Too Much of a Good Thing
Kate Drzycimski
Norfolk NE USA
From: NEW BEGINNINGS, Vol. 19 No. 4, July-August, 2002, p. 129
I just changed a very messy
dirty diaper, and I couldn't be happier! Yes, cleaning a dirty diaper
is a welcome task in our household because having a bowel movement used
to be quite a challenge for my four-month-old son, Liam. He would draw
up his legs, act like he was bearing down, and then scream. He would
also refuse to eat and often would not sleep well. This started after
he was no longer having a bowel movement every day, around six weeks
old. I knew that irregular bowel movements were normal for breastfed
babies, and I had even experienced this with my first son. However,
this much discomfort related to emptying his bowels did not seem normal
to me. As a La Leche League Leader, I have many resources that I can
go to for information, but I could not find anything related to our
situation.
After several weeks of trying
to deal with this problem, we decided to give Liam glycerin suppositories.
Our family doctor assured us that they contained no laxatives so Liam
could not become "addicted" to them. They were to act more
as a lubricant and to stimulate his muscles to push.
The suppositories definitely
served their purpose of helping him to move his bowels. It was a very
easy fix for the fussiness, breast refusal, and sleeplessness. However,
I began to do more research and found that other sources said that even
glycerin suppositories can make a baby dependent on having "help."
I was also bothered by the fact that all the information I was looking
at concerned formula-fed babies who were constipated with dry, hard
stools. I really didn't think my breastfed baby should have been struggling
with having stools that were still soft. I finally decided that there
must be an underlying problem, and I was no longer comfortable giving
Liam a suppository.
I contacted my Area Professional
Liaison, an LLL Leader that other Leaders turn to when they cannot find
the answer to a problem within their own resources. Although she found
very little information on difficulty with bowel movements, we were
able to draw some conclusions based on what she did find. We decided
that I may have had an oversupply problem. Liam was getting too much
foremilk, which can lead to gassiness and abdominal pain, and not enough
hindmilk, which acts as a laxative.
When I looked at the problem
through the perspective of having an overabundant supply, it made perfect
sense. Liam and I had struggled with too much milk in the early days
as well. I was so intent on making sure that we were nursing often enough
to stave off jaundice, which we'd dealt with for our first child, that
I would constantly encourage him to nurse, switching sides frequently
to keep him interested. He developed green, watery stools, and I backed
off to just one side per feeding.
Even so, Liam would vomit,
not just spit up, every evening. I could tell that it was simply from
being overly full. Eventually he grew out of the vomiting, and I really
thought that we were past the oversupply problem. He still spit up quite
a bit, but my first child had spit up even more, so I just hadn't thought
too much about it. After talking with my Area Professional Liaison,
I finally decided that overabundant supply was still causing us problems,
and it was time to fully address the issue.
In order to increase the
amount of hindmilk that Liam was receiving, I stopped switching sides
so frequently. Even though I had only been offering one side at a feeding,
he had a feeding every half hour or so. I hadn't stopped to think about
how often this meant I was switching sides. I decreased that to switching
sides every six to eight hours. What an improvement! Liam stopped acting
like he constantly had to have a bowel movement. Another three days
later, he filled his diaper almost effortlessly, and I breathed a sigh
of relief. We have had very few problems ever since. In fact, he even
stopped spitting up as much. The only significant drawback is finding
a balance between sticking to my schedule of switching sides every six
to eight hours and "watching my baby and not the clock." Even
though I feel as though I should know my baby's cues by now, I still
have a hard time deciding if he is going through a growth spurt and
needing to increase my milk supply, or if he's just fussy for other
reasons. However, I would choose this problem any day over the constant
struggle we had when I frequently switched breasts.
I am very grateful to my
Area Professional Liaison for helping me to evaluate our situation.
I am amazed at the host of problems overabundant supply can cause, yet
very glad that they can be solved with a little breastfeeding management!
Last updated Friday, September 15, 2006 by njb.
Page last edited Sun Oct 14 09:30:09 UTC 2007.
