nomail
On Sat, Dec 7, 2013 at 4:23 PM, Karleen Gribble <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
> Thank you very much for this Virginia. It is very interesting to hear that
> expression to maintain supply is not a new phenomenon and can be with good
> reason if feeds are being restricted.
> Karleen Gribble
> Australia
> On 05/12/2013, at 10:06 AM, vgthorley wrote:
> >
> >
> > In an era when restrictive feeding times were unquestioned, Waller saw
> hand-expressing as the way to get breastfeeding off to a good start and
> support the MER. He implemented hand-expression to prevent what was clearly
> engorgement, drain the fattier milk that remained, and safeguard the
> supply. He advocated teaching expression antenatally, and hospital stays
> were 12-13 days, but longer if there were breastfeeding difficulties. I
> have been unable to find evidence of any instructions for when to stop. In
> the introductory part of a 1947 lecture he talked about dairy cows and how
> the milking at set intervals caused excess milk production and the
> stretching of the cows' udders, and he also described his observations of
> sheep in the field and the lambs' response to the MER. Although he
> described the very frequent feeding by the lambs, he didn't apply this to
> human lactation. The milking of dairy animals seems to have influenced his
> thinking.
> >
> > Other systems also used expressing after feeds in the 1960s and 1970s,
> whether influenced by Waller's Woolwich methods or local adaptations of the
> Truby King system. These were systems in which the 4-hoursly schedule was
> considered sacrosanct and the length of the feed restricted, too. Back in
> 1965 in the after-care Maternal & Child Welfare hospital, I myself was
> forced to express after each feed in my first baby's early weeks and the
> mothercraft trainees did hot-and-cold-splashed and breast massage for
> external stimulation, but my supply continued to decline. Why? - because my
> baby was kept in the nursery or shut in the Matron's office, to which I had
> no access, and she screamed for about 45 mins before each feed. After
> unsuccessful feeds by an exhausted, sleepy baby, she was topped up by
> bottle and I expressed, hardly anything. It didn't help that come staff
> made negative comments, including that I was a bad mother who "didn't love
> [my] baby", because "if I loved her" I'd have her exclusively on the
> bottle. That really hit my MER!
> >
> > Heroic methods to maintain lactation are used when access to the breast
> is restricted (whether by hospital regimens or long working hours). In the
> mid-nineteenth century, under the gang system of agricultural labour,
> mothers were obliged to be away all day in distant fields, with no access
> to their babies. To keep the babies calm, they left opiates in the rags the
> babies sucked on. Opiates were commonly used in England for babies by the
> urban and rural poor, usually in "soothing syrups", for a variety of
> reasons (Phillips V, 1978).
>
>
> ***********************************************
>
> Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
> To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
> Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
> COMMANDS:
> 1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email:
> set lactnet nomail
> 2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
> 3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
> 4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome
>
***********************************************
Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome
|
