Enough Milk?

Another question I hear a lot is the one my mother-in-law asks every time we skype: do I have enough milk? No, not the locally expensive, imported liquid squirted out of faraway cows, but the completely free, readily available mommy-milk. I tend to smile/cringe with that question each time since volume has never been an issue for me and my two babies. In fact there's often too much of it (and thus lots of laundry). I still find the question slightly surprising and the frequency of the question amusing but it's an important question since it is at this stage the lifeline for my son. He's growing so well and there's plenty of milk so thankfully this is a question that hardly ever crosses my mind on its own.

It's interesting how such a fundamental and natural, physical process causes so much debate. You know, all the 'feeding on demand / schedule,' 'feeding in privacy / public,' etc. talk. Two women I chatted to this week represented polar opposites as far as their experience of breastfeeding was concerned: one asked 'how I've managed to keep it up' only to add she'd had to stop at 3 months since she didn't have enough milk. The other said she'd talked her husband into having their nth child since she'd loved - and now terribly missed - breastfeeding! Obviously, milk matters.

More on this issue tomorrow.