Hi Wendy,
Human milk is the ultimate brain food, and my own bias is that any child
with a neurological impairment needs human milk even more.

Babies with CP are usually hypotonic.  The low muscle tone makes it more
difficult for them to breastfeed, or perform any motor skill.  The fact
that this infant is having seizures probably means that the CP is more
than mild.  The seizures are caused by the same brain injury that caused
the CP.  I would guess that the hypoglycemia is related to the baby's
poor feeding ability, perhaps accentuated by poor autonomic regulation,
which often occurs in infants with neurological disabilities.

If this baby is unable to feed well at this time, mom can still provide
her milk.  She should be assisted to express milk with a hospital grade
rental pump at least 7-8 times a day, preferably both breasts at once,
for about 10-15 minutes at a session.  Research shows that preliminary
breast massage increases volume pumped.  If she is unable to pump
colostrum, she should still use the pump for 10 mins, but then follow up
with some hand expression to allow the colostrum to be collected for the
baby.  If she has access to the baby again, she can hand express into a
teaspoon, and let the baby lick the colostrum from the spoon if the baby
is not able to breastfeed efficiently.  Baby should still be put to
breast for practice, as long as she is able to coordinate swallowing and
breathing.  If she has difficulty with this, she can be put to the
breast immediately after pumping, to reduce the volume of milk she gets.
If baby is able to feed, hypotonic infants do best with exemplary
postural support, with their hips flexed, shoulders drawn forward, and
head very slightly extended.  Some infants do well if swaddled in
flexion, or given preparatory handling to increase their muscle tone.
The therapists at the hospital will be able to help mom with this, but
one good method is to swing baby in a blanket swing for a few minutes
before feeding, from head to foot rather than from side to side.

Mom will also need lots of emotional support.  She might be angry, and
might be looking for someone to blame (or "sue"), but research indicates
that most cp occurs during pregnancy, and is not anyone's fault.
Understanding that anger is a normal part of grieving will help you to
be empathetic while encouraging her NOT to get stuck in that stage by
focusing too much on blame.

There are email lists for parents of children with CP, brain
malformations, epilepsy, etc, that this family might wish to join for
support and information.
--
Catherine Watson Genna, IBCLC  New York City  mailto:[log in to unmask]

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