I just received a phone call from the stepmother of a 33 yr old woman who
just gave birth 4 days ago, via c-section. The mother in question had
surgery at age 13 to "fix" inverted nipples, and at the time was told
that she may or may not be able to breastfeed. Mom has never been able to
express anything from her breast, nor could MD; her milk came in, she is
severely engorged, and neither pump nor anything else gets so much as a
drop of milk; apparently the sinuses were completely disconnected.

Here's the further rub: baby was started on regular ABM and became very
fussy and gassy. Mom's family has a history of lactose intolerance, so
they tried switching to soy, but baby was still up all night, passing
gas, and also became constipated, having passed rubbery balls of stool.
The mother is extremely distraught that she cannot provide milk for her
baby; she knows the difference it would make. They want to know if
anything can be done for this, is there any kind of procedure by which
they could access the milk before involution occurs..... (not that I know
of!)

I have given info on cabbage and ibuprofen to help with the immediate
maternal pain, and suggested the next level up of ABM, the non-milk/soy
based stuff. I've also addressed all the little stuff like water for
constipation, walking baby, mom getting more sleep, etc.. Is there
anything else that anyone can add to this? Grandma is worried about mom's
depression, and wants to know that they have exhausted every avenue.

TIA,
Lisa

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Lisa Marasco, BA, LLLL, IBCLC
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