Sick mum’s plea for breast milk
A baby living with a lifethreatening allergy is running out of breast milk after her mum suffered two heart attacks and had to be admitted to hospital.
Melissa Crockett-Joyoue has been in hospital for three weeks awaiting surgery while her 8-month-old baby, Hinemarie, has been living off milk donated by mums from around the country.
But because of her daughter’s severe gut allergy – food protein induced enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES) – Hinemarie can have only milk that is dairy and egg free. Hinemarie’s condition means she is allergic to an unknown range of foods.
‘‘If she eats or drinks one of her allergens, it can cause vomiting so bad she can go into a life-threatening decompensated shock [when the body is unable to maintain blood pressure],’’ Crockett-Joyoue said.
‘‘We’re running low on breast milk donations … right now we’re giving her watered-down donor milk to last her until we get more.’’
Hinemarie’s older brother also suffers from FPIES.
When Crockett-Joyoue, from Warkworth, Northland, found out her daughter had the same allergy, she was confident she was better prepared this time around.
She immediately cut dairy products and eggs from her diet so she could breastfeed her daughter.
They had just started exploring solid food options when Crockett-Joyoue suffered a rare cardiac event in November.
‘‘Because I have drugs in my body from the medication, I cannot breastfeed my baby girl any more.
‘‘We were lucky because I had breast milk stored in the freezer, then we had a huge donation that lasted us for a while. But now, we’re running low again.’’
She posted on social media for help and received a great response. But because of Hinemarie’s need for a specific type of milk, finding suitable donors has been hard.
‘‘We’ve had mums say they can help and go egg and dairy free but it takes three weeks for that to be completely out of one’s system.
‘‘The milk needs to be 100 per cent dairy and egg free and we can’t afford a slip-up … we just have to be very careful.’’ Crockett-Joyoue said she had to be strong for her children.
‘‘It’s been so hard being in hospital and not knowing if your baby has enough to eat.
‘‘We have been blown away by all the support but we still haven’t found enough donor milk.
‘‘All I can do is ask other mums out there to help us out please.’’
Contact Crockett-Joyoue through Facebook page Helping Hearts NZ.