Human milk / Maternal milk

Observation

N., born 11 September 2009 (40th week of pregnancy), weight: 3250 g, length: 50 cm, head circumference: 34 cm.

“Natural” birth without epidural anaesthesia. The birth took place in a clinic, but with a private midwife trained for natural births, who used the clinic’s facilities as an independent midwife. N. was breastfed.

Pregnancy:

Second pregnancy following a miscarriage at 13 weeks’ gestation, cause unknown. Both parents wanted this pregnancy. However, the mother was very anxious and had difficulty not with the pregnancy itself but with the associated bodily changes: weight gain, nausea, vomiting and exhaustion. Additionally, during the eighth month of pregnancy two very unpleasant symptoms occurred: an almost untreatable pruritus gravidarum (itching in the last trimester — with a known tendency to atopic dermatitis) and right-sided sciatica, which an osteopath had treated unsuccessfully. The child’s father (a craftsman) is very attentive and suspicious. Towards his partner he is rather submissive and tolerates her moods and outbursts of anger. Her sexual behaviour is peculiar; pregnancy did, however, slightly increase her sexual desire, which she describes as weak, yet she does not allow her partner to be close to her: “I cannot bear the thought of being touched by him.” The father comes from an old Breton family with many known cases of asthma, eczema, hay fever, etc.

Consultation

The parents came to my consultation with their child on 12 November 2009. The baby had gained almost 2 kg in two months. She is sturdy, alert, smiles and is very sociable. I note mild hypertension, an oddly stiff back and a barely noticeable stiffness of the neck on the left. The parents had seen an osteopath but refuse to continue treatment with him because he nearly broke her neck during a manipulation; I agreed readily. N. had (after contact with a cousin) a purulent conjunctivitis, which was successfully treated with a few Homeoptic® eye drops. Her skin is largely in a normal condition, only a few atopic spots are visible, some lesions in the skin folds and small dirty-looking patches on the face, calves and forearms. Otherwise everything seems in order.

Catastrophe

For three months I heard nothing. At the end of February N. spent four days in hospital, in the paediatric ward of the University Hospital in Nantes Centre. She was admitted because of a superinfection of a generalised eczema, weight loss (almost one kilo in three weeks), intense itching, and severe insomnia. Possibly the mother had had a paronychia, which could have led to infection of N.’s eczema. In the hospital an extensive diagnostic work-up was carried out:

• Streptococcus A in the skin lesions; no fungal infection
• Allergy tests:
  • Total IgE: 143; specific lactose intolerance IgE F2 <0.1 kU/l
  • Electrolyte tests normal, but blood protein values at 38 g/l (Na: 52 to 57)
  • Haemoglobin: 10.9 g; eosinophils 15%
  • Chronic malnutrition: positive (hypoalbuminaemia, disturbances in the gamma region of protein electrophoresis).
    Despite negative lactose-intolerance tests the child was placed on a lactose-free diet and discharged with a topical cortisone ointment.

One day the parents came to my practice completely distraught with N.: what had happened?
At the end of January N.’s eczema had worsened and the parents had taken her to a homeopath whose practice was nearer their home. He prescribed a dose of Calcium carbonicum C30. Within a few days N. began to refuse food, drank hardly any breast milk and became weak and hypotonic. She screamed incessantly and barely slept at all (she woke her parents 6–12 times a night). She lost 900 g in two weeks.

“It is as if all her energy, her entire strength and even her soul had left her body.”
The mother attributed this “evil spell” to the effect of Calcium! (Further remarks from the mother below).

Examination

N. is indeed malnourished. She appears frightened, “curled up”, withdrawn into herself and covered with a foul-smelling eczema. During the consultation I manage a few times to elicit a smile and to “uncurl” her (she stands up). The parents are surprised to see her so revived. I later heard from the hospital paediatrician that she reacts “more lively” when the mother is not present.

The parents did not follow the hospital’s prescriptions. The mother refused the lactose-free diet and the treatment with cortisone ointment. Both parents refused to take her to the dermatologist at the paediatric clinic. I provisionally agreed with them on the following diet:
- Breastfeeding (supplemented with goat’s milk, as she refuses cow’s milk).
- Fruit and vegetables, supplemented by protein-rich food from organic poultry farming.

Prescription:
Acidum nitricum C9, C15, C30, in ascending potency over three days

Follow-up/Discussion

When I reviewed my notes on N. several points stood out:

• Mother
  • Miscarriage of a boy in 2007
  • Problems accepting the second pregnancy (because of bodily changes)
  • Pruritus gravidarum (itching in the last trimester)
  • Sciatica
  • Tendency to outbursts of anger
  • Ambivalent sexual behaviour
• Child
  • the baby tends to raised blood pressure, it “clicks” in the neck
  • purulent conjunctivitis
  • severe generalised eczema
  • severe insomnia
  • her energy and even “the soul” have left the body
  • “Worse” after Calcium carbonicum C30
  • N.’s “disembodiment”: “as if the soul had left her body.”

