Denise,
I am confused by several points.
Mom says the baby sleeps all night but she cannot pump in the night b/c baby will want to nurse? If she
is afraid that he will want to nurse INSTEAD of the bottle then she can pump only one side, but I do not
know why we would expect mom not to risk losing her supply with a baby so young who sleeps all night.
Besides, if he is willing to nurse at night, why is he not being fed at night?
This baby is too young for solid foods, and they may be contributing to his discomfort. I would also suspect
that this baby has food allergies as his behaviour is certainly consistent with allergies. I would look very
closely at mom's diet and also at the quality of fats in her diet.
Most herbs would not have any properties that would be problematic for her baby, so I do not understand
the hesitation to use them. I rarely use fenugreek alone anyway. There are many other herbs available.
I also wonder if the original problems were ever solved? A baby who feeds inefficiently in the early
months may well drive a supply down by 5 months. Have you watched this baby at breast?
Finally, I would always look at structure. What was his birth like? Is he still trying to manage structural
problems from birth? I would really want to watch his feeding to see if he is exhibiting compensatory
behaviours.
Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, CT, USA
Intuitive Parenting Network LLC
From Denise:
"I have permission to post a desperate email from a breastfeeding mother of a
five month old. He is a hemophiliac, but has not yet required any medical
treatment at this time except careful watching. He will require clotting factors
in the future. Mom struggled with her supply early on, but pushed through
without herbal help--just a lot of nursing and pumping. She did try Brewer's
Yeast, which helped her supply but made the baby very gassy. She didn't try
fenugreek as it is reported to have mild blood-thinning properties and we were
unsure of transmission to the baby. She emailed me the following this am. She
thinks supplementing with formula in the evening may help his fussiness even
though she's feeding him. I tried to talk her into pumping once in the night and
supplementing with that milk in the evenings, but she says he'll wake up and
want to nurse. She pumps once in the daytime and is trying to save that milk
for when she goes back to work. She says she only gets two ounces at that
pumping. She doesn't want to pump more as she says he feeds so frequently
anyway during the day that it will just make things worse. We'd appreciate
any ideas/help.
"I have little ______, who is doing very well weight wise. He had a lot of
trouble nursing in the beginning of our nursing journey. And for nearly 2 and
1/2 months now we have had problems again.
?
Here's what he does: He nurses very well early in the morning when I know I
have oodles of milk. After not nursing all night. >From then on, he his
troubles grow with the day. He has trouble getting enough milk, so he nurses
VERY OFTEN, and usually for only 2 or 3 minutes each side, hardly enough
time for my milk to let down. But he starts screaming and pops off, when I
burp him he is throwing himself back down to nurse more....just to repeat the
cycle.
?
?
By evening, when he's tired....because he won't nap hardly at all, he is a
bear! He is screaming ALOT and I can't even feel my milk let down by 6ish, as
he tries to nurse every hour. He is eating solids. We did rice cereal for two
and a half weeks and then have moved onto some foods, he has had sweet
potatoes, squash and carrots. He does well eating. And he only eats rice
cereal about 3-4 T. for breakfast and then half a small container of baby food
for lunch and dinner as well as 2-3 T of rice cereal.
?
Please help I am at my wits end, I don't know how to help him. I do think he
could be teething, but tylenol does not help and we have also tried little
tummies to see if it was gas. Sometimes I think that is the answer but not
every night. Are there any ideas you may have for us, I want so badly to
nurse for at least a year!"
***********************************************
Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome
|