Sunday, February 5, 2012

Malnourished Baby and her Mother



Now we have one baby who is malnourished in the ward. The main reason is a lack of protein. The baby doesn't like milk. She prefers soft drinks like Fanta to milk, so her mother gives her only that. And nshima, their staple food, and bread. All of them become just glucide.
I prepared F-75, milk designed for malnourished babies and told the mother to give it to her baby. For the first 2-3 days she did it, though her baby was unwilling to drink it. The mother frequently asked me when her baby could start to eat nshima again so they could go home. She thought feeding milk to the baby was troublesome. I stayed in the clinic to observe them as much as I could. I couldn't trust the mother. I saw that she gave her baby other food even though I told her not to do it.

Yesterday, the mother lied to me. She told me she gave her baby some milk, but it wasn't the truth.
And now our F-75 milk has finished so we'll allow them to be discharged from the clinic. Now we can do nothing for them without that milk.
That baby might get AIDS in the early stage in her life. She is HIV positive, as is her mother, and the mother doesn't feed her properly.

I feel angry towards the mother. She has to make an effort for her baby but she doesn't. Babies can't choose their parents. There are no options. We have to live our fate. Sometimes it's dire.

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