I just want to share a "happy ending" story with all of you. At this month's LLL meeting a mom attended who I had not seen in about five months. The first time I spoke with this mom was five days after the birth of her son. She was having trouble nursing him. He was born with a cleft in the soft pallet and when she nursed him, he "turned blue". I suggested pumping and using either a soft cup or a haberman. This worked beautifully. The baby was gaining extremely well. However, the specialist would not do the surgury until the baby was a year old; and told the mom that she would not be able to pump longer than 6 months. Mom pumped six times a day and worked up to getting 100 ounces a day. Her husband decided they needed to get a deep freeze to keep all the surplus milk in. (They wanted to continue to give the baby only breastmilk even after the magical 6-month period). Well to make a long story short, baby never had abm, has had the operation, and mom has informed the specialist that moms can continue to pump longer than six months. It was very heart warming to see this young mom get a round of applause and hugs from the other moms at the meeting. Barbara Redinger, LLLL, IBCLC