It does seem to me that there must be other factors besides not getting a
good milk supply in the first four to six weeks that leads to mothers not
being able to get a full supply later. I have worked with several mothers
who initially decided not to breastfeed, but who discovered after a couple
of weeks that their babies reacted badly to most formulas, so they opted to
try breastfeeding after all. Most were around 3 or 4 weeks post-partum, one
was six weeks, and despite no breastfeeding at all in the first weeks, all
managed to get full milk production going. I have even heard of mothers in
the old days who were given medication to "dry up" their milk and yet
managed to breastfeed.

So I wonder if we should be looking for other factors. Is there something
about a baby nursing with a poor latch for several weeks, for example, that
somehow damages the nipple and thus causes low milk supply even if the latch
is later corrected? I don't know, just throwing out possibilities.

Teresa Pitman
Guelph, Ontario

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