Medicinal Milk

Poor Sugarplum is just now fully recovered from the stomach virus that struck while we were still in Colorado almost two week ago.  It started with throwing up (see “Back to the Bowl”) and then a great day with no problems other than a little extra tiredness.  The next day, though, we were back to throwing up after nap.  She threw up twice that afternoon and despite reducing her diet to only water (1 oz at a time) and saltine crackers, she began throwing up again the next morning.

With less than 36 hours to take off for our flight home, and a child that looked like this:

I called her pediatrician and got a prescription called in for some nausea medicine to help us get through the travel day but I knew we didn’t have time for a trip to the hospital for dehydration before the flight.  My mom suggested maybe we needed to get her some Pedialyte but my mommy instincts said that wasn’t a good idea.

Then I had an idea. I remembered when Honeybun was a few months old and started throwing up.  The pediatrician recommended nursing her 5 minutes (ONLY 5 minutes) every hour until she was vomit free for 4 hours then to slowly start increasing her feed time.  Never once did they recommend any electrolyte replacement, water or anything else, just breast milk.

So I decided to pump some breast milk for my poor little Sugarplum that couldn’t even keep down water and crackers.  I gave her 1 oz of my milk every 15-20 minutes.  I made a big deal out of how special it was for her to have “mommy milk” and she thought it was so silly but she didn’t throw up again.

There are a few reasons I’m thankful I had milk to give her and why I think it worked so well:

1)       Human milk is made for humans.  It’s easy to digest and gentle on sensitive tummies.

2)       Breast milk contains antibodies.  Any antibodies mommy’s body is making can be found in her milk therefore if Sugarplum indeed had a virus and my body was exposed to it (which I’m sure was expedited by the number of times I was drenched in puke), my milk contained the antibodies to fight the virus which may have helped her fight off the sickness faster and/or easier.

3)       Breast milk, unlike water, has calories, electrolytes and lots of other goodies.  Sugarplum was so hungry and didn’t understand why when she continued to throw up we wouldn’t let her eat.  At least the milk gave her some calories and energy.

4)       Breast milk (at that time) was free and easily obtained.  I didn’t have to run out to the store to get something special or spend tons of money on something that might not have worked or that we might not finish and would have to throw away.

I realize not everyone has access to breast milk in these situations but I’m so thankful I did.  I cannot even imagine what the following days would have been like had I not had the breast milk option.