Because nursing is more than the milk. The focus for some mothers is not the
amount of milk produced but the intimacy of the breastfeeding itself. How
many mothers have we worked with who will not make milk, but nurse after every
bottle or nurse with a sns/lactaid because it is the nursing that matters to
them. If they are not in pain, and even if the baby is not sucking well enough
to remove much milk, indeed they just enjoy being their baby's comfort. The
goal for some mothers is not fill em up and put em down. Yes, the need to pump
may be real to increase the supply and explaining that gently in a way that
allows her to keep her baby close while she pumps might work for those moms. I
think it depends on your philosophy of parenting, why you are nursing in the
first place, and your support system. As a mom of multiples with no milk for
weeks, and barely milk for weeks had someone said pump too (and they did) I
said when exactly would you like me to do that? When they said instead of a
nursing I said forget it. I was already operating on zero sleep, but my babies
nurse. Period. I could hand express after each nursing for a few minutes and
syringe feed that at the breast next feeding. It was only drops. The idea of
a pump, for me, would have sent me right into full blown depression and I was
already walking on the thread. That experience taught me listen well and be
prepared for moms to not be able to do what I think would work. When we are
giving mothers suggestions we are not in the same vulnerable postpartum place
they are. Adding a few minutes of pumping after nursing may be too much,
replacing nursing with pumping may make sense to the person suggesting it, but break
the heart of the mother hearing it.
I agree with whoever said "are you kidding" for many of the mothers I have
worked with. I think it depends on the dyad. I think assuming mothers would
rather pump and be done with it as opposed to nursing for hours on end is
understandable when your thinking is that the milk is the magic. But, for some, the
milk is just a bonus. For those women in pain with breastfeeding, those
babies who are separated from mother, yes. Pump and make milk and feed the baby.
For those moms with the very low milk supply trying to build it up, pumping
instead of nursing may not be the option. Pumping after a nursing may be too
overwhelming for every feeding, and depending on the cause the pumping may make
no difference at all but instead may take the mom away from what she wants to
do, which is just nurse and hold her baby. I don't remember what started this
thread, but I thought it was about increasing a low milk supply or helping
with the initiation of a milk supply for a mother who was several days
postpartum without milk in yet. If the suck is effective, I don't see the point of
pumping too, if the suck is ineffective, the pump and then practice comment fits
perfectly, and just needs to be presented extremely gently.
I don't 'give' mothers a plan. I discuss all the options, and 'we' make a
plan together that they will try for a day or two, and then reevaluate.
Sometimes I think the quickest way to solve it is xyz, but for mom's real world it
would never happen, so even if it may work she can't do it. Sometimes they
think they can do something, but find they can't after all, and we think of
something else. For those moms who truly do not want to artificially feed their
babies and their babies are happy to nurse milk or no milk, the SNS/Lactaid works
well, because the 'feeding' is not just the product its the process.
Take care,
Pam MazzellaDiBosco, IBCLC
Florida, USA
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