Hi everyone.  I have questions about my 17 month old, who is still nursing, 
initiated by her, 4-5 times per day.  I have taken Domperidone since she 
was 3 months old, since when I returned to work then I was hardly able to 
pump anything, even with the Medela Classic.  That was a God/LC send :D.  I 
was able to successfully exclusively breast-feed for seven months, at which 
time we introduced regular table food and she continued nursing quite a few 
times a day.  I have "allowed" baby-led weaning with this one and my last 
one.  The others had to be weaned early for various reasons.  My last son 
weaned himself slowly and comfortably.  Around a year old he went down to 
just morning and night.  Then one night when he was 16 months old he nursed 
and then wasn't interested the next morning or ever again.   This one "cut 
back" some around one.  She was still nursing about 3-4 times a day but not 
for very long each time.  So I quit taking the Dom.  About six weeks later, 
she became more interested, nursing more often and for a good length of 
time.  So, I started taking the Dom. again.  She also was never sick a day 
in her life until after she was 1.  Now she can't seem to stay well.  She 
runs very high fevers and though she eats like a horse (nursing plus eating 
more regular food than some of my school-age kids), she doesn't gain and/or 
looses weight.   She's been tested for everything under the sun, and it's 
always normal.  So that's all background info.  I have three 
questions/observations now :) :

1) My left breast is drastically bigger than the right.  She's never had 
any problems latching but usually preferred the right.  I always got a 
little less from the left side pumping, but it was within an ounce of the 
right.  Now she pretty much REFUSES the left breast.  When I pump, I hardly 
get anything from the left (as in 3-4 ounces from the right and under and 
ounce from the left).  I'm wondering which came first-decreased production 
on that side for some reason, which led to her rejecting it.  Or 
visa-versa.  If the production decreased FIRST, what would cause that on 
just one side?  If she rejected it first, why would she do that after 16 
months?

2) My pumped milk has only a barely detectable fat layer.  Is this normal 
for this stage of nursing?  With my other son who nurse a long time, I 
never pumped, so I never saw the milk.  I know I used to get a very thick 
fat layer when I pumped routinely with this child.

3) This involves pumping itself.  For a month I was using the Medela 
Classic at the hospital I work at.  I then bought a Medela PIS and had 
excellent results (same as with the Classic).  After six months, I switched 
to working nights.  Since my baby didn't nurse during the night, I didn't 
pump during the night.  So I haven't routinely pumped since August.  A 
couple of weeks ago I started picking up some day and evening shifts.  I 
was trying to pump once per shift around the time my toddler normally 
would.  With my PIS, I literally got NOTHING.  Not even drops coming 
out.   It felt like there wasn't even any suction.  I checked to make sure 
everything was connected right, and it was.  My friend has been using my 
pump with no problem.  So then I tried the hospital pump, which they've 
changed to the Lactina.      The first few shifts, I got next to nothing 
with that also (1-2 ounces total after it had been six hours since she 
nursed).  Yesterday I was able to get five ounces with the Lactina, mostly 
from my right side.  This is around what she takes, as of the last 
"curiosity transfer weight" we did a couple of weeks ago :).  All of that 
is to ask what would cause me to be unable to pump anymore when it was so 
successful before?  I am completely stunned by the absolute lack of milk 
with the PIS, when before that worked wonderfully.  After 17 months pumping 
is more for relief than for supply issues, but still it is puzzling.  I've 
tried taking something of hers to smell, thinking about her-all the tricks 
used in the beginning of pumping :).

I know this is long and more boring than a lot of interesting topics/issues 
that come up on here.  But I've been wondering about these things for a 
while.  Thanks in advance for any feedback, on the list or privately!!

Beth Fitzpatrick, mommy of 6!
"When in despair, remember that all through history the way of truth and 
love has always won; there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time 
they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall." Gandhi

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