[yequanamama]

My heart dropped to the floor when I saw it! Most of you have probably caught the story about the 20-day-old baby (Sri Lankan, I think) who was found floating in the water on the mat it was sleeping on when the tsunami hit - a total MIRACLE baby! And then, following up on her and her family, CNN showed a clip of the baby in its mother's arms, with a bottle in its mouth!

Think about the potential implications of such a situation. The baby is saved miraculously only to DIE because of water-supply issues. The tsunami areas are having, and will continue to have, major water-supply issues! And if the mother were only breastfeeding, there would be no concern about the baby!

:

Okay, I know this something only a total LACTIVST can get worked up about, but I'm really UPSET! Anybody else share my distress at such a travesty?

 

[monkaha]

That's so sad. i stopped watching the footage from the area when i saw a pallet of formula being loaded onto a cargo plane and knew something like that would happen. (yes, i know there are lots of orphans(my prayers go to them) who NEED the formula, and i'm glad it's available for them, but still...)

 

[starlite]

Don't be too distressed ... why loose sleep over one bottle fed baby that miraculously survived the tusunami?

I guess my point it that I can see why you are distressed ... but you do not know for a fact that the mother is able to breastfeed safely - if at all.

Trust that this mother is doing what she feels is best for her child ... and pray that she does plan to breastfeed if and when she's able.

 

[BusyMommy]

I understand your sadness, but I guess I figure if God, or whomever, saved that Baby, there's some kind of grand plan going on. I'm not going to take away from that miracle. Who knows what's up w/Mom.

And, did you see the story about the Baby swept away from his Mom but Dad saw a toe sticking up in the ocean and was able to save him? True miracles.

 

[MommytoTwo]

Yes I agree with the 2 PPs. It would be nice if he were breastfeeding but he isnt. Thank God that baby lived.

 

[KirstenMary]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yequanamama My heart dropped to the floor when I saw it! Most of you have probably caught the story about the 20-day-old baby (Sri Lankan, I think) who was found floating in the water on the mat it was sleeping on when the tsunami hit - a total MIRACLE baby! And then, following up on her and her family, CNN showed a clip of the baby in its mother's arms, with a bottle in its mouth! Think about the potential implications of such a situation. The baby is saved miraculously only to DIE because of water-supply issues. The tsunami areas are having, and will continue to have, major water-supply issues! And if the mother were only breastfeeding, there would be no concern about the baby! : Okay, I know this something only a total LACTIVST can get worked up about, but I'm really UPSET! Anybody else share my distress at such a travesty?

No, I don't share your distress. I rejoice in the fact that that baby is alive and getting nourishment. Hopefully, the baby will continue to get clean water...and whatever else it needs to survive.

I think it's a miracle.

 

[pickle it]

I wonder if the baby was bottle fed before, or if the sensation hounds decided that the sight of a baby with a bottle in its mouth was what americans equate with a happy baby, and handed it to mom for the film shoot. Otherwise, a real breast would have been on tv, oh no.

:

 

[polka hop]

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[Quirky]

I get it. It is very sad to think of all the babies at even greater risk in these countries because Nestle, et al. have convinced their parents that formula feeding is the modern way. Now, with their water supplies compromised and not enough money to buy formula (even if it's available) because their livelihoods are gone, how many of the babies who survived the tsunami are going to die from diarrhea or infectious disease that they otherwise would have been protected against?

The "mattress baby" - and many others - may have been lucky enough to survive the tsunami, but that doesn't mean they'll be lucky enough to survive the aftermath without the protection and nutrition of mother's milk.

ETA: this is EXACTLY the battle lactivists should be picking. Not to criticize this particular mother - but come on, folks, why do you think the Nestle boycott is ongoing? For EXACTLY this reason - that in developing countries, formula companies get babies hooked on formula just like drug pushers, and the consequence in infant mortality be damned. Especially when there is never a guarantee of clean water or readily available formula like there is in this country, the "choice" of whether to breastfeed or not is often literally a life or death choice for the baby.

 

[AllyRae]

Are you sure it was the mother? Also, what about if the mother had low supply issues...I can NOT breastfeed without my lactaid...my son won't eat. If, God forbid, something happened and I had no access to my lactaid, I would most likely have to feed the baby with a bottle. Or maybe the mother is so dehydrated and injured from the tsunami that she can't feed the baby as much as he needs after surviving his own ordeal? We don't know the full story, and we don't know why the baby had a bottle. I guess instead of making rash judgements, we should be thanking God that another innocent child did not fall victim to such a horrid catastrophe....

 

[Quirky]

....yet.

Again, it is possible to be sad and worried for this baby and thousands of others, and to criticize the societal forces that led them to this dangerous place, without attacking individual parents.

 

[loving-my-babies]

mm, how sad. I wonder what this baby is being fed.. I'm sure if they don't even have water, they won't have formula.

 

[KirstenMary]

Quote:

Originally Posted by loving-my-babies mm, how sad. I wonder what this baby is being fed.. I'm sure if they don't even have water, they won't have formula.

Pre-mixed liquid formula.

