At 12:48 PM 7/27/02 -0400, you wrote:
>James Smith wrote:
>
> > My wife could only breast feed for close to 5 months
> > as she was not producing quality milk (this was pre-paleo).

>I've never heard of a woman "not producing quality milk" and
>would suspect you've been given some misinformation. (This is not
>surprising, as most medical professionals do not have proper training about
>breastfeeding.)

>If you are concerned your wife will have trouble breastfeeding, I would
>recommend lining up an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant
>(IBCLC) before the birth, so you have a resource to go to if necessary.
>(You can search for local IBCLCs here: http://www.ilca.org/find/index.php )


I successfully nursed all three of my children for over two years each and
I think Rosemary's recommendations are right on the money.  The biggest
obstacle to successful nursing is lack of information and support.

One other VERY important thing that you must remember...the mother's body
determines how much milk to produce based on how often the baby nurses and
how much the baby drinks.  If the baby is getting ANY other nourishment
from ANY other source, it will decrease the amount of milk the mother
produces.  Every time you give your baby something else to suck on, you
will reduce the number of signals the baby sends to the mother's body and
that will reduce the amount of milk produced.

Mother's milk is ALL the baby needs.  No water (as long as the mother is
drinking enough water, the milk will have enough for the baby), no
pacifiers (every suck on that pacifier is one less on the mother's breast),
no bottles (pumped milk in bottles is okay if you HAVE to, because milk
production is still stimulated, but can still cause nipple confusion in
some very young infants).

Rosemary's recommendation to sleep with the baby should not be lightly
disregarded, either.  I know this is particularly hard for fathers to deal
with because they want to have their bed and their wife to themselves at
night, but it is much better for the mother and the child and some
sacrifices are worth making-you can have her back in a couple of years :o)