Dear wise ones,
    One of the LC's in our practice has recently been working with a mom
whose situation seems quite unusual, and none of us quite knows what to
make of it.  I'm wondering if any of you have encountered this sort of
thing or if you have any idea what is really happening.  Here's the
situation:  Mom just gave birth to her 5th baby, at home, unattended.  She
called us because she's never been successful at breastfeeding past the
first few weeks due to poor milk supply.  At least one of her previous
babies was diagnosed FTT.  This mother currently seems to have good
supply -- baby is a lazy nurser, but able to tranfer 1-2 oz per feed (7
days old).  Lots of bm's and wet diapers.  Weight gain is unknown because
the baby was not weighed at birth; we'll be weighing baby again tomorrow
and will have a better idea.  Here's the strange part:  Mom said that ALL
bleeding stopped on day 2 postpartum.  Not just slowed - stopped
completely.  Then on days 4-5, when she felt her milk 'come in', she began
to bleed but was adamant that this was a period for her.  She says that
the same thing happened with each of her other babies -- bleeding stopped
day 2; then she got her period on day 5, and cycled every month regular as
clockwork after that.  Because she's had a history of poor milk supply and
early cessation of bf'ing, we're wondering how that all ties in.  Any
ideas?  Even when a mother does not breastfeed at all, would her periods
ever return that fast?
So far she seems to be doing all of the 'right' things as far as
breastfeeding management, and things seem to be going well -- but she said
that's what happened the last few times and then it all 'fell apart' after
that initial period.  She's really anxious to make it work this time.
Thanks for all of your wisdom on this one!

-Jeanne Cygnus
The Art of Breastfeeding
Mundelein, Illinois, USA

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