Last-born sextuplet becomes first to go home from hospital
Beacon Journal | 04/20/2004 |
"Lucy Arlene Hanselman has left the building!
"Lucky Lucy'' was outfitted in a special yellow dress Tuesday to leave the hospital, the first of Ohio's first sextuplets to go home. She and Isabella Jean, Sophia Ivy, Kyle Allen, Logan James and Alex Edwin were born Feb. 26 to Jennifer and Keith Hanselman at Akron General Medical Center. The babies arrived via Caesarean section, all in the same minute. They were born at 28 weeks, old enough to survive, but premature enough to create a great deal of worry. Now, those worries are beginning to evaporate, beginning with Lucky Lucy, as workers in the neonatal intensive care unit at Children's Hospital nicknamed her. In the next several days, each of her five siblings could graduate from the hospital to the Hanselman home in Cuyahoga Falls. "We thought the first to go home would have been one of the boys,'' Jennifer said. But Lucy turned out to be the one who was doing the best,'' she continued, with her daughter nuzzling in her arms. ``She's a good bottle feeder.''...So why was Lucy first? "It's fundamentally when babies who are born premature have the ability to maintain good body temperatures, eat by mouth and have a mature breathing drive, which Lucy has,'' Kokomoor said. Lucy is belting down about eight bottles a day. Each contains a little less than 2 ounces. That's big doings for someone as tiny as Lucy. Once home, her parents plan to keep her close to the hospital's routine. That means feedings every three hours. "She (Lucy) usually sleeps in between. Feeding is a big job,'' Jennifer said knowingly. Jennifer and Keith regularly help with feedings at the hospital -- Jennifer during the day and Keith at night. Jennifer -- who had pumped breast milk for the sextuplets the first six weeks -- now uses NeoSure, a formula for premature babies that was donated by Similac."

Avoid feeding infants fluoridated water, researchers cautionBy: News-Medical.net
Published: Friday, 23-Apr-2004
"Infant formulas prepared with fluoridated water increase dental fluorosis risk, according to the April 2004 Journal of the American College of Nutrition(1) and other studies. To prevent this tooth staining, researchers caution against mixing infant formulas with fluoridated water. Fluorosis, white-spotted, yellow or brown stained, sometimes pitted or crumbly teeth, is the too-late warning sign that babies overdosed on fluoride. Neither a nutrient nor essential to health, fluoride, can also damage bones.(1a) ...
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Decline in breastfeeding rates undermines children's development, says UNICEF: "    GENEVA, April 23 (Xinhuanet) -- The United Nations Children's Fund(UNICEF) said Friday that the recent milk powder infant deaths in China appear to confirm trends of decreasing breastfeeding patterns in China, which may have significant long-term impacts on the physical and intellectual development of children.

    UNICEF expressed its sincerest condolences to the families of the 13 infants who died from the consumption of tainted powdered milk and warned that the problem is believed to be more serious and widespread with some 45 milk-producing companies being included in a warning list by the Food and Drugs Administration of China.

    While there is extensive scientific evidence that breastmilk is the best for infants, especially during the first months of life, exclusive breastfeeding rates during the first four months of life in China have been declining from around 76 percent in 1998 to 64 percent at the present time, the UN agency said.
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