Whatever else might be going on, biology has been stretched mighty far in
this mother and baby.  Culturally, we've become so accustomed to the stretch
that sometimes we forget that it *is* a stretch.  Here's a Lactnet post from
Teresa Pitman back in 2000, reposted with her permission:

 

I have been a La Leche League Leader for more than 21 years, and this gives
me a different perspective from breastfeeding helpers who work in hospitals
or clinics. I often see the mother for many months, can often spend time at
her home (or have her over to mine), so I have the chance to make more
observations.

 

I have seen only a very few cases where mothers found their milk supply
dropped drastically at around three or four months, and in every single case
I was seeing what looked to me like fairly infrequent feeding and/or baby
sleeping all night.

 

The majority of mothers I know and work with breastfeed their babies quite
frequently - for comfort, to help baby get to sleep, to get baby back to
sleep, for thirst, for hunger, just because he wants to suck, etc. I've
never actually counted how many times a day these babies are at the breast,
but it is frequent, although each feeding may be brief, and the gaps between
feedings are not long.

 

I have never seen a sudden drop in milk supply in mothers who breastfeed
this way.

 

In each case where I have seen it, the mother was feeding perhaps every
three or four hours or so and keeping pretty much to that kind of pattern.
If the baby was tired, she might rock him to sleep or give him a pacifier.
If the baby fussed, she might carry him around, give a pacifier, or rub his
back, or put him in a wind-up swing. These babies tended to have longer
feedings at longer intervals. Some have learned to sleep through the night
at a pretty early age. Their weight gain is good, and so is the mother's
milk supply.

 

All the cases I have seen of the 4-month drop in supply seem to happen in
this second group. It certainly doesn't happen with all of them - many,
perhaps most, can do just fine breastfeeding this way. But for some it seems
as though the frequency of nursing with this pattern is just not enough to
keep the process of milk production going.

 

Diane Wiessinger, Ithaca, NY  quoting Teresa Pitman (2000)

 

 

 

 

 


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