Acidum nitricum (re-actualisation of the experience of fetal separation/death — fear of death — phenomenon of merging/rejection) produced a fleeting “placebo effect”.

I saw N. again on 1 March. Only minimal improvement from the “placebo” and the proposed dietary change had occurred (no weight gain).

Now Lac humanum / Lac maternum comes to mind.

Prescription:

Mother: Lac humanum 1M, single dose
N.: Lac maternum 1M, single dose

Discussion

• Possible psychological dynamic of the mother: sudden “collapse” on the anniversary of the 2007 miscarriage, loss of self-confidence, resulting in a sudden decline in her ability to breastfeed and the mother’s “inner withdrawal” from her baby, which then began to wither away (800 g weight loss).
• Effect of the mother’s withdrawal on N.: sudden exacerbation of the eczema, various bodily complaints (skin, digestive, sleep disturbances — in other words, a catastrophic situation). In the proving of Lac humanum we find “dreams of catastrophes”. For N., however, it is no longer a dream but reality.

Follow-up

In the following week spectacular changes occurred: N. returned to her cheerful mood and zest for life, and 80% of the eczema disappeared. She gained weight rapidly: 700 g in ten days.

On 1 June N. returned to the practice: she is now a happy, healthy baby with normal growth and dry skin (ichthyosis), which, however, is not itchy. The mother has regained her self-confidence. I see no need for a repeat dose of Lac maternum.

Materia Medica

Lac humanum

Source: breast milk from a single donor
Proving: J. Houston and E. Halahan 1993 (United Kingdom)
Materia Medica: Murphy, Sankaran

Summary: People are constantly searching for their individual self, yet belong to groups to which they must conform. They are the only mammals confronted with the fear of death throughout their entire lives. They do everything in their power to escape this fear — or display reckless behaviour as an antidote.

For Lac humanum it is: “Me or the others” (Sankaran). One must kill the other in order to survive oneself.

The issues of Lac humanum become particularly apparent in adolescence (self-identity in relation to the group).

Lac maternum

Source: mixture of breast milk from nine different donors at various lactation stages, including colostrum.
Proving: Tinus Smits (Links 2000)
No classical disease pictures, but:

• Healed symptoms (clinical trials)
• Examination of dreams elicited by the proving.

Causa

The child incarnates during its intrauterine life. This “incarnation” is, however, still incomplete at birth, and breastfeeding is a natural continuation of this process. Hence the “religion” of breastfeeding, where many mothers meet for communal breastfeeding; “La Leche Liga (1)” is the church of this new religion! The parents’ fear of the new task and responsibility is directly connected with this situation.

The Lac maternum baby (according to Patricia Le Roux)

Skin symptoms predominate: above all eczemas with intense itching. “The skin is the last frontier of the physical body; it is in direct contact both with the outside world and with the neuro-sensorial and psychic inner world.” All pathological manifestations concerning the merging or separation of mother and child are expressed on the skin.
A pregnancy can be disturbed by strange, unpleasant or anxiety-provoking experiences: sensations of depersonalisation that can lead to a feeling of loss of identity, thought disorders, exhaustion and longing for symbiosis with the partner or, conversely, rejection of the partner. Enormous desire to be loved and recognised, great craving for sugar and not infrequently gestational diabetes, which ironically leads to the withdrawal of sugar!

The newborn must develop its “ego”, achieve separation from the mother and hold its own in the external world.

Allergies have their rightful place in this process, as they represent the rejection of foreign, potentially pathogenic elements:

• Respiratory organs: pollen, hair, dust mites, etc.
• Digestive system: cow’s milk, various foods and sometimes ... even breast milk, which can transmit various food allergies, although prolonged breastfeeding is considered the best prevention against allergies.
• Immune system: immunosuppressive treatments originally intended to help against foreign germs can trigger allergies, e.g. to antibiotics.

Lac humanum and Lac maternum are probably the fundamental remedies for all allergic diseases.

Practical hints for paediatrics

Newborns: eczema, sleep disorders, situations where the child is unwanted, breastfeeding errors.

Children and adolescents: regressive behaviours, feelings of abandonment, school phobias, slowness +++, escapism from reality, craving for extreme sensations, e.g. via drugs, dangerous activities, etc.

Adults: loss of drive to perform, withdrawal from reality; dreamer who starts many things but finishes nothing.

References

Murphy, Materia Medica
Tinus Smits, Links 2000
Patricia Le Roux. Homeo et Juliette, Publibook, 2003
Frans Vermeulen: Konkordance of the Materia Medica, Emryss Verlag

Categories: General
Keywords: miscarriage, sciatica, itching, hypertonic baby, severe eczema, severe insomnia, catastrophe
Remedies: Lac humanum, Lac maternum