Dear Lactnetters,

I wanted to update you on two mothers I wrote about a month or so ago.  Both
have come to enough resolution that I felt it was time to let you know the
outcome.

The first mother had ongoing problems with pain, puffiness and plugged ducts.
 She was treated for mastitis with Diclox and then treated for yeast orally.
 Both provided temporary relief but the problems returned usually 4 days (or
so) into treatment.  Some of you recommended to have her checked for
inflammatory breast cancer which was my main concern.  The first doctor told
her breastfeeding women cannot get breast cancer and refused to refer her for
a mammogram.  The second doctor felt strongly that it wasn't breast cancer
and put her on a stronger antibiotic, Cephalosporin.  The problem has since
cleared up completely.  She has had two plugged ducts in the past month, both
during the early days of her menstrual cycle, both cleared easily.  She feels
terrific. She has a history of fibrocystic breasts and I'm wondering if the
hormonal changes caused in the breast from that is the cause of the plugs
originally.  I'm keeping in touch with her anyway, just in case.

The second mother was the one the doctor told me was low IQ and therefore
could not make decisions.  She is still breastfeeding and supplementing.  She
is overfeeding the baby and I'm having a heck of a time getting her to cut
back on ABM.  Baby is gaining 11-14 ounces per week.  She has gone back to
work and is pumping at work 2-3 times per day.   Interesting thing happened
with this mother....  One visit she was really worried that her milk supply
was dwindling and baby wasn't getting enough.  I had done test weight with
baby on the previous visit and baby had gotten @2 ounces at breast but she
was still worried.  Since baby was asleep I suggested we just pump and see
how much we would get.  If baby woke up we would feed the pumped milk back to
baby at breast.  This mother began rocking back and forth when she started
pumping, chewing on her top lip and her eyes kind of rolled up.   I had
already talked to this mother about going into counseling to resolve some of
her feelings of inadequacy about her mothering.  Her response the minute I
said counseling was to ask if I thought she was crazy, with a nervous giggle.
 She's a sweet lady but from what she has told me I suspect she has been
abused by someone and that is really affecting her parenting experience.  She
knows I have a referral ready for her if she wants it and in the meantime she
calls me about twice a week with questions.

Thanks for all your help, support and input on both of these.  They have been
my challenges for the month.

Denise Parker
La Crescenta, CA (near L.A.)