Mary Broadfoot wrote:
>In case you think I am getting too big for my boots (do I hear laughter from
>other UK types?), I remember hearing Peter Hartmann speak a couple of years
>ago.  He said that in his part of the world (Perth, Western Australia) too
>little milk was not seen as being a problem - but I think he did say they
>saw a lot of engorgement.  Any Aussies want to tear themselves away from the
>barbie to comment?

Actually it was hubby at the barbie tonight (truly!), and me doing the
washing up ;-D  Nice and hot here in Perth, Western Australia - about 37
degrees C (about 100F)

I would have to say about the above comment that we don't see much primary
engorgement here either, as, like in UK, early management is usually good.
What Peter may have been meaning was that low supply is relatively rare as
a concern of mothers - rather oversupply seems to be more common here. I
know this seems to be true from the number of calls on the NMAA Helpline
from mums with colicky babies, who are just getting too much milk, too
fast. But this 'engorgement', if present, is just milk, rather than oedema
seen in primary engorgement. And often they are not actually engorged at
all, just the babies getting large amounts of milk. I think the general
tendency to 'demand feeding' rather than schedules has perhaps contributed
to the skewing of milk supplies towards too much rather than too little, as
many babies are fed very frequently.

I do think that this problem is not as bad as it was some years ago, before
Chloe Fisher and Michael Woolridge taught us to 'finish the first breast
first'. In the days of '10 minutes per side, every feed', we saw much more
oversupply and engorgement, and colicky babies from oversupply. When I was
newly qualified as a NMAA Counsellor, I remember a significant percentage
of the calls I got were about this, and I related to them very well, having
had personal experience with primary engorgement, oversupply and colicky
baby with my now 14-year-old.

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Joy Anderson B.Sc. Dip.Ed. Grad.Dip.Med.Tech. IBCLC
Nursing Mothers' Association of Australia Breastfeeding Counsellor
Perth, Western Australia.   mailto:[log in to unmask]
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