In a message dated 2/17/2004 5:51:01 AM Eastern Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes:

>  have a mom with twins (I think I posted on this before?) who took 3 weeks
> before she produced drops of milk.  At 10 weeks she is totally breastfeeding...
> She
> refused to believe she couldn't produce milk...
> But this mom is a nutritionist who
> educated herself 100% and REFUSED to give up.  So anything
> is possible.


I wish I could figure out why there seems to be so many more mothers/MOT/MOM who are having post-birth difficulty making milk (when BF or pumping management is assessed as otherwise appropriate). There seem to be no common variables as to which mothers will be struck. Several have been mothers who fully BF one or more older children/singletons.

But as per Pam's experience, I have found that those mothers who keep pumping/telling their breast they want milk to remove, that somewhere between 8-12 weeks, many have an often abrupt increase in production. Full BF does not always happen, but many still begin producing a significant amount of their baby's/babies' food.

I so admire these mothers. When talking to them, I often wonder if I'd have had the persistence to continue without "reward" when still mired in the eternity of the early postpartum period. However, it is nice to have a building number of "cases" to give them a sense of hope (tempered with the realism that we're not talking 100% here). I find that being able to give them some hope re: down the line several weeks has helped reinforce the resolve of quite a few. (I also use BWC's analogy of "priming the water pump"; nothing will come out if one stops, but continuing to push on that handle keeps sending a signal that water is wanted and eventually it gushes out. (Sorry for paraphrasing and possibly changing your meaning, Barbara!) When I saw Under the Tuscan Sun, I thought of this analogy with the entry area's faucet in the "on" position yet no water was coming out.

Hoorah for this mother and her tenacity, Pam. How lucky her babies are to have a mother like this and how lucky they all are to have so many sources of encouraging support.

Karen

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