Dear Lactnetters,

I am posting for a friend who has asked me to write in and get other ideas for
her.  She has had recurrent mastitis with all her children.  She is currently
nursing her fourth child who is three months old.  This problem caused her to
wean her first two early.  She can quote the items given for relief from the
page in the Breastfeeding Answer Book by heart,  and has tried all, so she
really needs some extra ideas.

The babies all gained weight rapidly.  She tries to nurse on one side at a
time during the day, but that can be difficult to manage.  Sometimes she has
to wake the baby up because the other breast is so full.  She is small
breasted and does not wear a bra.

The mother has been drinking two cups of sage tea a day, but it doesn't seem
to have much effect now that she can't get fresh leaves.  She is wondering if
there could be any long term effect on her or the baby since sage is a mild
form of estrogen.  She has recently started using cabbage leaves at night and
that seems to be relieving some of the fulllness but she is still getting some
plugged ducts.

The mother suspects that her oversupply is due to hormones because after
having her last two children, it took 29 months for her periods to return.
She asked her doctor if there is any test to check her hormone level and he
said no.

The mother previously had been treated for yeast problems and allergies so
that may still be a factor.  She is not receiving treatment now because it
didn't seem to make much difference.  She does avoid eating yeast and eggs
since these cause a reaction.  She does have a great deal of information about
eating nutritiously and puts that information into her daily diet.

At one time the mother tried taking a small amount of thyroid since her basal
temperatures are low but it gave her insomnia.  She is not overweight.

She wonders if there is a nutritional link.  She is taking a multiple
vitamin/mineral supplement, extra B-complex, vitamins E and C, lecithin,
acidophilus, flax oil and calcium/magnesium.  She sometimes takes extra zinc
and wonders if she should take more.

When she was treated for allergies a blood test showed her zinc level to be
low.  It took several months of supplementing to bring the zinc level up.  Her
current doctor says he does not have the right equipment to test zinc levels.

She eats a mostly whole foods diet with a wide variety of fruits, vegetables
and grains, and small amounts of meat, fish,  dairy and nuts.  She does have
low blood sugar and has to eat often.  When she is run down she takes
echinacea.  She takes garlic when she has a plugged duct.  Her doctor
suggested extra salt but that seemed to aggravate the problem.  Drinking lots
of water seems to help.

Thanks for any thoughts you may have on this.  Please e-mail me privately as I
don't always get to read all the Lactnet posts / responses every day!

Best wishes to all,

Katy Lebbing, IBCLC
Villa Park, IL  USA
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