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Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 29 Jan 2001 11:07:09 EST
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Pam talked about her experience of having NO MILK with her twins -- until
eventually ---

So here's my experience, FWIW.  Keep in mind that my ds, Timothy, is the
reason I'm an IBCLC.

Third child, breastfed other two -- not as long as I would have if I were
doing it today, but that's another story for another time.  Never had a "ton"
of milk, was one of those that could make "just enough" and no more.

Fast forward to Timothy:  home birth, no interventions.  He wouldn't latch on
for 5 days.  Syringe fed him & pumped (he's nearly 16, so all the great
gadgets we have now, we didn't have then) using a classic pump.  Pumped every
2 to 3 hours ATC.  I remember getting up at night and going into his room (he
was in ours), and pumping.  Only drops out of the left breast.  Right breast
started to produce, but not much....

Finally Tim latches on -- O Joy! O Delight!! O Frabjous Day!!!  He's now
nursing for 40 minutes (nursing being the operative word here, NOT
breastfeeding) every hour.  I get a 20 minute break.  No milk in the left
breast despite starting AND ending on that side each time, and pumping a
couple times a day as well.

I supplement after every third feeding or so -- the most I can get out of my
right breast is about 2 ounces.  I go back to work, and use a classic pump,
pumping a minimum of 3 times a day, 15 minutes on each side at the least.
Nothing out of the left breast, though I persist.  It's an incredible day if
I get 3 ounces out of the right breast at a pumping.  Meanwhile, Tim is being
fed both breastmilk and formula at the babysitters, and she wonders why he
sleeps so much.

At 7 months I finally give it up, and quit breastfeeding on the left side,
and go strictly to one sided breastfeeding.  By this time, of course, he's on
solid foods, so the lack of supply doesn't seem to make much difference as we
can make it up w/ solid foods.

Sigh.

If it happened now, of course, I'd try Fenugreek & Blessed Thistle & More
Milk, and a supplemental nursing system.....I'd continue to pump, and then
I'd get Domperiodone.

Would it change things?  I don't know.  Why didn't I make milk on the left
side after being OK w/ the two girls?  I don't know.  Did my breasts change
at all during the pregnancy?  Not much -- a bit.  Not as much as they did w/
my first, but that's to be expected.  Did they get full when my milk came in?
 I remember wondering if it would EVER come in....so no, probably not.  Did I
ever *feel* full?  No.

No one has ever figured out why one breast and not the other -- I know I've
posted this story before, but this is to let people know that sometimes
bizarre things happen.  I'm glad there was formula available for Tim -- I'm
one of those that needed to use it.

What I figure is that God decided my next lot in life was to be an IBCLC, so
He'd give me something to work with to help me learn empathy.  I did....I
have....

And when Tim whines about the "B" word on the voice mail, I simply tell him
that if he had breastfed the way he should have, I wouldn't have been an
IBCLC, so it's his fault.

Jan in Wheaton

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