Hey, before I forget, and in case we lose the 'net and all, I don't want to forget to tell you to share with ANY new mom something I learned from my Ohio chiropractor's wife, who shared breastfeeding knowledge with me way back in the day.

You may already know this stuff, but I know you've said you'd take all the help you can get for Grace. And, if you already know this stuff, well, there are others who read here that may not.

At the six-week mark, is when the little cutie-pies have their first big burst of growth. That means they will deplete every single drop of milk you have, and then some. The DC's wife, Mrs Blair, told me info that embarrassed me at the time, but I was sure glad I had it for later use. She said, "First, you want to be sure every bit of milk is drained from the milk ducts. That includes being in all kinds of positions for your baby to ensure this. There's the typical hold everyone knows. Then there's the 'football' position, with baby tucked under armpit being held with one arm with head in hand, position. Then, there's the 'baby in babyseat or on floor position'. This one is the one moms have the most discomfort with, because Mom is literally hanging over their baby like a cow, breasts just hanging freely over baby. But gravity helps with this one, and it ensures that baby gets every last drop."

I remember laughing at that last one, but I sure did do it, because at the six-week mark my daughter cried and cried because Mama ran out of milk. Most doctors just love this time:

"You don't have enough milk - gotta go to formula now."

"Your milk has dried up - gotta go to formula now."

"How long has this gone on? You are starving your baby! Gotta go to formula now."

Mrs Blair was quite irate. "Stupid medical doctors. Don't they know how innately intelligent our bodies are?"

Moms who are actively breast-feeding, and walking in the middle of a store all alone (without their own baby), know that any crying baby will cause their milk to embarrassingly leak before they can even get their breasts back home to their babies! The crying is a trigger with Mom's body that causes the milk to drop in her breasts! Hey, God knew what He was doing! DUH! Stay with your baby! ;^) (I still wish I had bought or made a babysling.)

So, why do we have times when we actually run out of milk? Well, we're providing milk for a baby of a certain weight! But, they will have bursts of growth! So, these bursts of growth must trigger Mom into making more milk!

So, when baby is approximately at six-weeks of age, marks Mom's first experience at needing to manufacture even more milk!!!

So, when your breasts run out of milk, and baby is constantly crying for your breasts every hour on the hour, that's exactly what you do...give them to him/her anyway. You 'hunker' down, and prepare yourself for 24-72 hours of providing constant attention to baby. What I did was have my daughter's "boppy" (a type of pillow), and a nice comfy pillow-laden part of my comfy couch, a big container of water near-by at all times, and also, a husband who KNEW all this and who provided my meals for me. I wasn't getting much sleep, but I was in a restful position. Because of my prior knowledge, I kept my stress down, BECAUSE I HAD PRIOR KNOWLEDGE THAT THIS DAY WOULD COME!!!

So, I relaxed, knew there'd be a lot of nursing (about every hour on the hour!) with daughter getting no satisfaction, and the relaxing helped to ensure my breasts would not get too sore, and listened to her bawl her head off.

All this is natural, folks. Think about it.

Constant nursing and crying and hydration and nourishment and RELAXATION, created a little overtime production within my own body.

Gee, guess what? My milk didn't dry up after all. I just started to manufacture MORE - for my growing child. It also created a more voluptuous ME! heh - well, for a time, anyway - but I digress....lol.

Nope, I did NOT give in to the formula. To this day, my daughter has never had a lung infection, either! She'll be 14 in the fall. I've read that the longer babies are breastfed, the healthier their lungs will be. Imagine that.

She weaned herself at 14 months...about the time I almost died.

But that's another story. I didn't know about iodine back then. The little brat took it all for herself and KNEW it.

"Babies and Their Evil Ways" - Story at 11.

;^P