A young mother of two managed to survive the night in the New Zealand bush by drinking her own breast milk.
Susan O’Brien was only meant to be running for two hours.
But when she still hadn’t crossed the finish line long after the races she was competing with was over yesterday, her family started to worry.
More than 20 hours later, the 29-year-old still had not returned.
As it turns out, O’Brien had taken a wrong turn through Rimutaka Forest Park in New Zealand.
And it wasn’t until 24 hours later that she was finally found.
Now she’s told media outlets how she survived 24 hours in the bush after realising she was lost.
Her story starts when the sun went down last night.
O’Brien revealed that she dug a hole and covered herself in dirt to stay warm. And to stay hydrated – she drank her own breast milk.
“I definitely thought I was going to die,” Ms O’Brien, who is the mother of an 8 month old and a two year old, told stuff.co.nz.
“And I thought of my baby and my son and my family.”
“I’m breast-feeding my baby so I had a bit of my milk, which I thought, that should help me keep going.”
Police believe Ms O’Brien took a wrong turn during the XTERRA 20km fun run, and got lost trying to find her way back.
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The following day she made her way back to the track where she was located by rescue personnel.
The search for Ms O’Brien commenced the previous afternoon, after she failed to cross the finish line.
Search crews camped out overnight in the bush and set off flares in attempt to draw her attention. A helicopter also surveyed the area.
This morning she was found safe and well, and was reunited with her family.
Her first task once she was found? Breastfeeding her young daughter.
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Top Comments
The benefit of drinking her own breast milk would have been almost purely psychological, the only physical benefit would have been if she was feeling discomfort due to engorgement. In a real physiological sense it would have increased her dehydration and used up energy and resources her body had quicker than if she didn't do it.
She may have been uncomfortable due to not feeding as she was used to, but the fluid, nutrient and kJ her body would use to produce the milk would not be replaced when she then drank it and the amount in the milk would be significantly less than what her body lost in production. It takes about 550kJ to produce 100ml of milk, but the milk provides only 280kJ, so there is a significant energy,nutrient & fluid loss every time her body produces the milk and she drinks it, which if she has no food cannot be replaced.
If she only expressed enough to relive the discomfort, if she experienced that, drinking it would save just wasting it, and her body would adjust to producing less, which would benefit her survival over a longer time. If she was trying to use it as a food source in a larger amount over 24hrs it would make very little difference but if it were a longer term it would actually hasten her demise rather than prolong it.