Re: Breastfeeding a Child with Special Needs

[Guest guest]

Yes in addition to the immune benefits for our kids with oral motor challanges it can help later with speech. This is what kept me motivated to pump for 3 months 24/7 until Olivia latched on and nursed until she was 33 months old. My dear sweet mom used to get nervous with her nursing SO long and on more than one occassion told me to quit or she would be going to kindergarten still nursing! Gotta laugh at it now, God rest her soul.

Joan

[Guest guest]

My mom still breastfeeds my brother who is 23 mths old. It has been such a HUGE benefit for him!! He was so weak and fragile the first 8 months, in particular. The breast milk helped his immune system (which wasn't too good then) and I'm sure it's helping his oral motor skills alot. There were so many doctor visits the first few months where the docs were trying to get my mom to put my brother on a bottle instead of breastfeeding. But, Praise the Lord she didn't give into them!!

Qadoshyah

*Got Down Syndrome?

www.gotdownsyndrome.net

[Guest guest]

I nursed my daughter with T21 until she was 3 years 10 months old......healthy as can be.On 12/29/06, JoanElder@...

<JoanElder@...> wrote:

Yes in addition to the immune benefits for our kids with oral motor challanges it can help later with speech. This is what kept me motivated to pump for 3 months 24/7 until Olivia latched on and nursed until she was 33 months old. My dear sweet mom used to get nervous with her nursing SO long and on more than one occassion told me to quit or she would be going to kindergarten still nursing! Gotta laugh at it now, God rest her soul.

Joan

[Guest guest]

,

Celiac disease can have many symptoms or none at all. Taking wheat, Rye, Barley, and Oats out of her diet is a choice you can make and see what happens. However, if you ever get her tested she will need those things in her system. The DS really just makes it a higher chance of having celiac disease. The symptoms amongst typical peers will all be different DS or not. marcy mom to a celiac!

[Guest guest]

It sure can be done! Takes lots of work and time at first, but the rewards are well worth the effort.

I too nursed til she was 3, and in retrospect, should have gone LONGER. It just became so painful for me as she decided to use her teeth to hang on with and she keep splitting me open.

It was also difficult in the beginning to get the cards to back off. She did dip in her weight at the start and they really pressured me to use a bottle with increased calories, but I could see she was getting it and also that she just felt better with breast milk and no formula. Formula just did not agree with her much.

You just can't beat the immune protection of breastmilk. When she was on the hospital I would lick her to pick up any germs residing on her so my body could help her fight off anything and I swear it helped. Course she is still convinced that licking is a sign of affection and occasionaly will still lick people LOL

Carol in IL Mom to seven including , 6 with TOF, AVcanal, GERD, LS, Asthma, subglottal stenosis, and DS.My problem is not how I look. It's how you see me.

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Breastfeeding a Child with Special Needs

Breastfeeding a Child with Special Needs

From Terri Mauro,Your Guide to Parenting Special Needs.Stay up to date!

Yes, it can be done

If your baby has special needs, breastfeeding may present particular challenges, but your child may be particularly in need of its benefits. Breastfeeding has been credited with preventive powers against asthma, cancer, Celiac disease and other ills, and the closeness it fosters between mother and baby can be important to bonding and development. These articles from around the Web give information on breastfeeding babies with special

needs, tell the stories of mothers who have done it, and help you find support and advice for trying it with your own infant.

http://specialchild ren.about. com/od/gettingad iagnosis/ qt/breastfeeding .htm?nl=1

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[Guest guest]

My daughter needed the extra calories in her first 2 months. I breastfed the pump and bottle fed the baby until after the heart surgery. She fell asleep drinking plain breastmilk, but she loved my milk with the extra calories. She sucked it down like candy, but she still went back to the breast once she had her strength. By 6 months old she had forgotten how to drink from a bottle. Now she is 15 months old and hasn't quite mastered a straw or sippy cup yet. Or it might be that I haven't put anything she really likes into the cup yet. I've already breastfed a typical child for 2y8m, so going 3 years should be a breeze. I do think my supply is low due to the rough start, but this isn't verified. It is just a feeling after going 12 years of either breastfeding or being pregnant. (I did have a 2 month break when my daughter with CP outgrew the sucking reflex and had to get a feeding tube.)

I have a question about celiac. I have been worried about that ever since I heard about it. She is 15 months, still breastfed, and hasn't gained weight in 4-5 months. I've taken her off of wheat a couple of times. When she's had wheat recently, she has poop at every diaper change and the poop looks like food. It isn't watery diarrhea, but it is not firm at all. Most of her food is yogurt or stage 3 fruit or veg with 1/4 cup of rice flakes. She finger feeds herself, but not enough to fill her up. She seems to have a huge appetite, but is easy-going enough not to demand food all day. What do you think? Does this sound like celiac in a child with Ds?,mom to 5 under 12,including 2 with special needs

[Guest guest]

I nursed my son with ds (otherwise healthy) until he was a little over 2 yrs old. I had tried to stop a little earlier, but had delayed it a couple of times when he would get a cold or something. He was eating and just nursing a couple times a day.

Funny story: One night my dad was over watching a ball game with my husband. At Josiah's bedtime I took him into my bedroom to nurse him. He wasn't interested. I said to him, "Don't you want mommy milk?" My little one who hardly said anything, replied: "No, bop!" (He wanted the soda they were drinking in the living room.) I decided that it was time to stop nursing!

Best wishes to you all and Happy New Year. Tomorrow is Josiah's 18th birthday. Wow! I can't believe it.

Shirley