 

[polka hop]

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[loving-my-babies]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KirstenMary Pre-mixed liquid formula.

well, in this case I am actually very happy. I'm glad that baby is getting formula. I am very against formula by choice, especially in this country where we have everything and we have no excuse (except very few medical ones) to not breastfeed, however, in this case, after the trauma they are going through, I wouldn't even blame this mom even if she *chose* not to breastfeed. What if she needs someone else to feed the baby while she's walking on corpses looking for her husband? what if she doesn't have a pump (and I can guarantee she most likely does NOT have one) ofcourse I would want every baby in the world to be breastfed, but I wouldn't compare someone that has just pushed a baby out in the middle of a tsunami, lost her whole family, her home, her clothes, her everything.. with a mother living in wonderful conditions that chooses to ff by choice. There's no comparison, there.

 

[Quirky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KirstenMary Pre-mixed liquid formula.

And you know this because??? How many moms in THIS country can't afford liquid premixed formula - what makes you think it's available and affordable in a disaster area?

Not to put words in her mouth, but I read the OP to be talking about this baby as an example of all the babies at risk in the disaster area precisely BECAUSE they're not being breastfed.

 

[KirstenMary]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quirky And you know this because??? How many moms in THIS country can't afford liquid premixed formula - what makes you think it's available and affordable in a disaster area? Not to put words in her mouth, but I read the OP to be talking about this baby as an example of all the babies at risk in the disaster area precisely BECAUSE they're not being breastfed.

I saw it on a news special that outlined where the many donations are going in terms of aide.

Are you defensive, or am I just misreading your post? I am glad that baby is getting something...even if it is formula.

 

[KirstenMary]

Quote:

Originally Posted by loving-my-babies well, in this case I am actually very happy. I'm glad that baby is getting formula. I am very against formula by choice, especially in this country where we have everything and we have no excuse (except very few medical ones) to not breastfeed, however, in this case, after the trauma they are going through, I wouldn't even blame this mom even if she *chose* not to breastfeed. What if she needs someone else to feed the baby while she's walking on corpses looking for her husband? what if she doesn't have a pump (and I can guarantee she most likely does NOT have one) ofcourse I would want every baby in the world to be breastfed, but I wouldn't compare someone that has just pushed a baby out in the middle of a tsunami, lost her whole family, her home, her clothes, her everything.. with a mother living in wonderful conditions that chooses to ff by choice. There's no comparison, there.

Yuppity yup yup.

 

[sophmama]

I just hope this footage we saw wasn't typical of babies being weaned due to the disaster because if a bunch of these babies are weaned to formula and the moms start mixing powder with the dirty water- they are really probably going to die - what a horrible thing to survive a disaster and then die of diarrhea later? I know from my experience in third world countries that among the very poor we are almost worshipped as Americans in some places and they want to copy everything we say and do - if bottle feeding is even suggested by an aid agency - moms will just assume we must be smarter because we're 'richer' and start bottle feeding - especially if it's made available for free for a period of time - then when the aid runs out - if the babies survived contamination from the water mixing the formula - they will switch to animals milk - whatever is available. I fear for the image these aid agencies may be projecting that bottlefeeding is better just by making it available - again my personal experience is that many third world people are too trusting of Westerners - they often lack the education that would protect them from being misled - it's not that they're less intelligent - just haven't been able to cultivate some of the critical skills education can provide. I have great compassion for these people and while I rejoice that this one baby survived, I hope we will not soon see an epidemic of formula fed babies dying from diseases they no longer have the defenses to protect them from. I have compassion for the unbelievably stressed out mothers over there dealing with burying loved ones, I just hope that the remaining children get the best possible chance to survive - and that includes breastmilk if by any means possible!

 

[USAmma]

There are a lot of assumptions being made here. I agree it would have been nice to see the baby nursing. I'm just glad it's alive, and hopefully the formula is made with bottled water.

I am not pro-formula even though I use it. I just want to use this thread to express something. I am sick of people assuming that third-world mothers are uneducated, ignorant people who will accept formula samples from Nestle because they are available.

I have spent a lot of time in India and spoken to my dh's mother and aunts and grandmother about childrearing and bfing. They were all breastfed except for my poor MIL who has hormone problems and never was able to nurse very long. She told me how desperate she was to nurse, and could associate with my feelings of loss with my own daughters.

MIL not only has hormone problems (runs in dh's family-- a lot of infertility issues), but my dh was born with the same thing Nitara has now. He stopped taking anything by mouth at age 2 mos-9 mos. and my poor MIL fed him by medicine cup/dropper all that time. She lost her milk.

When SIL came along she lost her milk after 2 weeks. She learned about it because SIL was nursing and crying a lot for days. She got dehydrated and weak, they saw a female doctor who tried to hand-express milk from MIL and she didn't have any milk to give her. Rather than give formula, because she was supsicious of it, she sent for a cow from her village and the cow was milked, and the milk was given directly to SIL in bottles.

SIL was comfort nursed to sleep for a few months after that. And SIL lived and grew just fine.

When I was in India formula was very hard to come by. I had to scour pharmacies mostly, and each store only had 2-3 cans because most people there, at least in Chennai, breastfeed. Most people there also use cloth diapers or EC even though Pampers are available. (I did see more and more people using Pampers on my last visit though-- the ones who could afford it.)

So anyway getting back to that baby. It's possible that the person feeding it was not the mom. It's possible she lost her milk through this whole ordeal or maybe needs to supplement right now because the baby is dehydrated and needs immediate nutrition. Maybe she had problems bfing. Maybe she ff from the start just because she wanted to.

I'm just glad the baby is alive. What a little miracle.

Darshani

ETA: Most formula that comes through relief efforts IS ready to feed because drinking water is so hard to come by. Just FYI.