Breast Milk Ensures Children’s Survival-Part I
This is a story how a mother nurses two children, including 4-year-old, over nine days By DAN CHILDS, ABC News Medical Unit
Dec. 5, 2006 — Trapped miles from civilization in a snowbound car in subfreezing temperatures, Kati Kim had to ensure that her children survived until search parties rescued them.
Nine days later, the helicopters came.
Remarkably, Kim’s daughters, 4-year-old Penelope and 7-month-old Sabine, were reported to be in good condition after the ordeal.
The key to this fortunate ending may have been the fact that Kim breast-fed both of them to keep them alive amid the harsh conditions once no other food was available.
Experts say the episode suggests how mother’s milk, in a disastrous pinch, can make the difference in whether a child survives.
"The fact that Kati Kim was able to breast-feed both of her children for the amount of time that they were stranded most likely was lifesaving for them," says Dr. Sheela Geraghty, assistant professor of pediatrics and medical director at the Center for Breastfeeding Medicine at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati.
"Breast milk not only provides the calories needed to sustain life, it also helps prevents dehydration," Geraghty says.
"I’m really, really grateful that the mother had breast milk available for the baby, as well as for her other child," says Judy Hopkinson, assistant professor at the USDA/ARS Children’s Nutrition Research Center at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
"This is a remarkable fluid in many ways. There is nothing better you can give a child in a disaster than breast milk."
"Lucky for these children that mom was breast-feeding," says Kathy McCoy, a lactation consultant at Clarian Health Partners Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. "No one ever expects disaster to happen, but when it does, breast milk is truly a lifesaver."
