I couldn't agree more with Ann's reply
>In response to "LC Mama"s question about  flavoring on pacifiers, No >I
>have
 >not seen this done in my 25 years of mother/baby / NICU nursing.  >But I
>think there is more important problems for this baby.   As I >understand
>the
>progression of the labor and delivery,  this child was in trouble >long
>before in came to the NICU or received a pacifier (flavored or no

With the history outlined this baby was severely compromised.  I would
hazard a guess that the tube in the tummy may have been an umbilical
arterial catheter, needed to give vital fluids to baby and to monitor blood
gases.  I can also say that in my 25 years nursing, mainly in NICU and SCN I
have NEVER seen cherry flavouring or any other sort of flavouring put on the
breast to encourage attachment.  A small amount of expressed breast milk is
all I have ever seen used.

I also concur with Ann the reason for the antibiotics would have been the
Group B strep, without these there is a good chance the baby would have
died.  Also in all nurseries I have worked in it has always been the
practice to freeze colostrum and EBM if the baby is too sick to be taking
oral feeds and this is used once enteral feeds are commenced.  NICU nurses
don't just dispose of it and I find it hard to believe this could be the
case in the situation Melissa described--more likely it was put in the
freezer for future use.  It is certainly unfortunate there appeared to be a
lack of communication and explanation to the mother and this is a good
reminder to all of us who work with mothers whose baby's are sick that not
only should we ensure proper care of the baby but adequate explanation,
support and practical input such as helping her to sort out pumps and
expressing.

In the nursery I work in we have electric pumps mothers can use while
visiting and do the post-natal floors and we provide sterilised collection
kits for each expression while they are in the nursery.  It is the mother's
responsibility to hire a pump for home use but we do give details of where
they can hire from.  We also teach hand expression and some of the mothers
use this successfully at home if they can't affort to hire a pump and use
our pumps when they visit.
Marian Rigney RN


_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

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