Hello everybody!  I am Paula Tripp, RN, BSN, IBCLC, LLL Leader and Area
Coordinator of Leaders for LLL of ME/NH.  I live in Maine.  I still work a
little in critical care nursing, and I have a new business, The Breastfeeding
Center of Maine, a private practice with two other IBCLCs.  I have three
children, and I recently ran across a post from Kathleen Auerbach that had
been published somewhere (I'm not sure exactly where) that talked about the
pitfalls of starting an LC practice with young children.  Kathleen, I thank
you for writing that.  It was just what I had been trying to put into words.
 It was a miracle that I found it; I was retrieving something else from the
trash at the office and found it right on top where it had been discarded by
one of my partners.  I since have been able to return to being in touch with
my true values again, which is to say that my main value is being here for my
children.  At this point I'm not giving the business up, but the work I do
there will be at MY pace, and I can be more at peace.  LLL is so compatible
with children, but an LC practice really is not, in my opinion.

My question for anybody who knows - when a mother is working full time and
double pumping with an automatic pump appropriately, and nurses when at home,
can her milk supply drop slowly as her child gets older?  This mother's
daughter is 8 months, does not take a large amount of food yet, and the
mother cannot meet her needs for pumped milk any longer.  She has watched her
expressed milk drop slowly from 16 oz/day to 6 oz.  Nursing and pumping more
has not helped, nor has the nettleleaf tea that worked when this happened a
few months ago.  She does say that the baby has decreased her nursing session
durations lately.  I was just wondering though, if this problem could also be
inherent in long term pumping with a good pump.

Thanks, and I hope NOT to be overwhelmed this time and to stay with Lactnet.
 I tried in the beginning, but it was too much for me.
Paula