I'm not sure what else has been posted about this, because I have been at
the inquest every day - I am working for the Catholic Children's Aid Society
on a contract. I think there is some misunderstanding about how this baby
was fed. The first doctor who testified at the inquest was an expert witness
who had never seen the baby, and he apparently assumed that the baby died
from being fed over-diluted formula.

What seems to have happened, in fact (and we don't yet have all the
information or evidence - the mother herself has not yet testified) is that
this baby was born prematurely and the mother (who was young, homeless and
living in a shelter) wanted to breastfeed. She was told to pump, and was
discharged from the hospital 9 days before the baby. The baby was fed
formula in the hospital, with some expressed milk. She did pump, but only
sporadically, and her milk supply seems to have decreased by the time the
baby was released from hospital. She never breastfed the baby in hospital;
his first time at the breast was when he was 12 days old after she left the
hospital. She did give him some formula as well, but was primarily
breastfeeding.

I find this case incredibly tragic. It is just heartbreaking to listen to
the story.

It is also upsetting to see how little help this mother got. The nurses from
the hospital have testified that they encouraged her "plus plus" to
breastfeed, but gave little practical help. Nobody talked to her about wet &
poopy diapers, for example. The pediatrician testified yesterday and told us
that, as a pediatrician, he considers formula feeding to be "safer" - he
just feels more comfortable if a mother is formula feeding because he then
knows how much the baby is getting. If a baby is breastfed, he worries more
about it. I was horrified to hear this suggestion that breastfeeding is
dangerous (as evidenced, I guess, by the death of this baby) and worry that
it will convince people working with mothers in similar situations to
discourage breastfeeding. The REAL danger, it seems to me, is the inability
of many people to provide decent help with breastfeeding. It is NOT harder
to teach mothers how to tell if a baby is drinking at the breast and to
count wet and poopy diapers than it is to teach them to measure and prepare
formula.

I will be present for the rest of this inquest and will try to update you
when I have a spare moment.

Teresa Pitman
Guelph, Ontario
(currently living much of the time at a downtown Toronto hotel...)

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