Deseray Valdez, a US mother-of-three has told the horrifying story of her newborn nearly dying after she made a grave mistake any mother could have easily made!
The Texan mother was discharged from hospital after her newborn son passed his first check-up. However, it wouldn’t be long until she was rushing back to the hospital after something went terribly wrong.
Valdez spoke to KRGV and said, ‘It was very terrifying.’
It all started when Valdez noticed that her newborn’s skin colour started to change.
‘He was getting yellow on me,’ she explains.
It was once he was in the hospital and returned to a stable condition that the doctors realised what had went wrong.
Deseray was told that her newborn was starving and severely dehydrated because she was only producing 30 millilitres of milk at a time.
‘They ended up admitting us into the ICU,’ Deseray said where he spent three days being nursed back to health.
‘Knowing that my child could have died on me and then getting high levels of jaundice due to the dehydration. It was just devastating for me,’ the mother tells.
Burlene Carrizales, a lactation consultant, claims she has experienced babies with dehydration ‘many times.’
Carrizales explained, ‘Many times they are weak or lethargic. You can imagine if you have a stomach virus and you’re mildly dehydrated. You are going to feel weak not have very much strength, babies are going to feel like that also.’
Deseray was told by doctors that it was a medical reason that prevented her from producing enough milk for her child. Now, she wants to spread awareness to other mother’s.
She asserts, ‘You’re always told that breastfeeding is best. You’re a mum, it’s natural that the milk is going to drop. You’re going to have enough milk to provide for your baby. It was not the case on any of my three babies.’
Deseray’s newborn son is now three-years-old and healthy, with no long-time effects from his traumatic experience.
Carrizales explained there are key signs that indicate if an infant in dehydrated. Parents should look for the following signs:
- Little to no urine
- Too few bowel movements
- Uric crystals; looks like brick dust
- Meconium lasting several days
- Unconsolable restlessness or unusual lethargy
