I would like to re-introduce myself.  I followed Lactnet posts years
ago but quit lurking when I returned to school full-time.  I have been
working in maternal-child nursing X 22 years.  I have worked in the NICU for
14 of those years.  I am presently working half-time as a contractor for a
military hospital; I work in the Maternal-Infant Early Discharge Program
(home visits).  I also work as needed at a lactation center in town.  I have
breastfed my 3 children--Alyssa, 20 yrs old; Jason, 16 yrs; and Richard, 12
yrs.  I am married to an air force physician, Brian (Chief of Neonatology),
and we will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary next month.
        I would like to comment on Joylyn's post regarding "prolapsed
bladder and breastfeeding."  I am not a uro-gynecologist, but I have
personal experience in this area.  From what I understand, a prolapsed
bladder or cystocele is caused from a relaxed pelvic floor (contributing
factor & genetic tendency).  A number of things can contribute to that
condition and childbirth damage is one of the main contributing factors.  I
had a 4th degree tear with my first child and 2nd degree tears with my other
two children.  My symptoms of stress incontinence worsened after each
delivery.  I was encouraged to do Kegal exercises, no mention of estrogen
cream.  Finally, after I weaned my 3rd baby from the breast, and by then my
cystocele had progressed to a 3rd degree due to additional trauma from
additional childbirth experiences, I elected to have surgical repair.  Even
with a 3rd degree cystocele, there is no urgency to have the condition
repaired.  It's a matter of wanting a higher quality of life--eliminate
stress incontinence and decrease risk for bladder infections r/t not
emptying bladder efficiently.  I don't believe there is anything one can do
to reverse the damage that is done after all the healing from childbirth has
taken place, but one doesn't want to worsen the condition by lifting
excessively heavy things, etc.  To avoid recurrence post-operatively, my
uro-gynecologist recommended that I avoid lifting very heavy things, avoid
frequent squats, or jumping around (i.e., high impact aerobics).  I would
advise your 1st time mom to get a second medical opinion and perhaps do a
search on-line or visit a medical library to seek additional information
before making a decision she might regret.  I personally would not wean and
would not take the estrogen cream while breastfeeding.  I have never heard
of that recommendation before.  I breastfed my children long-term and spaced
them out.  I had my surgery 12 years after my 1st child was born.

Regards,
Brigitte Hall, RNC, MSN, IBCLC
San Antonio, TX (USA)

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Date:    Fri, 9 Jul 2004 19:36:19 -0700
From:    joylyn <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: prolapsed bladder and breastfeeding

"I am working with a first time mom of a 9 week old baby who has been
diagnosed with a prolapsed bladder.  Mom was told by OB/GYN to stop
breastfeeding, and to apply topical estrogen cream to the area.  I'd
like to hear from anyone who has some experience with this sort of
thing.  Weaning seems to be a bit drastic, and it seems the doctor
didn't even suggest Kegals....."

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html