Hi Dee,
What I've read on Lactnet is a bit different.
I've read about how mothers who had recently given birth could put their
baby to the breast and have something for them if only they knew and how in
those situations where there was not food for the baby this could be life
saving. I've read about how wet nursing could also be appropriate in that
situation (and yes if it's a choice between 2 hungry babies for a day or two
and one satisfied and one dehydrated and ill baby I'd suggest that the
former is a good choice). I've read about the need for emergency workers to
support refugee breastfeeding mothers to prevent them from weaning under the
difficult circumstances and to provide support for mothers to relactate.
I've not seen anyone say that infant formula would not be involved in
relactation efforts and in fact I posted info on a supplemental suckling
technique myself. However, the uncontrolled, generous distribution of infant
formula post any emergency is dangerous.

I'd like to say that it is really important when talking to mothers about
relactation to be confident about their ability to do this and to give them
information that will enable them to maximise their milk supply. The
textbooks that say that women should be counselled to be "realistic" about
their milk making prospects are IMO Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! We do not tell
mothers who have just given birth that they may not be able to make enough
milk for their babies (despite perceived insufficient milk syndrome being
extremely common) and we should not do this with mothers who are relactating
either. The research suggests that most women are physiologically capable of
relactating successfully to produce all the milk their baby needs but that
cultural practices (largely) negatively impact women in the West. This
cultural practices are modifiable! It is extremely important for
breastfeeding supporters to be supportive of mothers who are wanting to
relactate! There's more info in my paper Gribble, K. (2004). The influence
of context on the success of adoptive breastfeeding: Developing countries
and the west. Breastfeeding Review 12: 5-13.

Karleen Gribble
Australia


    OK, I'm a bit confused.  I feel like I must be missing something
obvious, but I just can't figure it out.  There has been a lot of talk on
Lactnet about telling moms in shelters to relactate by just putting baby to
breast.  And it has been suggested that those mothers who already are
nursing a baby offer to wet nurse another baby who is hungry.
>     I have worked with relactating moms.  It takes a while to rebuild a
full supply.  Although a mother with a four-week old still might have high
enough hormone levels to relactate fully, there is no guarantee.  More
importantly, that four-week-old without formula will be *hungry* and mom
won't have enough milk to feed him for *at least* several days, and may not
ever have enough milk to fill him up.
>     Some breastfeeding mothers do make plenty of breastmilk, and could
indeed feed triplets even though they only have one baby.  But that is not
the majority of moms.  If we ask the mother of a fully-breastfed 6-week-old,
whose supply has regulated to her baby's needs, to wet nurse another hungry
baby, it will again take at least a few days for her supply to increase, and
it may not happen.  But even if her supply does eventually increase, is it
right for her own baby to be hungry because another mother does not have
nearly enough milk because she just started to try to relactate?  I don't
think so.
>    Maybe I'm missing something here, but the posts I'm reading seem to
indicate that formula can be avoided by just having moms put baby to breast,
even if they aren't currently breastfeeding.  And her breastfeeding neighbor
can help her while her supply is non-existent or low by just wet-nursing in
addition to caring for her own baby.  It seems to me that we are going to
have some mighty hungry babies for at least several days, if we tell these
moms that they can skip formula just by doing this.
>     Please explain what I am missing.  Thank you.
>     Dee Kassing
>

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