Hi, all. Thanks for your responses to the syntocinon substitute question.
It took a bit of time to collect all the info, and I still as yet have
one unanswered question: if we try the sublingual application of pitocin
idea, how much?

This story took an interesting twist. A colleague, MFCC(almost)/LC got
wind that I was working with this mom, and she called me to ask how it
was going; she, too, had dealt on a different level with this mom and had
concerns for her. As I described what was going and my intuition about
inhibited MER, she agreed strongly with me and then said, "did you ask
her about her two other children who don't live with her"?  Well, I knew
about them from her history, knew their breastfeeding history, but had
not explored the question of why they were no longer living with her. So
at our next consult shortly thereafter, I asked her to tell me about her
other children, and the tears immediately flowed. To make a long story
short, she had been the wife of a pastor who cheated twice on her. When
she finally refused to put up with the deception and left him, she took
the children, but later on he convinced them to live with him instead and
told them lies about counselors, counseling, and who was to blame for the
breaking up of their family. He successfully alienated the children from
her, and now they are exhibiting many problems as they continue to live
the lie with their dad, who lives in delusion. She admitted to me that
she had a hard time bonding to the baby and that late in pregnancy she
developed a fear of this baby, too, leaving her some day. This poor mom
was terribly traumatized and had shared her fears and pain only with her
new husband and her own mother. Because she and I are both Christians and
because she did not have someone else to go to, I prayed with her after
her hour of tearfulness, for release from the fears, the pain, and for
release of her milk. We saw no difference afterwards in the office, but
she told me that later that day her milk "came in", she leaked and
dripped all over, and that she had experienced tremendous relief after
the sum total of our consult.

This is the second time that I have seen
psychosomatic inhibition of milk ejection, but the first that I dealt
with all the way through personally (my colleage figured out and dealt
with the first one-- abortion/guilt & mothering issues). I'd like to say
that everything is wonderful now, but it is not. She told me that she
knew that she could bring her milk supply back up (baby was 3 wks old
when we did this), but she was so overwhelmed by that point with all of
the stress to date, an extreme uncomfortableness with nursing in front of
most anyone else, and with her impending return to work at 8 wks pp, that
she has decided to continue to do bottle & breast and "let nature take
its course". We discussed this a bit further, but I had to let go of her
and let her know that I was there if she needed me any further. She feels
tremendous gratitude for what we accomplished, but this is all she can
handle for now. I am glad for her peace of mind, and that at least she
knows that her body has not failed her.

-Lisa

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Lisa A. Marasco, IBCLC                                /  [log in to unmask]
International Board Certified Lactation Consultant    /  [log in to unmask]

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