I was thinking about a recent post related to asking moms to relactate. Just wanted to share that I have several times approached a mother of a sick infant in nicu about expressing milk for her infant. These are mothers who indicated on the chart that they were going to formula feed. These mothers are simply asked in the delivery arena or immediately after the birth, "Are you going to breast or bottle feed?" The responses from the mothers have been predictably favorable towards expressing for their infants. The first one I approached was a mother and father whose infant was born w/ cleft lip and palate and was being transferred to a level 3 hospital. Once I shared info about the better outcomes expected w/ human milk and how mom would be helped and supported, the family was eager to do it. They seemed happy pumping milk for the baby. This week I approached a mom who had a term sick baby who was NPO (not being orally fed yet). The baby was under oxygen and had severe resp. symptoms. I asked her if anyone had given her information or offered to discuss the option of expressing for her infant. We met later in her room and she shared that she wanted to express for her infant (even before knowing he would be sick) but was told by the WIC program that 'it was mandatory that she suckle the infant for several days first.' She said this "deterred" her from expressing becoz she did not want to directly bf. Of course I let her know that I would help and support her to express even if she did not want to directly bf. Four or five days later mom is pumping and sharing w/ me that baby "turned around 200%" on her milk and if she can't get a decent pump from WIC or afford one, then she "will just breastfeed him." I think I might have a convert here. Laurie Wheeler, IBCLC, MN, RN New Orleans Louisiana, s.e. USA _________________________________________________________________ Watch LIVE baseball games on your computer with MLB.TV, included with MSN Premium! http://join.msn.com/?page=features/mlb&pgmarket=en-us/go/onm00200439ave/direct/01/ *********************************************** 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