Hi,  My name is Kris Rogers and I am one of the new subscribers who
learned about Lactnet just last week at the conference on 4/7/95. I am an
RN and I have been a LLL leader since 1974 and am now an AAPL for Illinois.
I am also IBCLC since 1991 and have a private practice as well as a
pump depot.  My three children are: Mark (age 21), Lori (age 19) and
David (age 15) who has been teaching me about using the internet and is
learning how to share all over again. :)
   About the Low Gaining Baby:  I also question whether the mother
accurately assessed the output.  I once had a mom who claimed her baby
had an adequate number of wet diapers, but once the child began receiving
supplements, the mom stated that the diapers had never been all that wet.
I learned to tell moms that the diapers should be as wet as when 2 - 4
tablespoons of water are poured in a dry diaper.  Also if the baby is sucking
incorrectly, (hollowed cheeks) he may only be getting what little
foremilk is available at the beginning and very little calorie rich hindmilk.
Maybe the stools were just small stains in the diaper but were each
counted as one bowel movement.  Sometimes it helps the baby's tongue to
position the baby sitting up facing the breast with his chin flexed to
his chest to help his tongue come down and forward more.  Any other ideas?
About the issue of age:  Karen Pryor in her first book said that
sometimes older mothers have problems because it is a lot more difficult
to fit a baby's schedule (frequency days, etc.) into the lifestyle of
older moms (especially if there are also older children who must be
driven everywhere).  Also at a conference on cancer and breastfeeding, it
was stated that in Hiroshima there was an increased incidence of
breast cancer following the bomb in women under 35, but no increase at
all in women over 35 apparently due to the involution of glandular tissue
after that age.  I thought a pregnancy would "reactivate" the tissue, but
maybe not always enough?

Kris