Does anyone want to offer any suggestions to this family?  It looks like they
are going to wean if they can't get relief from recurrent plugged ducts.

Rachael Hamlet

In misc.kids, [log in to unmask] (Rick Goldstein) wrote:

>Eliana is 12 weeks old today (!!).  My wife had planned to breastfeed
>exclusively until December, when we would begin gradual weaning in
>anticipation of her return to work in mid-January (she is a jr high
>teacher on leave for the fall semester).  Unfortunately, circumstances
>have forced her to reevaluate the plan and consider earlier weaning.

>Ever since the beginning, but much more dramatically in the last four
>weeks, Bonnie has had chronic problems with plugged milk ducts.  Most
>of the time they clear in a couple of days, but as soon as one is
>gone, another pops up.  She has already had one course of antibiotics
>for mastitis as a result, and the pain got sufficiently bad at one
>point to necessitate a trip to the pharmacy at 1 am for acetaminophen
>w/codeine.  She has seen the lactation consultant at the
>pediatrician's office several times, and spent more than an hour (at
>$15/quarter hour, not covered by the HMO) with the hospital lactation
>consultant.  They could find nothing wrong with the latch-on and the
>baby is getting plenty of milk.  They have advised rotating positions
>more often and applying heat, neither of which seem to have helped.
>Bonnie has been unable to clear the ducts by pumping, and, in fact,
>the additional stimulation seems to make things worse.

>Eliana has had a good start with 12 weeks of breastfeeding, but the
>constant discomfort (and resulting exhaustion from inability to sleep)
>are driving both of us nuts, and we're thinking the best thing to do
>(for us) is to begin weaning now.  We're not pleased that we have to
>do this, but we see no alternative at this point.

>So, first of all, anyone out there have experience with chronic
>plugged ducts?  Did *anything* help prevent them/reduce their
>incidence? (Incidentally, on the advice of the ped's nurse/lactation
>consultant we have also tried reducing saturated fat and adding
>lecithin to Bonnie's diet.  No help.)

>Second, what are people's experiences with gradual weaning?  How did
>you do it?  Can it be done reasonably comfortably?  The OB/GYN
>described the cold-turkey method (compression and ice packs), which
>sounds pretty awful, so we'd like to try to ease into it.

>On a side note: Boulder Community Hospital, where Eliana was born, is
>*extremely* supportive of breastfeeding.  The nurses refuse to allow
>the formula companies to contribute *anything* to the bag o'stuff sent
>home with new parents.  Our ped joked that you can't leave the
>hospital till they stamp 'breast is best' on your forehead (presumably
>backwards so you can read it in the mirror :-)).

>Thanks,
>Rick (Eliana's Daddy since 8/9/95)

>--
>H.F.(Rick) Goldstein, JILA, University of Colorado

J.Rachael Hamlet
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