> Yes, but babies dying at the breast??? Not struggling when they can't
> breathe because the breast blocks their nose. I've never heard of this
> before, has anyone else? Very concerning indeed.
> Karleen Gribble
> Australia
>
We had an incident in a hospital within the last 2 years in Austin, TX. 
Mother was breastfeeding less than 24 hours postpartum, when she looked 
down, the baby wasn't breathing.  I don't recall the specifics, but it 
involves a transfer to NICU and an unfavorable outcome, either the infant 
died or was severely brain damaged.  Our manager did a literature search and 
discovered that when an infant's head is covered for privacy, narcosis can 
happen within minutes.  It caused us to change our procedure after delivery 
and change our instructions to mothers during their stay.  A nurse stays in 
the room with a new mother throughout the first breastfeeding session.  When 
we discuss skin-to-skin care and breastfeeding, we are careful to show the 
mother that the baby's face must remain uncovered.

Within 2 months of our changes, a nurse called me who had delivered at 
another hospital.  She told me her very frightening story of breastfeeding 
her second baby within 24 hours of birth, and covered her baby and her 
breast when visitors arrived.  She happened to look down at her baby and 
states that her "baby was black" and not breathing.  She said the nurse in 
her took over and she lifted the baby, stimulated her, and she began 
breathing again.  This nurse cried as she told me what happened, and was 
telling me hoping to affect changes in the way mothers cover themselves for 
modesty.

I will ask our manager today for specifics on her literature search, because 
I haven't been able come up with anything.

Jeanne Mitchell
Austin, TX 

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

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html