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Date: | Sat, 21 Nov 1998 22:51:11 EST |
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I have two questions - one professional - one personal.
question one:
I just took a pedi nutrition certification exam (did any of you RD's reading
this take the exam?) anyway there was predictably a casestudy on a breastfed
infant.
The scenario was not unlike several I have read on Lactnet.
Infant 4 weeks or so, blood in stool, family history of multiple allergies.
Hgb/Hct slightly low. Correct answer was to have mom restrict her diet AND
iron supplementation for infant. I felt that the supplementation of iron was
possibly premature and might actually aggravate the intestinal problem. So I
indicated I would want a serum ferritin before supplementation at such a young
age. WRONG ANSWER per test. Could someone give me some insight please? Is
that considered an unreasonable expense ($50-60 when last I checked) is serum
ferritin not a good indicator of iron stores in infants?
Personal question:
I have wondered about this for 12 years and never had the nerve to ask anyone.
(sounds serious doesn't it). I've read enough Lactnet to know that if anyone
knows about this you folks will.
When my daughter was less than 48 hours old and we were still in hospital I
placed her on my abdomen/chest because it calmed her - and basically it was
comfortable for both of us (the nurses were not nice about it though) anyway I
dosed off and was awakened by the sharp and unmistakable pain of having
something latch onto my left nipple. My daughter had while I was napping
inched herself up and over 4-5 inches and found the nipple and latched on by
herself. I've never heard or read of this anywhere. Pretty weird huh? other
mammal newborns manage it, I don't know why humans don't more often unless not
given opportunity. Has anyone else had this experience? By the way, before
our discharge I had at least one nurse from every shift come tell me that I
had a "high demand" baby and they implied that something wasn't quite normal.
She was ravenous from the womb and before my milk came in at about 1.5 days
postpartum she was a handful for everyone concerned. She gained at an
unusually high rate on hbm plus occasional formula, moving from just below the
50th at birth (2 weeks early) to the 95th wt/age by 3 mos. At 2.5 years she
was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis and is pancreatic insufficient. (I bet you
didn't expect that outcome did you?) anyway she is average weight now (60th
%tile), tall like mom and thankfully healthy without known lung colonization
to date. So am I the only one in the world that had such a determined to
nurse neonate?
JoAn Muncie, MS, RD
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