Jay-
A couple thoughts/concerns about the mother who wants to pump milk in her last
two weeks before her due date to take to hospital for the soon-to-be-delivered
baby:

As unusual as her situation sounds, I think you did the absolutely right thing
in meeting her needs AS SHE described them. Too often our first thought is to
correct the mother's poor thinking with information, which in this case would
included a detailed breastfeeding history on her two previous breastfeeding
experiences to determine the *everything* that she tried the last  two times.
When women have concerns/questions and are needing suggestions and/or advice
then I'll jump right in there with my info, however this mother had thought her
problem through and come to this conclusion (needing to pump). I like to meet
these women where ever they are and find creative ways to interject  more
accurate info as I maintain communication. So, don't give up trying to figure
our what happened before - sometimes trying *everything* was actually trying all
the least efficient ways to correct a challenge to breastfeeding. There may yet
be an easy suggestion you could make for this mother's concern.

I question how much colostrum this mother will be able to pump in the two weeks
prior to delivery. I suspect she may have difficulty collecting *a supply* - you
may want to do a reality check with her on what this specifically means to her
(2oz.?, a 4 oz. bottle?, several bottles?).

Now, everyone correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me, not so long ago,
there was some controversy about pumping colostrum ahead of the delivery time,
but I can't find in my notes the *meat* of the concern. At the very least, IMHO
the mother might want to use a FIFO (an accounting term) method with the milk
she pumps - First In (the bottle), First Out (of the bottle) - this way she will
offer to her newborn the milk as it progresses from colostrum through
transitional milk to mature milk.

To tell you the truth, Jay, I really struggle with a woman who wants to pump and
bottle feed human milk from the start. My struggle is that I want to think that
there is a hidden agenda here that is interfering with her enjoyment of the
breastfeeding, at the very least an ignorance of the benefits of the
skin-to-skin, swapping sides, frequent close contact, the relaxing protracted
nursings, etc. I have no trouble with a mother who has run into an obstacle that
she can't get beyond, and consequently pumps and bottle feeds (had a mother once
who couldn't get her infant to latch-on well, probably due to the baby's Down
Syndrome, and wanted to be done with a struggle around feedings, so at three
weeks she decided to pump human milk and continued to bottle feed human milk for
10 months). But a mother who wants to pump from day one - well,I apologize, my
prejudices are showing..

The mother's suggestion that she doesn't want to pump in the hospital after the
delivery also rang some alarms in my head. At the least she needs more
information about supply/demand and frequency of pumping sessions, but I would
wonder if something else weren't motivating this comment.

Good Luck!!
Jeanine Klaus, MS, IBCLC
Oakville, Ontario