Moms whose babies are diagnosed with potentially fatal conditions, prior to birth, are another high risk group. The story of my daughter, Julia, is a very good example. Her birth parents were married, 20 years old, and had planned the pregnancy. At some point, bmom started feeling that something was wrong with the baby. At the end of her second tri, an ultrasound diagnosis of congenital diaphragmatic hernia was made, and parents were informed that baby may not survive birth, and would definitely require very major surgery, which may or may not save her life. By the time of Julia's birth, at 39 weeks, parents had obviously withdrawn from her emotionally. Hernia repair went extremely well. However, Julia did not thrive. Bparents continued to keep their distance, spending very little time with her, and never holding her. Julia became a classic FTT. Fundoplication was done and also gastrostomy installed, before two months of age. By four months old, Julia had only gained a pound and a half. Birth parents took her home for the first time, feeding by gastrostomy. Julia screamed constantly and vomited her tube feedings. She was returned to the hospital, dehydrated and having lost several ounces. At this point, birth parents were at their wits' end and decided to relinquish parental rights. Julia was placed in an attentive foster home, for ten weeks, followed by adoptive placement with us. She did have some physiological problems, from the CDH, but her mental and emotional problems were more serious. She was very much like a baby who had spent its early life lying in an orphanage in an impoverished country, with very. Attachment parenting techniques, including getting her bottlefeeding well, with aspects of breastfeeding incorporated into that and, later, getting her breastfeeding, turned her into a different child. She is now 12 years old, and a mature, confident, capable, and very special young lady. Although I know that the bmom was already keeping her distance, emotionally, before Julia was born, I believe that, had she been encouraged and helped to pump her milk, and later breastfeed Julia, and told how essential her milk was to her sick baby's survival and recovery, that this married couple, who wanted to be parents, would not have ever thought of placing their baby for adoption. While I will be eternally grateful for the opportunity of having her as my daughter, I can't help but grieve for them. I also know that there are many similar stories out there. Darillyn _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail *********************************************** 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(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html