Mother flies from US to breastfeed baby

By Lech Mintowt-Czyz, Evening Standard
3 May 2005

A mother told today how she flew 3,500 miles to breastfeed her baby. Rosie Stamp had left her partner with enough of her own milk to feed one-year-old Betsy while she made an essential trip to New York.

But a few hours after she landed, Ms Stamp learned Betsy was refusing to take either her expressed milk or any other liquid, and that her GP was concerned the baby was becoming dehydrated.

With her partner, Nicholas Bolton, struggling to cope with an increasingly distressed child, Ms Stamp cancelled a meeting and flew the 3,500 miles back across the Atlantic.

The trip cost the video producer more than £1,000 and, by the time she had made another round trip to complete her business, she had clocked up 14,000 miles.

http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/18329380?source=Evening%20Standard

A one-year-old who still gets all nourishment from breastfeeding? That's somewhat surprising.

Babies are usually on solid food at that point.

I have a 32 mo old with some oral sensory issues. He's an ultra picky eater and has a hugely strong sucking/mouthing need, and got the bulk of his nourishment from breastmilk well after one year.

After reading the article, I have a few things to say...

1) Well, mom sure is committed to the breastfeeding.
2) She's nutz, irresponsible, and thoughtless. She's responsible for every tuppence of expense that she incurred.
2a) The baby is one year old, and as I understand it, at that age babies are perfectly capable of consuming liquids other than breastmilk.
2b) Mom was gone less than 24 hours before finding out that things were in "crisis mode." That seems to me like nobody tried very hard to get this child to drink.
2c) That mom f*d up. She obviously hadn't introduced her child to a bottle and she hadn't allowed other people to feed her, and that's what screwed her. She "thought" her partner could handle it. When the child is that age, you're not supposd to "think," you're supposed to know.

Shameless boasting... My son is three months old now, and when I'm at the office he takes his bottle from his babysitter and from his dad, and I nurse him in the afternoons and evenings. I have independence, he has his breastmilk, Dad gets to feed him, and we don't have to pay gazillions of dollars on formula, and EVERYONE IS HAPPY! (and I would never choose to leave him behind while I fly overseas.)

My first child never did and my second did at first and then rejected it. I think it's just possible the child might have decided that this was the perfect time to reject the bottle and begin the terrible-twos. On the other hand, most 1-yr olds can drink from a cup.

I think you're being a bit too hard on Mom though, since raising a child is not just her responsibility. Everyone involved could have been a bit more aware of the results of Mom's trip.

Sharon

...is so different. I had a hard time going back to work at 3 months because my son did not want to take a bottle. We did everything we could to get his ready for it, but he just refused for almost a week. I had to drive home from work to nurse him 2 times a day. Not fun.

You can't assume she hadn't tried to introduce the child to the bottle or allowed other people to feed her. It may well have been going fine until she left, and the trauma of being separated from her mother made the child freak out and stop eating.

You say you would never chose to leave your child behind and fly overseas. Lucky that you haven't been forced to choose between your job and your commitment to your family. Many many many women are faced with that every day. I'm sure this woman thought that by the age of one year, the child would be fine with the separation. I was lucky - I was able to hold out until my son was 18 months old before I was forced to travel across the country on business.

What blows my mind is how this became a news item. :wtf:

I longterm bf'd both of mine, my daughter for three and a half years and my son for two and a half (lost my milk with a strep throat infection followed in a couple of weeks by another bad cold or I would've nursed him longer). I just stopped this last January.

Neither of mine would take a bottle or a pacifier. We tried early on with both, and neither liked the taste of the plastic, silicone, or rubber (we tried them all). They both ended up drinking early from cups, but that was with a lot of patience and work. I'm a sahm, so I had the time to work on it.

Both of mine wouldn't eat solids until around eight months or so, and even then, most of their food was from breastmilk. A little after a year, they started going to town and eating mashed up foods, Cheerios, and the like, but they just weren't interested for a long time. The point is, each child is different, and a long-term bf'd kid often doesn't eat like one who isn't.

I do agree that her partner just didn't work on it hard enough--he was probably mad about the trip, anyway--but I don't blame her for making that decision, honestly. It was her decision to make, and she made the best one she knew how at that time.

Why do we moms always end up attacking each other? I may not have made the same decisions in her situation, but I don't know. I wasn't there.

absolutlely refused.

Hadn't "allowed" other people to feed her? What the heck does that mean if your breastfeeding? If your child won't take a bottle, it has nothing to do with allowing.

And she refused solid food till she was 11 months, and even then she was eating almost none at all. When she was 18 months or so I'd say things other than breastmilk probably made up a quarter to half of what she took in.

All kids are different and you can't judge other kids based on your experiences with one.

she never would take a bottle but did eventually take it from a cup. Up until that point i couldn't leave her for more than 3-4 hours. Not all babies are the same.

at one year, babies are often still terrifically attached to their moms.

But it still smells Weekly World Newsish.

If true, how bizarre.

I bet they are quite a couple with their combined inability to cope.

My wife was about three weeks past giving birth to our daughter. He cousin was getting married in Frederick Maryland. We were living in NY, Westchester County. She left me with two days worth of breast milk. Our daughter had no problem with my feeding her as we had introduced her to the bottle (with milk of Mom) the day after she was born. My wife left Friday afternoon and was to return Sunday evening. There was the threat of Thunderstorms in the DC area all day Sunday. As a result, the airline, I forget which one, cancelled their flights out of Dulles to Westchester. I think the flights weren't full or connecting flights didn't make it, certainly all flights out of Dulles were not cancelled.

So, there I was, A two year old son and a newborn daughter and a very irate wife who certainly didn't want me asking her why the hell she didn't just drive the four hours. We were out of Milk of Mom. I prepared the formula, hoping like hell that she would drink it. My son asked me whether I could feed Annie with my boobies....After I stopped laughing and telling Jake how much I loved his questions, I tried the formula - no luck. I tried some water, and Annie went for that. A hour or so later, she was definitely hungry, so, I tried again - still no luck. Water again, she went for that. Finally, after missing two feedings, Annie went for the formula. Persistence, and making sure that I wasn't annoyed - they can tell you know - seemed to do the trick. On edit - AND introducing the bottle right away was key. We did not do that with our son, and it was more difficult getting him to go for the bottle.

Even rice cereal or something? Heck one year olds are known to even eat finger foods.

I could understand if this baby were younger, but as it is, I'm a bit baffled as to how the baby nearly starved when they are a year old and can take solid foods. Unless they aren't on solid foods, which would be pretty weird.

then my daughter is weird. She ate her first solid food at 11 months but was just nibbling here and there at that point. I would not have been able to leave her at 12 months.

All kids are different. Some kids refuse solid food for a while, some want it pretty young.

Or would you have not taken the long trip in the first place?

Or would you have made absolutely sure there were things she could eat/expressed breastmilk, etc? (The baby could sip out of a cup at that point and sip expressed breastmilk.)

All the money she paid is no skin off my nose, but it doesn't sound as if this was very well-planned if the child isn't taking much solid food. :shrug:

I wouldn't have left her. I don't know what I would have done if there'd been an emergency. My daughter would only take breastmilk and only from the source.