I just heard a doozie. Went out to see a couple with a term newborn, diagnosed with a VSD, which was why i was seeing him. Mom went home breast and bottle feeding, her goal is exclusive breast. The history she related gave me goose bumps and got me hopping mad. Seems she had a C?S after a prolonged period of unsuccessful pushing. Baby sent to breast by 6 hrs of age. Mom reported that he nursed for 20 min on a side and was irritable and "hungry all the time". she had large painful blisters within 24 hrs. But...since he was nursing frequently for 20 min a side, he was labeled a good feeder. On day 1.5 she was worried, pointed out repetitive jerky movements, a dry mouth, wasted appearance, and inconsolable irritability. Nurses told her breast feeding was supposed to hurt for the first couple weeks, all newborns have jerky movements and then blew off the dry wasted appearance. They told granma to stop looking at him and then you won't see the jerky movements. From what she described to me, this sounds a lot like dehydration, hypoglycemia and a horrible, ineffective latch from the onset. She demonstrated the jerky movements and they might have been seizures as a result of the issues described. She kept him in the room as she was worried about him and was blown off so often, he was taken out to be weighed on day 2 and had lost 16 oz from birth weight. At that point he was labeled as sick, a murmur was found, he was given a bit of glucose water and transferred to a tertiary care center, but the nurse told them he had a life threatening heart condition and will probably not live. He was hydrated at the new hosp, her breast feeding was reestablished, and he was placed on Lasix for the VSD. I found distraught parents, reliving every horrible moment as if it was yesterday. I got him nursing and content at breast,and gave her ways to increase her milk supply. They were thrilled for someone to tell them to go to bed with their baby. m Physically he looks great, but is one of those wiry, hi energy kids who is starving before he wakes up. No signs of tiring during nursing, no signs of CHF. Their HMO is being great, will give me as many visits as I feel they need. Now. .. I want to call the nurse manager of the postpartum unit and relay this history to her. I am not sure if I should be the one to do this, or should I encourage the parents to do this. But...someone at that hospital needs to know how potentially dangerous this situation was, just because a baby was labeled a good feeder. I spent 2 hours with them, wiping tears, holding their hand, trying to get them a little less afraid of this beautiful little guy. I plan a phone call tomorrow, and a visit next week, sooner if necessary. Thanks for the ranting and raving space. Ann McAdoo RN Simsbury CT USA ___________________________________________________________________ Get the Internet just the way you want it. Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month! Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj. *********************************************** 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