Hi.  I was debating whether or not to respond to this since I am nowhere
near as experienced as many of you - I have only just recently become a
bfing educator.  However, I have personal experience with this, and
since no one has mentioned this, I thought I would.

I first noticed blood in my daughter's stool when she was 6 wks old.  We
spent the next 6 wks going from one dr to another.  I totally eliminated
all dairy and soy products from my diet.  After 6 weeks of this diet,
there had been no change.  Our dr ordered a lower endoscopy, and yelled
at me for not being clear enough as to how much blood there was in her
stool (how was I to express this???).  Apparently, her intestines were
much worse than he expected.  He did a biopsy and could find no other
reason than that she was having an allergic reaction to something in my
bm.  He suggested an elimination diet, which I tried for a few days but
this made my life so miserable that I switched her to Nutramigen.
Within a matter of days the bleeding stopped.  I cried for days over
having to stop nursing, but could see no other alternative at the time.

When I became pg with my son, I did some research (I never believed that
it was an allergic reaction).  I found, on-line, a lactation consultant
who suggested that the problem could very well have been caused by the
fact that I am an over-supplier, and she was therefore getting too much
foremilk.  She gave me some "tricks" to try if I started to notice
problems with my son. I did notice these problems, tried the "tricks"
briefly, but became discouraged too quickly.  I ended up finding a happy
medium - I alternated nursing with formula.

With my third child, I expected to have to follow the same course of
action as with my son.  However, I was more educated and had more
support.  I have noticed blood in her stool on occasion (all during the
first few months), but I have diligently applied every techinique I can
find to manage my over-supply, and I can proudly say that I have seen no
blood (or any other signs of a problem) for months now.

This has all been a very long way to ask - does the mother have an
over-supply problem?  If someone could have told me how to manage it (or
that it even was the problem), I would have been able to exclusively
nurse all three of my children.

Hope this helps......

Melanie