Hi and welcome back to the Net, all you travellers and conference
junkies! Does my jealousy show?? Tina, you were a wonder. I was almost
there, with your help.
A woman pIV came to my clinic with a 3 wk old, and once we had settled
her immediate problem, she presented me with an interesting question.
Seems that her milk dried up spontaneously at 3 months with her previous
3 children. She claims that she was fully bf, no supplement, no solids,
was under no stress, did not return to work/studies. Only possible hint
was that she had return of her menstrual periods at only 6 wks pp.
In our collective wisdom, what is going on here? My psychological take
after speaking with her and watching her bf the present infant is that
she is placid, patient and well-motivated to bf. The reason for her visit
to me was that she was hospitalized at 2 wks pp for uterine infection,
received IV antibiotics ("3 different kinds", did not know meds), was told
not to bf. She tried to pump/express, but received no help from hospital
staff and found it very difficult to accomplish with IV line (I told her
to write a letter of complaint to the head of the division, patient relations,
and head of the hospital). Before the hospitalization, the baby gained about
300 g/wk, but the week that she was hospitalized and he received abm, he
gained 200 g. Baby latched well, had vigorous suck in spite of not getting a
lot of reward for his efforts (occasional swallows heard). In spite of her
recent difficult experience, mom is remarkably calm, listened quietly, appeared
very loving, "maternal". Unless she has some strange hormonal thing going
on, I haven't got a clue, but I am fairly sure that she would be a much
longer-term bfer if given the chance. Ideas, anyone? Thanks! Judy K.