Last year I supported a Mum in the West Midlands with a baby who had a floppy larynx and required a trachy quite early on. I am still supporting the Mum as she is pregnant again and considering any issues this baby might have, so I know that he actually had it removed about 2 months ago, aged 17 months - it's so lovely to finally hear him make noise!

Yes, as the others have said she will need an understanding of the issues of supply and demand, help with pumping, emotional support in bucketloads and support with pushing for feeding at the breast if that is possible.

The mum I supported did try baby at the breast but breathing was compromised and so she pumped for about 4 months. However her expressed milk was mixed with bovine fortifier from an early stage and ultimately supplemented with high cal infant formulae increasingly, which she found very undermining to her confidence. She did try medical and herbal galactagogues and all kinds of other things to keep up her supply but I guess the stress combined with the implication that her milk 'wasn't good enough anyway' meant she ultimately couldn't keep going for as long as we might all have liked. FYI she had excl BF her first child - a daughter - to 6m and continued with solids and BFing until after her daughter was 2 so not being able to BF past 4m was clearly a blow.

I happened to get the opportunity to speak to one of her son's doctors at a conference last week and she told me that the medicos felt she had done extremely well to breastfeed at all and to provide milk for her baby for so long, which  shows what a tricky situ this one is.

I have asked the Mum's permission to share this with you - she agrees with my comments and authorises me to offer any assistance I can to you.

Shel Banks

Lancs

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