~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nikki Lee wrote: I remember someone, was it Elizabeth Horrmann, saying that adoptive mothers in other countries don't have trouble making milk but in the US, adoptive moms are told that they probably won't make a full supply...........so they don't. Hi Nikki: It's not so much a case of "other countries" as living in a breastfeeding culture. A breastfeeding culture can exist (even in Western countries) within families or peer groups, e.g. in LLL or ABA or other groups. You might like to look at my case series of Anglo-Celtic Australian mothers who relactated for children over 12 months, most of them a lot more than 12 months old. (It was published under my previous surname, Phillips.) Some of the cases dated back to a period when breastfeeding, and certainly breastfeeding older babies, wasn't fashionable. The mothers came from breastfeeding-supportive backgrounds. The reference is: Phillips V. Relactation in mothers of children over 12 months. J Trop Pediatr 1993;39:45-48. Interestingly, the mothers didn't need motivation - just the mouth action of a very insistent child, even though *some* of them were reluctant for the weaned child to resume. Their bodies responded to the stimulation, and they accepted the inevitable. Another such case, that I inadvertantly left out of this paper, was included in a later article of mine: Thorley V. Relactation: what the exceptions can tell us. Birth Issues 1997;6(1):24-29. These cases are only the tip of the iceberg in breastfeeding circles, with mothers going in and out of lactation according to changing needs of the child. I just haven't taken the time to collect further cases in the last few years because of other research commitments. My current reading suggests strongly to me that the other factor that makes relactation slow in some situations is bottle use - before and during relactation. A cultural dependence on bottle use can be very strong. On a personal note: the first time I relactated, I had *no doubts* at all that i would be able to do so, after reading and rereading the reprint of an article LLL's Marian Tompson sent me, about Lorraine Bormet and her relactation experience. My then husband supported the idea. Everyone else had told me that I was physically unable to breastfeed - while in fact my lactation failure was iatrogenic, after consistently deleterious advice. Through all this I *knew* I could relactate, and did as soon as my copy of the LLL manual arrived from the US. So, Nikki, the power of the mind did help, mainly because I wasn't hampered by doubt. Cheers Virginia Thorley, OAM, DipEd, MA, IBCLC Lactation Consultant (cohort of 1985). Cultural Historian working in the History of Medicine. PhD candidate (thesis submitted), University of Queensland. Australia ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html