[Sca-cooks] Nursing and drugs was-Re: Blood donors

[Laura C. Minnick]

At 04:53 AM 8/15/03 -0400, you wrote:
>This is for the gal asking about breast feeding.  Here is a link to CNN for
>a woman going to trial for killing her 3 month old son.  She said she never
>breast fed, but the body contained lethal levels of meth.

I just saw that today. I was horrified.

Once upon a time, I was a student midwife. And my mentors told me a couple
of things worth noting: The placenta isn't really a barrier- it's more of a
sieve. If you drink, the fetus gets a snootful. If you smoke, it gets a
does of nicotine. If you take an allergy pill, the baby gets it too. A good
rule of thumb is- would you give this to a newborn? The don't give it to
the unborn!

The other thing was about nursing. Yes, you give a great deal of immunities
to the baby if you are breastfeeding. Almost all of this is in the
colostrum, which is what you get for the first few days. The first six
weeks or so are the really important time. But an awful lot of what you put
in your mouth is secreted into the milk, just like ths crossover through
the placenta. So yes, doing meth and nursing is incredibly stupid-
especially since the baby gets a dose that is by weight massively more than
you get. So if you're nursing, you really need to discuss with your doctor
what you are taking, how important it is that you are taking it (such as
can you stop until you are done nursing) and how much is passed through.
Some medicines more than others.

What you eat can also affect the milk. One of my babies (I don't remember
who. I must be getting old. But then, the youngest is almost 16) hated it
when I ate garlic or onions. Pretty bland cooking for awhile!

'Lainie
___________________________________________________________________________
"Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is
writing a book." -Cicero