunately.