I know of two mothers who suffered similar situations. Both had twins (first births for both). Both were in the ICU and put on Cardic Transplant waiting lists. One (over 5 years ago, a grad student from China) was told by the cardiology team that she could not breastfeed. I only met her after she was at home with her babies. The other mother (Premature birth, different hospital, 1 1/2 years ago) did breastfeed through many difficulties and is still nursing her 19 month old twins. Both mothers made a gradual recovery, and were later taken off the Transplant List. If this mom wants to nurse, I would think it beneficial to get a pump in there right away and give it a try. If she doesn't care one way or the other, maybe donor milk could be found for the baby? It would be hard to try to convince someone in this scary situation of the value of nursing if it didn't support a view to which she was already was committed. There may be varying degrees of severity of this cardiac problem. I don't know. But thinking of Kathy Dettwyler's recent post on the body's grieving reaction for a "dead baby" when lactation does not follow birth, I would think it helpful to support the mother's normal body functions. The problem is convincing a cardiology team of the value of breastfeeding. Anne Altshuler, RN, MS, IBCLC and LLL leader in Madison, Wisconsin mailto:[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