>  After the holidays I experienced (to my dismay) my first period. My
>exclusively breastfed daughter was only 13 weeks old. I have not had a
>period since.....I'm on day 48 or so.....
... What was going on during the holidays? I was getting ready for Christmas
which is a month long effort. I was extremely busy, leaving Isabel with her
Daddy to run errands... no long afternoon nursing sessions.


This is a common experience, very often resulting in inadvertant weaning. It
even has a name, "Holiday Weaning." Mothers become so caught up in holiday
preparations that they find themselves asking someone to give the baby first
one and then another bottle. The time needed for shopping in underestimated,
there are parties to attend, food to prepare, and suddenly, they find that
their milk supply has dwindled to a trickle and the baby has come to prefer
a bottle.

This most often happens with the first-time mothers of very young babies.
These mothers have not yet figured out how to nurse discretely in public.
They assume that their babies will not be welcome at adult functions, not
realizing that while an older child might run riot, a new baby is usually
the star of the show. They do not understand the many potential dangers of
"just one bottle" or even how much they will miss their babies while they
are supposed to be away having a good time.

Whenever possible, I like to casually mention how to avoid this problem.
Mothers need a variety of tools which will enable them to continue with
their lives after giving birth. Having a baby is not the end of life as we
know it, but the beginning.

Norma Ritter, IBCLC
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