Might I suggest that a mental health advocate be sought out and introduced
into this situation? A mental health advocate and an IBCLC working together
on this might get some better communication going between the docs and this
mom. If the pediatrician can be convinced to monitor the baby, his/her
opinion should also be made part of the equation.  I feel that I'm hearing
here that people think this woman is incapable of making any kind of
rational decision (because she is having a schizophrenic-type breakdown)
when often this simply is not true that ALL of her thoughts are irrational
at this point. (I've seen people do things like win chess matches at the
masters level during such episodes, or write short stories, etc.)Mentally
ill does not mean stupid, nor does it mean exclusively incompetent (even
during a breakdown/episode), nor does it mean that her rights can be easily
taken away. They can give her the information about the drug, but often the
decision is up to her unless they have her legally declared incompetent. Her
first rational decision is one that her baby should be breastfed and that
she should do it. Unfortunately, that decision is not being viewed as
rational even by the people from whom she's expecting support. We know very
well the effect this has on people who aren't having a breakdown, just
imagine the effect on someone who is...sort of like being kicked when you're
down. Now, she may have to make some compromises in the end, (some women on
Haldol breastfeed part-time to keep their docs happy) but she's less likely
to do that if she feels that others are trying to control her. In a society
where formula is NOT an option, this child would be breastfed one way or
another.  In this respect, this woman has chosen normalcy, but that normalcy
might be judged as being *abnormal*. It's terribly difficult to get people
to really listen to those in this position and it's really easy to ruin
thier self-esteem and their lives by not doing so.

Climbing down from my soapbox,
Lorri Centineo
20 year veteran advocate for the mentally ill.


> > with the situation as best we can.I believe that the woman is
fighting
> > the doctors regarding her medication.  She wants to continue to
> > breastfeed her baby after she is out.  They say she can't because
the
> > drugs are not safe.  She hates the idea of the meds anyway, saying
she
> > is just depressed, not psychotic. The drug they are giving her is
> > Haldol.I think we should bottle feed the baby.  If we do that, then
> > she won't be taking a pristine breastfed baby and bottle-feeding it
> > (she is really committed to breastfeeding) the baby will have
already
> > become a bottle-fed baby.  My reasoning is this.  Of all the choices

> > in a ideal world, the best thing is for the baby to be breastfed by
> > its' mother.  Since we are not in that ideal world yet, I think it
> > would be better to have the children be back with their mom and dad
> > with the mom on her meds and bottle-feeding the baby rather than the

> > way it is now

             ***********************************************
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