A recent posting brought this case to mind which my colleague (not a
Lactnut) related to me.  Her office is beside the neonatal nursery and she
arrived at work one day to find various midwives and paediatricians working
on a baby.  It turns out the baby (<24hrs old) passed an obviously melaena
(changed blood) stool which was sufficient to soak through its nappy (cloth)
to appear the size of a dinner plate on the outside of the nappy.  The baby
was having all manner of things done to it and organising transfer to a
tertiary unit for investigation.  My colleague, being a good LC, decided
she'd be best occupied talking with the mother and suggested expressing some
milk to send with the baby.  She only compressed the breast a couple of
times and the blood started pouring - really! She tried to compress the
nipple and soak it up with a paper serviette (only thing in reach), but that
was soon soaked through and had to call for a combine pad until the bleeding
settled.  Brave girl then tried the other side with the same result.
Needless to say the baby wasn't transferred.  This mother elected there and
then to wean and to the best of my knowledge no further investigations were
done on the mother.
Interesting huh!
Denise in sunny Queensland, where the Jacarandahs are in full bloom and
magnificent.