Octuplets to be Breastfed, Says Mother

Hello from Juliette Aiyana. As most of the readers of this blog know, I am a lactivist. That is someone who promotes breast feeding, defends breast feeding and works toward legal protections for breast feeding moms. I heard about the mother of octuplets wanting to breast feed. I wondered how that would work for the monther when infants need to eat every two hours; when would mommy ever take a shower, let alone feed herself? I love that she wants to breast feed and I pray that she has the support around her to allow that to happen and the help with raising 8 premature infants. I found this blog post below about the media frenzy surrounding this families story and wanted to share it. Even thought the details about the family are still a secret hopefully we can all help by sending them money, donations and if anyone out there in the blogosphere personally knows the family, will help them out by cooking, cleaning and babysitting etc. I am infuriated that these parents fertility doctors transfered so many eggs into this womans body. It is a new law on England that only one egg at a time may be transferred. The law was made based on ethics. America, let's get it together.

"This story about octuplets being born in Ca. will be splashed around thepapers for about a week, and, then when it's old news, the celebrating willbe over and the nightmare will continue for this family. The nightmarebegan when they found out that more than two embryos "took" and the doctorsbegan trying to persuade them to abort some of the babies. They undoubtedlyunderwent tremendous pressure to have this procedure which the doctors havenamed "selective reduction".

No fertility doctor wants to be associatedwith having produced an octuplet pregnancy. His/her peers think he/she isan idiot right now.Medical people know the death and damage that happen in these multiplepregnancies and they know the poor prognosis for these babies. It is considered very bad form to implant this many fertilized ovum and, yes, thiswas a fertility experiment. Prior to all this fertility nonsense, themaximum natural number of babies in utero was quintuplets and naturalquintuplets were one in a million.

The mother is very wise to let the hospital staff know that she doesn't wantthem leaking information about her. The press will sniff it out anyway andmake the family's life a goldfish bowl but, at the very least, she's makingthe reporters earn their salaries. Every aspect of this family's life willbe examined under a magnifying glass by people who will judge whether or notthe parents are "good enough" but those same people will never offer onenight of babysitting assistance.Eight premature newborns is more than any family unit can handle.

Add to that a mother recovering from major abdominal surgery and you have to wonderhow they will ever cope, let alone breastfeed. At the best of times, with a new baby who is full term and a natural birth, the new parents are completely exhausted and overwhelmed. I can't even imagine how theseparents will begin to provide quality care for all these children.

So, when you read the dreamy-eyed nonsense in the newspaper about this event, think about the reality behind the scenes. Know that fertility specialists are shaking their heads at the embarrassment that this has happened. Know that these babies have a future that is compromised by being this small and this early. Know that these parents are at high risk for a nervous breakdown in the next two years. Demand that your local news agencies ask the difficult question and do some fundraising to help thisfamily with the astronomical expenses they are going to have. Yes, the birth of a child is always a blessing but this story is not something that any sane person would want to have happen in their own family". Posted to my blog www.glorialemay.com/blog