Hello there,
I decided that I might be allowed on this list, as I am about to become
a "leader" (ressource person) for a group that's called "Allaitement
Québec". It is mainly replacing the LLLI in and around Québec city,
with most of its "leaders" being retired LLLL's (there are only 2 LLL
groups left in Québec city, out of about 10-15 or so earlier this
year). In reality, the name is different, but the goal is the same: to
provide support to bf mothers.
I am the first time SAH Mother to Sandrine Leïlou, and my name is
Fiona. I'm 25, and Sandrine is 10 months now. Some of you will know me
from elsewhere (but precious few, given the huge numbers of people on
this list!). Sandrine currently takes in about 90-95% human milk per
day, and the rest in solids. she started solids at 8 months
(everything, no matter what the consistancy, made her gag before that
age), and has always eaten with us at the table, eating "normal food".
We lived through OSS/OALD and then a sort of partial nursing strike (or
perhaps a better definition would be "general distaste for nursing")
from about age 4-8 months. She would rather have done anything but
nurse...and that included sucking on her fingers to put herself to sleep
(but only in Mommy's arms), going "unnh unnh unnh" as if to say "hey,
where's my food?!!". I would then get her to nurse while asleep. She
is finally starting to enjoy nursing and I hope we're in for the long
haul.
I am one of the "lucky ones" who was nursed myself, for 7.5 months. My
mom quit because her pediatrician told her that was the only way to
solve her problem. I slept through the night from birth to 7 weeks,
when they took me to the UK until 11 weeks. I then woke up every 15
minutes to nurse, nursed until letdown, and gave up. From 11 weeks
until 7.5 months, my mom put up with this...and finally weaned me,
having not had any support in her life, not knowing about the LLLI or
anything, at that age, knowing I could drink from a sippy cup then. I
refused all artificial nipples from birth (they tried giving me Simil*c
"until my mom'S milk came in" and i just gagged it out...I guess I knew
what was good for me!). My mom felt like she was being treated like a
pacifier, and had to put a stop to this. As hindsight is 20/20
NOWADAYS, we look at that situation, guess that since she went into my
room (didn't co-sleep) and nursed me sitting up in a rocking chair, and
there was no problem during the day, that probably the prolactin levels
being higher at night, made her perhaps have a more forceful
letdown...??? But that is history.
My brother (15 months younger) and sister (9 years younger) were not
nursed. My mom wishes, again, that there had been the support to pump
for my brother, who was born with a wide bilateral cleft lip and palate,
and could not latch at all. She hand expressed for about 10 days, got
abcesses both sides, and threw her arms up in frustration, quitting. My
sister was adopted into our family at the age of 10 months. After being
on bottles for a long time, and with me and my brother as young
children, my mom did not re-lactate...and I suspect it was in part
because the thought wouldn't really have occurred to her that she could
do so (and besides, the baby was eating solids already). So I was the
only one in the family...but now my mom knows a lot more, and regrets
not having the support to continue, as she's said she'd have nursed me
probably until about 18-24 months at least.
Anyhow...on to my comment. This was posted:
> Would it be ethical,
> for example, to divide a group of pregnant women into two groups and
> tell one group to drink alcohol daily in order to research how much
> would be likely to cause FAS? This is, of course, the challenge in
> breastfeeding research.
I have some personal things about all this alcohol stuff. My adopted
sister suffers from FAE in a very SUBTLE way (which makes it all the
harder, in fact!), and is causing much heartache for my parents right
now, at the age of 17. They suspect that de-tox might be in her near
future.
However, long before my mom adopted my sister, when she was pregnant
with my brother, she had JUST weaned me cold turkey (we are 15 months
apart) and got pregnant again. She had had 4 years of fruitless trying
before having me, so did not expect to get pregnant again so easily. At
Christmas 1975-76 she drank a few drinks at the festivities. She would
have been about 8-10 weeks along with him. She thinks this is likely a
potential trigger for his clefts. Later on, she participated in a
clinical study and drank certain amounts of alcohol to see the effects
on her foetus (now knowing she was pregnant). My brother seems fine
nowadays, but had a lot of problems as a youngster, in maths and other
areas, which my mom thinks stem from her drinking in the study when
pregnant. My brother is very obviously less affected than even my
sister (who does not have full FAS at all), but looking back after
raising my sister, and seeing some similar behaviours in my brother, she
thinks they were related to the alcohol...and presumes that since she
was not an alcoholic/drug addict, and she was only on her 2nd baby, and
much younger than my sister's bio mom (who was up to her 5th child, said
5th being my sister), her body was better equipped to "save the baby" as
much as possible...which is why my brother was less harmed perhaps.
Just a supposition.
Knowing what we now know, I avoided any and all alchohol while trying to
conceive my own daughter, and through my pregnancy.
I was very interested a little while ago at the messages about drinking
and nursing (I've been lurking for a few weeks). I personally have been
avoiding drinking if I know I'll be liable to nurse in the near future
(about 2 hours or so). I was very interested in the talk about the
blood alchol levels and how much alcohol would actually be in the
milk...which makes me realize it is silly to worry overly...BUT I have
always figured I'd rather try OTHER relaxation techniques first anyhow,
if that is the reason I'd want a drink: a hot bath, a massage, lying
down to rest, a drink of chamomile tea...before resorting to alcohol to
relax to nurse. That is my personal opinion, and I am partly VERY
cautious on the side of extra-cautiousness mainly because of my alcohol
affected sibling. I do not want to go through anything like that with
my own daughter. Seeing as there is no KNOWN level that is safe for
babies, I just would rather avoid it all together, when it's liable to
be "close to nursing". However, I was really interested in the talk
about it all, and realize that it is not something to really panic over,
if your BAC is about 0.08 or something...likliehood of the baby getting
much at all, if taking in about 4-8 oz of milk, is slim.
Anyhow, thank you all for such great education. I am seriously
considering that SOMEWHERE down the road, in a while, I might like to go
the IBCLC route. It certainly won't be for a while, not with my young
baby, but maybe in 5-10 years or so...and I've been educating myself
gradually anyhow. So thank you. :-)
Fio.
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