Yes, that is correct, some cases of Chylothorax can be breastfed without
leakage of the thoracic duct.  While this case was taking place at Yale,
and shortly after, 2 other babies were NPO for several days, portagen for a
day or two, and then tolerated breastmilk with no problem.  In this
particular case, however, there was severe lymphatic drainage, up to a
liter a day from an 8 lb. baby, multiple bouts of fungal and bacterial
sepsis, and the drainage continued despite being NPO for several weeks.
Portagen increased the drainage.  After 6 weeks on the skim milk in the
hospital, the baby recieved whole breastmilk once, and chylus drainage
started within hours.  This baby was on the skim milk for a total of aprox
2.5 months.  So an alternative form of nutrition was imperative in this
case.  Trish Whitehouse, RN

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