<Rant mode ON>

I just took a call from a mom with an "urgent" question. She told me that
she was abruptly weaning her 14-month old "demanding" daughter due to
doctor's orders and was now engorged and in extreme pain; could I help
her?

So just what precipitated this crisis?  She has had some constipation for
the past three weeks, and a couple of days ago, during a bowel movement,
part of her vagina prolapsed and was actually pushed out in the process.
Very scared, she made saw her physician immediately and he told her that
the rectal wall had separated from the vaginal wall and that it was
caused by the "high levels of hormones (specifically estrogen!) during
breastfeeding" and that if she weaned immediately and did kegels, that
should fix the problem.

I think I managed to tactfully tell her that breastfeeding and hormones
had nothing to do with this--- it was a common myth---- though childbirth
and muscle conditioning probably did, but she still decided to keep
weaning to eliminate the demands of her daughter and force her to start
drinking milk and eating dairy products, which she has up to now refused.
And oh yes, by the way, as I tactfully slipped in some information about
milk refusal and allergies, she also told me that her first baby was
allergic to milk and so mom had to stop breastfeeding.  AAAARGH!  I hope
I planted some seeds in the case that this baby gets sick post weaning.

You know what? The only calls doctors around here generally refer to LLL
tend to be the "how do I dry up my milk" questions, not "how can I
overcome this problem?"

<End Rant mode>

Lisa Marasco