Yes, yes yes!!!!

If the mom wants to - she deserves every bit of help, support, encouragement
and advice!

I can't tell you the many situations that I was told "they won't" ... from 
 * a mom that was beaten by the father of the baby because she had a baby
with a cleft lip/palate....she pumped and breast milk fed for over 8 months
 * a teen mom who was told she could not pump in school...she did...for over
a year
 * a mom who was told she could not breastfeed her baby, born with NO - I
mean NONE, NADA, NOTHING reflexes due brain damage during birth - at 9
months baby was breastfeeding
 * untold numbers of women in desperate situations around the world - and
they DO

I was not a teen mom - but have been a mother of 3 extraordinary teenagers
and I can tell you that they can do anything they put their mind to!  Some
do even BETTER when their mother tells them they can't <grin>

OUR decision is not whether they can handle it - our decision is to give
them the information of how it can work - and we DO need to give them
alternatives - so we should not teach our "favorite" way to pump or to
supplement or to breastfeed - we need to give them options that THEY let us
know what they can or can't do.

In teaching about pumping I've learned that I MUST have her pump in my
presence at least once - otherwise the pump sits in the corner, like a
monster the mom fears instead of a tool she has learned how to use.

In teaching about breastfeeding and even the use of supplementers, she also
must be able to do it, but sometimes I find that my NOT being there gives
her the opportunity to try it different ways until she figures out what
works best for her.  So I teach, leave her a while alone or even go and
return the next day.  

Right now I have a mom exclusively pumping using the "cluster pumping"
method she built up a non-existent milk supply (at 3 weeks) to a supply that
more than meets her baby's needs.  

Good luck!

Jeanette Panchula, BSW, RN, PHN, IBCLC
California, USA

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
Mail all commands to [log in to unmask]
To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or [log in to unmask])
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet or ([log in to unmask])
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]