Stephanie The practice of isolating a mother from her baby has been pretty standard in my (limited) experience when high dependency midwifery care is required by a mother whose life is threatened. I commend you for protecting the bond between the mother and baby; and protecting breastfeeding, in this case as you have described it. There are many accepted practices that are not based on the available evidence, and this is probably one.
I know of no scientific justification behind the fear that breastfeeding would overstimulate the mother. If the baby is suckling, the mother's oxytocin release should be calming to them both. The best reference I know on oxytocin this is the Pederson et al (editors) 'Oxytocin in Maternal, sexual, and social behaviours', published in 1992 by the New York Academy of Sciences (Vol 652) There are some drugs that are given to hypertensive mothers that may be of concern in breastfeeding, but MgSO4 is considered safe for the breastfeeding infant (Lawrence) See the chapter by Ruth Lawrence on medical complications of the mother in 'Breastfeeding: A guide for the medical profession.' Joy Johnston -----Original Message----- From: stephanie bethel [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2001 3:31 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Breastfeeding during severe pih. Recently we had a lady that required a magnesium suphate infusion post birth for svere PIH. While her BP stabilised, her reflexes were quite brisk but her observations stable. She was admitted to our high dependency unit under the care of a midwife. Fornutely we were able to have the father and baby close by,and breastfeeding was established early, infact the baby was fully breast fed from birth and escaped any complimentary feeds. We were berated(by nursing admin.) for having the baby with the mother during this time, stating that this will overstimulate the mother worsening her condition.We put forward our point of view that it would have been more stressful for the mother to have seperated her from her baby. I would be interested in what your veiws are in this situation. 'Steph' <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe. -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe.
