Dear Kathleen,
Check Marsha Walker's JHL  [9(2) 1993] artcle "A Fresh Look at the Risks of
Artificial Infant Feeding".  On the second page, there is a section with the
heading "Cardiorespiratory Disturbances During Bottle-feeding", with at
least 5 refs.  That's all I can come up with right now. Good luck!
----------Martha Johnson RN IBCLC, Eugene, Oregon

> ----------
> From:         Kathleen Bruce[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent:         Tuesday, June 23, 1998 4:51 PM
> Subject:      cardiac question  *Fairly Urgent*
>
> I've run into a situation with a mother of a newborn.  The newborn girl
> has
> Down Syndrome and has been feeding well at the breast.  At 2 weeks of age
> she was diagnosed with heart problems, A-V Canal defect and a hole, and
> will need open heart surgery.  The baby started diuretics(lasix and
> aldactone) on 6/17.  The Cardiologist is allowing bf for now, but stated
> it
> probably will be neccesary to transition to a bottle because it is easier
> for the infant to feed and they can mix a suppliment to increase the
> calories.  When the mother answered that she had heard of studies done by
> LLL that bf was easier, he replied that of course LLL is skewed in their
> viewpoint, and that in his 20 years of experience he did not observe
> this(of course how many mothers did he give the chance too?).  The mother
> does not want to use a bottle(a LLL leader) and does not believe it is
> best
> for her baby.  She would like to bf up to and right after the babies
> surgery.
>
> Is there any information/studies that show bf is easier than bottlefeeding
> an infant, especially babies with heart problems, that can be presented to
> the Dr.?  What other strategies could she use to persuade the
> cardiologist?
>  She really wants all the advantages of bf since the infant has Downs with
> the problems of ear infection/speech development and mental function, not
> to mention the comfort/bonding she needs at this time.
>
> Lastly, since the cardiologist emphasis is on weight gain, what techniques
> can be used to aid the baby in gaining weight and forestall
> bottles/supplements?  It seems that since the baby was put on the
> medication she has a good day of feeding and then a poor day of
> feeding(very sleepy, can barely be roused awake, then falls asleep in
> seconds).  This has alternated for the last 5 days.  They are meeting with
> the Doctor on Wednesday for a checkup(EKG and weight) and will ask the Dr.
> about the effects/dosage of the medication.  The dosage of medication was
> calculated from the babies weight at the first visit.  She was born 6 lbs
> 2
> oz, went down to 5 lbs 14 oz and at the cardiologist visit was 6 lbs 7 oz.
> After 1 1/2 days of medication, she was down to 5 lbs 11 oz from fluid
> loss.  Aldactone can cause drowsiness and the dosage may be adjusted to
> the
> babies new weight.
>
> Please email to the list and to me privately. Thanks.
>
> Kathleen
>
>
>
> Kathleen B. Bruce, BSN, IBCLC co-owner Lactnet,TLC, Indep. Consultant
> mailto:[log in to unmask]
> LACTNET Archives http://library.ummed.edu/lsv/archives/lactnet.html
> For LACTNET quilt raffle: http://together.net/~kbruce/kbblact.html
>