Nikki, I agree that this result of weight loss is not what you would
expect. With the wisdom of hindsight, I just had a few thoughts about
what might be going on.

- The initial problem may have been food intolerance (the soy) and
this had resulted in a secondary oversupply/lactose overload
situation, plus the spitting up.
- It is noteworthy that two things happened together - the
elimination of soy and the strategy to reduce supply. Maybe the
oversupply was not that bad. Perhaps it was made to look worse by the
effects of the intolerance.
- If the baby was 'screaming two hours after feeds', maybe he was due
for another feed, ie it was hunger cues. You didn't mention how often
the baby was being fed. Was she using a schedule? Perhaps he is a
baby who needs little and often.
- When the weight loss occurred, it seems the mother had reduced the
supply much too far. I think she needs to take responsibility to
monitor how much baby seems to be getting. Was there any clue from
the number of wet nappies?
- Maybe there is another intolerance problem, other than the soy.
What did the mum substitute the soy with? Was there a new food
started then? It is common for a short respite after removing an
offending food before the baby starts to react to something new. It
is unusual for food intolerances to be single - more often multiple.

> She said that the amount of milk
that would be sufficient at 8 weeks might not be enough at 12 or 16 weeks.

According to Peter Hartmann's research, the daily amount a baby takes
is approximately constant between one and six months while
exclusively breastfed (the period of study - might be longer) so this
would not support this mother's assumption.

I think that you should not feel bad that 'your advice resulted in
the baby losing weight'. The mother is ultimately responsible for
what happens. All we as LCs can do is provide options, strategies,
etc that have been shown to be helpful with other mothers, and it is
up to the mother to apply them to her situation, and decide for how
long she applies them. She is with the baby every day, and is the one
monitoring how it is going. It sounds odd that the weight loss would
have been a complete surprise to her. I would have thought there
would have been some other clues, eg baby's behaviour, changes in
nappies. Something doesn't quite add up.

I would be interested in what others think.

Joy
******************************************************************
Joy Anderson B.Sc. Dip.Ed. Grad.Dip.Med.Tech. IBCLC
Nursing Mothers' Association of Australia breastfeeding counsellor
Perth, Western Australia.   mailto:[log in to unmask]
******************************************************************

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