Just a quick note to all who advised me on the baby I thought might be FTT,
who Dr. was telling mom to supplement with formula.

The mom got in touch with a great LC, who said baby's suck, palate and
tongue all look fine to her.  He doesn't suck as hard as his siblings did,
but perhaps they sucked extra hard!  She said yes he's pale, but he's a
redhead and it's not that unusual.  Said he looked developmentally normal
to her, just small, and she's not worried.  What she thinks happened is
that he sucked weakly at birth (she was not allowed to BF when he was in
NICU) and that he just got accustomed to small amounts and therefore his
mother's supply never got very large.

LC did some calling around and got a grant pump (mom's husband was laid off
last month). She then found a dealer who actually delivered the grant pump
to the mom, who is *very* happy now because on her first try, after only an
hour, she got an ounce.  Before, with the G--e Exp---s that the hospital
gave her, she tried for over an hour and got TEN GRAMS.  What perseverance,
to even keep trying!  Meanwhile the baby refuses to take milk any way
except BF but she is going to keep offering, and is going to
try a spoon.

She feels a whole lot better, now that his suck has been evaluated, she has
a pump, she has a plan, and she no longer believes that she can't make milk
because she's 42 years old.  Apparently, every problem she has had has been
blamed on her age.  People have actually said to her, "Well, what do you
expect, at your age?"  No, I am not kidding.  She said until she got to the
LLL meeting this week, she was convinced (by others) that she couldn't make
milk because she was too old.  Sheesh.

Apparently the hospital where she gave birth doesn't have a
lactation counselor of any kind because "most of the moms who give birth
here aren't interested in breastfeeding."  Well, duh, if they have no
support and it's never suggested to them, how could they be interested?
The hospital is so poorly funded and so inadequate that after her
c-section, when she had
to have an IV pole for 24 hours, she said the wheels on her pole were
broken off and
she had to drag it along!  She said that's just a small example of what's
there.

(BTW her c-section was planned; she had all her kids that way.  I didn't
ask why.  She said the low birthweight was a huge surprise to her but that
it was a result of preeclampsia.)

Another thing is that this mom was pleasantly overwhelmed by the support
she got from the internet, and the LC! She said that if she'd known this
kind of support was available, she'd have sought help much sooner.

Thanks again to you all.

Nancy Kramer
Who needed some good news today...