Hi All,
[Rant warning]
I have some sad news regarding the mother of the Congenital CMV baby,
who has multiple handicaps, that I have been supporting.

The baby's as well as can be expected, but the mother has had to give up
breastfeeding. She slipped a disk and was in hospital for a week on
strong pain meds, seperated from her baby. She had no support whatsoever
- not even a breastpump and her milk has dried up. In hospital, she
suffered mastitis, surprise surprise, and they put her on strong
antibiotics :-( I am so angry, I am spitting feathers.

Anyway, not being one to be easily defeated, she is attempting to
relactate by pumping. The baby is hopelessly nipple-confused and
"doesn't know what to do at the breast". If you've been following this
saga, you will know that the baby's suck has never been good, due to her
neurological impairment. The mother has a hospital grade pump, but so
far has only been able to pump 1oz per day. She has attempted
relactation before, so I know she is informed about the "how tos". I
have encouraged her to continue offering the baby the breast, but she
doesn't seem to have much hope. I told her Americans call it "nursing"
and to think of it in those terms, rather than worrying about feeding,
per se.

The baby did receive 4 months of breastfeeding, with a little formula,
and she is still receiving what little drops the mother can obtain, so I
encouraged the mother to look upon this as a success, but I know she is
pretty devastated.

Getting a baby like this to breastfeed was never going to be easy
(premature, cerebal palsied, GER, epileptic, neurologically impaired)
but I really feel that is a mother who is *that* dedicated cannot
succeed, and receives no support whatsoever from the medical community,
who can? Forgive me for saying so, Lactdocs, but are the majority of
doctors totally oblivious to it's importance? Do they walk around with
their eyes shut to all the evidence and research that shows BFing is
dreadfully important? Is it too much even to ask them to give drugs
compatible with nursing and make sure a breastfeeding mother in hospital
has access to a pump *and* her baby? Can it really be so hard?

I don't know. I feel like chucking the towel in. After all "we were all
formula fed and we turned out fine" (keep saying it, if you say a lie
often enough, people will believe it).
--
Anna H.
mailto: [log in to unmask]
http://www.ratbag.demon.co.uk/anna/

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html