>Recently I had a mom tell me some of her breastfeeding freinds
>had their babies immunizations given while actively feeding.
>These moms seemed to think the baby experienced less pain
>this way.

Rob, this reminds me of something that Neil Campbell from Melbourne,
Australia talks about. He deals with babies in special care, often with
unusual malformations and very sick babies. He is a great believer in
breastfeeding being an integral part of treatment, amongst all the
high-tech stuff, for these babies, and will go to extraordinary lengths to
ensure they are breastfed whenever possible. I recall him saying that they
have found that very ill babies who are breastfed require less pain
medication than if they are not breastfed. This is important not only from
the baby's comfort point of view but also because morphine apparently
suppresses respiration and heavily medicated babies have problems with this
on top of their original problems. I hope I have got this correct. So, he
believes that babies do in fact feel less pain while they are
breastfeeding. Another advantage to chalk up!

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Joy Anderson B.Sc. Dip.Ed. Grad.Dip.Med.Tech. IBCLC
Nursing Mothers' Association of Australia Breastfeeding Counsellor
Perth, Western Australia.   mailto:[log in to unmask]
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