Diane D.'s mother with the constantly nursing baby had/has? anemia.  This is
a classic reason for low milk production.  Is she treating this?  Is it
fully resolved?  While 4 oz a week is WNL, it is probably way less than most
babies would reasonably like to grow in the first months of life.  Diane
Weissinger and I have had an interesting private discussion whether it is
better to protect exclusive bfg and have a marginally growing baby, or
support the vigorous growth that seems to be characteristic of the first 4-5
months pp.  I don't have an answer for this.  The best we've come up with is
that if the baby isn't complaining too much and isn't totally miserable,
then maybe limping along like this with constant nursing to sustain the
current situation is  OK, with supplementation beginning at the normal time.
One of the things we have to remember is that milk supply seems to have a
calibration period.  After that period is over, the gains mothers make in
milk production seem to be incremental and go up, then plateau, go up, then
plateau.  But even this doesn't always occur.  Esp. if mother is ill.
Sometimes it is really difficult to resolve these low producing mothers with
multiple factors (some of which are baby-related).

Barbara Wilson-Clay, BSEd, IBCLC
Austin Lactation Associates, Austin, Texas
http://www.lactnews.com

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