Lyla asks,

> what a fascinating story, jan - thanks so much for sharing it!  how do you
> interpret it?  have you seen other moms in your years as an ibclc who had
> similar experiences?   are you suggesting that the 5 days of not latching
> somehow contributed to impaired supply?  curious about how you apply your
> personal experience to the moms you work with  . .. .
>
>
>
Tim & I had "oro-bubular disproportion" -- he had a high palate and receding
chin; I have short, stubby nipples, and not very elastic breast tissue, which
is why it took a while for him to learn to latch.  Since I started pumping
w/in 24 hours, I don't think that was the reason the milk never "came in" --
but I do think his poor suck contributed to the poor milk supply.  As to the
left breast never producing anything?  The only thing I can come up with is
that somehow, someway, the mastitis damaged something 6 years before, and
that breast just didn't do a thing, though you can't tell from looking at it,
and I never got any satisfactory answers from any of the gurus in lactation.
I personally think my age may have had something to do w/ it as well -- I was
38.

I've never seen anyone else in my 17+ years as an LC that has had an
experience that mirrored mine -- though I've seen some moms that I suspected
age may have had an impact on milk supply, and I've seen some in which their
breasts never seemed to get fuller or firmer, but the color of the colostrum
changed (as mine did) from yellow to white -- I think Sharon Huminick (sp)
suggests that color change is more of a marker of lactogenesis than breast
changes.

I don't usually share my experience w/ moms unless I feel it will help --
particularly if they have a baby that isn't latching.  And then I share only
bits of the experience -- maybe the part about not latching; maybe my age;
maybe the no milk on the left side; maybe the part about having to supplement
the entire year we breastfed; maybe the part about eventually going to one
sided nursing.  Depends on my relationship w/ the mom, and what her
particular problem is.  It's been very helpful -- a lot of them enjoy seeing
a picture of Tim -- that despite everything, he turned out (relatively)
healthy, tall (6-3), cute as anything, and made it into college.   They
especially appreciate the fact that he used to whine about my using the "Bf"
word on the voice mail -- that his friends used to call the house just to
hear me say the "B" word (they really needed to get a life) -- and that I
would remind him it is all his fault that his mother was a lactation
consultant.  If he had nursed well, I'd probably still be working mother baby
at the hospital.

Jan Barger, RN, MA, IBCLC -- Wheaton IL
Lactation Education Consultants
www.lactationeducationconsultants.com

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