Hi netters,
I'm in need of your collective wisdom and experiences.
I'm working with a mother G1P1 31 years old.Healthy term Baby.
Ten years ago she had breast cancer, had a lumpectomy and radiation treatment.
At her request she had  breast reduction surgery at that time to even out
her breasts. Had very large breasts she felt unable to feel lumps and had
back problems etc.. Remembered discussing with MD about not changing the
position of her nipples.
 10 years latter now pregnant she called her plastic surgeon and he read her
file. They never cut her nipple from the breast gland to re position.The
oncologist did remove cancerous cells and tissue from the one breast and she
had radiation treatments..Cancer was on the lower right breast.
My question?
How long does it usually take to see full lactation potential. Baby was born
on tuesday march 19th. I saw the family today Sat.23rd, baby is 4 days old.
Mother is Producing  milk, I showed her how to hand express, She cried with
happiness when she saw her milk. She was in the Hospital for 4 days worrying
if she had milk.  No One showed her the colstrum. They Pushed ABM bottles.
She Refused because she knew no one would  be able to access what her body
is making.. Smart, Smart self informed lady!  She mentioned there was A
little fullness last night/this morning. I'm working with her as a
Postpartum Doula. My Concerns:
Baby is haveing the minimun amount of Pee and BM. for age. Didn't seem to
get "easily" satified when nursing 30/40 mins..She nurses the baby very
often on cue. She said the baby is eating almost every hour. I watched two
nursing sessions this morning and feel cautious about what is happening. I
see sucking and swallowing with some vigor. Baby was wakeful while nursing.
Fell asleep after nursing. Where in the "wait and see" mode now. While I was
with them the Baby had a pee (about 2tlb.?) with a scant amount of brick
dust in the diaper and in the past 24 hours had 2 BM. and 2 other pees.
 This mother has a very supportive extended family. Everyone wants to have
bf work even with a SNS.
I will be seeing  the family about 3hours a day all next week. I know what
to look for to make sure the babys being nourished. I just don't want to
error on the side of parnoria because of Mothers Hx. or have a SNS used
before its time.
Please Post anything that I should pay attention to next week that I may be
missing. Whats your educated Guess of how long she will be able to bf without
ABM help. A hospital based LC who taught the Bf class(different then the
hosp. she gave birth in.)has been following this mother, But dosen't have
much experience with this type of situation.

With Thanks,
Ruth Callahan
Doula Care N.Y.C.
email  [log in to unmask]
http://soho.ios.com/~mcallah