Hi All,
Here's a success story for a change. Three years ago I worked with a mom
who arrived for a consult with "grandma" carrying the baby and firmly
directing the events. The baby had a bad suck and a 1.5-inch diameter scab
on the crown of his head from a misapplied vacuum extractor. Mom was
somewhat engorged but with plenty of milk. Pumping softened the breast and
we got the baby on; but grandma remained convinced it wouldn't work. Mom
called a few times, then went back to work 8 weeks later and weaned the
baby to formula and bottles, much to grandma's relief. Many ear infections
followed. (sigh)

Chapter two: same mom contacted me with baby #2, several days postpartum.
The baby had a huge cephalohematoma, again from vacuum extractor, but the
suck was OK. Mom rented a pump for a few days since her milk supply was
very high. She later worked through a 3-week fight with thrush. Tonight she
called (3 months postpartum) - she's back at work, baby is getting 100%
breastmilk during work including BF during lunch breaks and exclusively BF
the rest of the time; mom has learned to avoid dairy because of
recently-diagnosed allergies (big surprise), baby sleeps with mom & dad,
grandma gets to baby-sit two days a week, and mom has started attending LLL
meetings.

She says she wishes she'd listened and taken more of my "advice" with baby
#1. She's MUCH happier that she is hanging in with breastfeeding much
longer. I'll count this one as a "win."

Linda J. Smith, BSE, FACCE, IBCLC
Bright Future Lactation Resource Centre
Dayton, OH USA
http://www.bflrc.com