Barbara Wilson-Clay wrote:
"If you fudge this early management, many moms are stuck with what Mike
Woolridge calls an "acquired low milk supply" (ie, an iatrogenic condition
that in some mothers defies remediation)."
and
"If you have a full, flowing breast, it is generally pretty easy
to transition babies back no matter how they've been fed."

Adding my chorus of 'amen, sister!' to these statements... I am not
comfortable going more than 24 hours postpartum without some serious
attempts at stimulating milk production.  If an otherwise healthy term baby
is drowsy the first 24 hours, my first choice is mother and baby in bed,
mother learning fingertip expression over baby's mouth or into a cup.  Less
waste that way.  This can be done from day one, of course, but at least by
day two.

If we know from the start that baby will be unlikely to latch anytime soon,
as in prematurity or serious illness, there is almost no excuse for not
getting mother going on fingertip expression and/or pumping within 6 hours
of birth.

One place I see the lack of stimulation having a disastrous effect on supply
is with the poorly advised shield users.  Their supply often just plateaus
out or declines, from the time the shield is introduced until BF either dies
a natural death or someone discovers what is happening and gets the
situation turned around, by ensuring adequate stimulation and correcting
whatever made the shield seem like a good idea at the time, be that
soreness, engorgement, difficulty latching, or anything else.  Since shields
are usually introduced in the first week (purchased in desperation on way
home from the hospital, is a typical finding), my impression is that the
transition to autocrine control is already happening then.

Rachel Myr
still not the most gung-ho shield fan in Kristiansand, Norway

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