Permission from mom to post: I have a client with a son who despite her best 
efforts, never nursed consistently. I have lots of theories about why this is, 
as I have assisted her since his birth. But, nothing we tried seemed to work. 
This baby had a very traumatic birth, among other things. This mom faithfully 
pumped every 2-3 hours -- even during the night -- for the entire year and is in 
fact still pumping. She went back to work when her baby turned about 9 mos. He 
did nurse on occasion from about 3 mos.-9 mos. but only when asleep and stopped 
as soon as he realized he was nursing. 

The mom's goal was to provide her milk for him for only one year. Under the 
circumstances, I can certainly understand how she feels. She should at least be 
able to stop pumping while at work, I would think. The problem is, her baby is 
is refusing most solids and is revolting against her trying to give her milk in 
a sippy cup an/or no bottle at all. She says she tried to withhold the bottle 
for three days recently and "it was a nightmare." I have admitted that I know 
little re: weaning from a bottle but would expect it should be done gradually 
and with love and I support her in this mother-led weaning. I have already 
encouraged her to consider the option that he may even begin to nurse at this 
age if she keeps the "breastaurant" available when they're together to maybe 
help him deal with his tantrums. She knows it's not likely but is possible. 


When asked about how much of her milk he was still taking and how much food, she 
replied: "Well he was at 45 oz now he's more like an 8 ounce bottle in the 
morning and 8 oz at night at bed time and two - three 5-7 oz bottles while I am 
at work for 12 hours a day . he'll eat maybe half of a gerber crawler meal 1 a 
day and maybe a fruit cup of mandarins and maybe a chicken strip or a biscuit 
dep on what big jeremy feeds him. He has no interest and doesn't finish a tot 
sized serving all the way ..ever !! So 20 - 25 oz a day of momma milk and maybe 
1 and 1/2 meals through out a whole day ."

That adds up to more than 25 ounces of his mom's milk a day, to me. He weighs 
35# and is 14 month old on July 7th.  


Just looking for any helpful input from you all. Anybody out there with 
experience helping EP? This is new territory for me and working with this mom 
has certainly changed my feelings about exclusively pumping. I now have a 
realistic model in mind and know that this worked for this mom bc she made it 
work. I have met a few moms who have pumped long term for their disabled 
children and I must say that this is quite a demonstration of love. Now, when I 
have a prenatal mom present who says she's going to EP -- I talk to her about 
how that's gonna work for her. It becomes obvious this is not something that is 
"easier."

So, any wisdom I can share with this  mom?

 
Liane C. Varnes, IBCLC

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