I am so sadden to hear a mother is going through this horrible experience.
I have been recently dx with stage 3 rectal cancer and last week I weaned
my 9 mth old to start treatment. I am not on the same schedule that you have
listed. But I also have gotten the same info regarding 5FU but mine will
be a 24/7 pump for 6 wks (plus 6wks radiation and currently doing FOLFOX for
4mths), so no down time to nurse. It would seem like something could be
worked out or even at the least comfort nursing in her situation. Sorry I
can't provide more help in that area, but feel free to pass my name/email to
this mom if she would like to talk with another mom who is going through
something similar.
I would be glad to answer questions or tell people about my experience.
Here is a little of what I did just so others on Lactnet can know about what
I did incase it can be helpful.
I made the choice to do a "cold turkey weaning" (sudden) even though I had
5 wks before treatment started to do a step down weaning process. But with
the way I nurse there was no schedule of dropping a certain nursing and I
wanted him to have as much of nursing and breastmilk as he could. And it was
going to hurt and upset him no matter what and I felt like dropping
nursings would just drag out the pain for him and frustrate him (and me) longer.
We wanted as much as normal and happy as we could get. I did introduce a
bottle during the 5 wks that had water in it so he knew what a bottle was but
during that whole time he just chewed on the nipple letting the water go
everywhere. I also chose to give a bottle even though he was 9 mths since
babies are supposed to be sucking and I want him to suck. I also tried to
give him a pacifier (and still do) but he also only chews on it. Within a
couple of days he was sucking on the bottle normally. Despite it being very
hard for a few days I am so glad I didn't wean him earlier. I also introduced
solids during the 5 wks and still do now but he does not take more than 1
jar of baby food in a day. (Normal for all of my children.) During the 5 wks
I pumped to build a stash for him but only got around 170 oz. I have also
gotten donated breastmilk from my close friends so I can give him
breastmilk to 1 yr of age. He will be 15 mths old when I am done with treatment and
I will nurse him again. With my other children I nursed from 3-5 yrs so he
is very young in my mind and I want him to nurse again like he would have
before all of this.
I have been taking sudafed for 10 days and not nursing for 8 days and I
still have LOTS of milk. So despite that and all of this stress I have been
under for 6 wks hasn't caused me to loose my milk supply.
Kim Ann Lorber
LLL Leader Quad Cities IA/IL
[log in to unmask] (mailto:[log in to unmask])
_http://cancercaughtme.blogspot.com/_ (http://cancercaughtme.blogspot.com/)
***********************************************
Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome
