‘Baby Fae’ gets a kick out of her new formula

Press, 6 November 1984, Page 8

‘Baby Fae’ gets a kick out of her new formula

NZPA-AP Loma Linda “Baby Fae," who received a baboon’s heart on October 26, has been weaned from a special solution of sugar, salts, and water to fullstrength baby formula and is lucking, pawning and stretching just like any other baby, a hospital official says. “She is eating very well," said Loma Linda University medical centre’s spokesman, Richard Weismeyer. “She is

still listed in a serious but., stable condition. She is doing very well.” The infant, about 3% weeks old and weighing 41b 14% oz, (2.2 kg), is able to recognise her mothers, voice, he said. "If the baby is fussing a little and the mother talks to her, she calms down right away,” he said. There was no sign of heart rejection as r ‘Baby Fae” passed through the

critical post-operation period of seven to 10 days, when most human heart transplant patients begin to show signs of rejection. The baby was born with hypoplastic left-heart syndrome, a fatal condition in which the heart is severely underdeveloped. She became the world’s first infant to receive a baboon’s heart in three hours of surgery on October 26. .