I had a pretty amazing consultation yesterday.  I saw a woman who was
breastfeeding her 14 month old.  She called me because  she was in the
middle of her fith terrible breast infection, and wanted to wean.  When I
got there, I heard her amazing story.
She is a skinny woman who had breast reduction surgery.  This is her fourth
child.  She had surgery between child one and 2.  She used to be a size F
cup.  Now I would say she is a D.  She did not nurse chold one, she said
she didn't have help and her breasts were too large.  2nd was to close to
the surgery and she said it was psychologically hard.  3rd she fed for 2
years.   And this one is close to exclusively breastfed at 14 months.  She
told me the surgeon totally removed her nipple, and took of 2 liters of
tissue.  I was in total shock.  I cannot imagine what her supply must have
been like before the surgery!  Are there any statistics on this kind of
success?  Has anyone ever heard of this?  Her baby gained at the high end
of the charts.    She said her mother had enough milk to feed the whole
neighborhood, but never even fed them because her breasts were also very
large and never could manage with positioning.  She had gotten repeated
breast infections which totally throw her into bed for a week with high
fever and vomiting.
It was interesting just hearing her story.  She said she developed late,
and was close to anorexic skinny when she was a teenager.  She said most of
her breast growth took place in her 20's.
She is now a different person.  She said previously she could not walk into
a room without everyone staring.
Anyway, I had to advise her on weaning because it had come a point where
the infections were getting the most of her.  I told her about the milk
having no outlet, etc.
I just wanted to share a bit of this.  Whatever you read or imagine can
never compare to hearing someone's story, and all the emotional and
psychological turmoil she went through.
Regards,
Jessica Billowitz, IBCLC
Israel

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