Hi All,
Two different issues - two different moms:

1)  Wetnursing - thought I'd give an update on my friend and her twins.
Went over this morning (Sun) and talked with her briefly about her idea,
told her why I didn't think it would work, she was still thinking it would
be a good idea - I said "let's talk to Karen about it" (Karen Evon, her LC -
Hi Karen!)  Karen agreed that in this situation it probably would do any
good and asked Jill what she thought the pros and cons would be if we did
this.  Jill came to see that in her situation, this would not be a help.
However, giving donor milk (from me) could be aa help as it would mean the
babies would not have to have ABM if they needed extra milk and she had run out.
        Jill and Karen worked with baby #1 putting him to breast with a
nipple shield - he is unable to get a good solid grasp on the breast without
it at this time - he did GREAT!  We heard swallowing, there was milkk in the
shield when he came off the breast, he would "jump" on the breast when it
was offered!  Success!  Now, give him a few days and try for no shield.
Without a scale, we could not tell if he had taken in a full feedings worth
of milk - but his body language said he had!  :)   Jill was VERY encouraged.
I went over this evening to check on her and there she was - BF baby #1 -
doing great. :)


2)  Got a call from a young mom with a 2.5 mo old baby girl - mom is in hosp
and will be having her gall bladder removed Monday -  she has been in the
hosp since Friday eve.  Baby has been there to nurse several times and when
baby is not there mom is using her sisters PNS and is pumping every 2-3
hours.  Her concern:  She is not getting any more than an ounce of milk when
she pumps, her breasts are not full, adh is afraid that her milk is drying
up.  I asked her what meds she was on - checked them all in Hale - all OK.
I asked her if she had ever pumped before - No.  I asked her if she knew how
to hand express - she said yes, so I aksed her to see if she could express
anything - she could.  I told her that it was my opinion that the stress she
was under and the stress her body was under being ill and requiring surgery
was probably the cause of no milk being pumped and the reason that her
breasts were not full.  (Normally, she said, if she waited too long to feed
the baby (or the baby slept a long time) she would get full and
uncomfortable)  Does this sound like a rational explination to you all?  She
had called a LLLL in the area, whom I know, who told her the same thing. :)
She was concerned that when she went home, she would not have enough milk
for the baby.  I told her that probably would not happen, and to BF the baby
often when she got home, watch the baby for consistent wets and watch her
behavior.  If baby acted hungry then there were other things we could do to
help her increaase her milk supply if neccessary.

Did I leave anything out for her?  With the removal of a gall bladder, is
there any contradiction of in taking herbs to increase milk supply?

TIA!

Jay
Jay Simpson, CLE
Sacramento, California, West Coast, USA
"No Miracles performed here, just a lot of love and hard work."