Adam's doctors at Duke were so impressed he was exclusively breastfed up until his surgery. I guess many babies with heart defects end up being fed formula and breast milk or being tube fed.
Adam was lucky that I had breastfed three kids before him and was therefore experienced in breastfeeding.
Adam is also lucky, oddly, that we did not know about his heart defect for the first month of his life, I did not have that added stress so I just breast fed him like I did with my other three kids.
Adam had a thymus that was bigger than expected due to his good nutrition that our family opted to donate. The thymus has to be removed for open-heart surgery as it is in the way. The thymus' job is to train the body's cells to recognize self versus outside cells. Most of the thymus' job is done in utero. Because Adam was at such a good weight when he had his surgery and he was quite well-nourished, we were able to donate his thymus.
There is a change Adam's thymus can be transplanted into a baby who was born without one.
Yay!
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