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Subject:
From:
Mary Renard <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sun, 4 Jan 1998 16:27:03 -0500
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I know this thread was thoroughly discussed a few days ago...  forgive me
for resurrecting it.  What bothers me a great deal about the stories
regarding babies being exposed to drugs (licit or illict) via breastfeeding
is, HOW DO THEY KNOW that is how the baby was exposed?  (yes, I'm shouting,
sorry)  Did the coroner / medical examiner / police detective observe all of
the sequence:  1, mother takes drug; 2, mother breastfeeds baby; 3, baby
dies.  Furthermore, have any of these personnel consulted anyone knowledge
about pharmacology and breastfeeding before making these assertions?  Do
they know what sort of dose a mother would have to take of a drug in order
for it to show up in a baby's system at the levels measured on autopsy?

This touched a nerve for me when a 10 day old baby died of a drug overdose
here in northern Virginia.  In the one day the story was carried by every
imaginable news medium, the police and medical investigators questioned
whether the baby had suffered a "tragic accidental overdose" because the
mother took a prescription pain reliever and was breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding *really* took a hit in this story, and the link was 100%
speculative.  The mother was quoted as stating she had taken the drug "once
or twice."  My family knew when the story was being reported AGAIN on TV
because they would hear me yelling at the TV.

Well.  Sadly, it turned out that the mother had given the baby the drug
directly - through mixing it with formula.  When the media covered the next
stage in the story, where the mother was charged with murder, breastfeeding
was *still* mentioned, as in "Initially detectives thought that the baby
might have gotten the drug through breastfeeding."  I really did want to scream.

I guess I just want to say, even if it's a good anti-drug message, don't
applaud too loud for the media just yet.  I don't trust them to get it right.

Mary Renard in Vienna VA  USA  where the flowers will be blooming soon if we
continue to get 60+F temperatures!   Terriann, I'll trade ya for some snow -
I like it in small doses.

posting for myself, not my employer....
Mary Riley Renard, RN, BSN, IBCLC
CERP/Recertification Coordinator
International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners
P O Box 2348
Falls Church VA  22042-0348  USA
Tele 703-560-7330
Fax  703-560-7332
email <[log in to unmask]>

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