Desperate to breast feed after failing before.

[happigail]

Ladies this is longgggggg so if you read please take a gold star!

I am DESPERATE to breast feed this baby! I will take any advice and support offered. I've asked my midwife for additional support but after my experience last time, I don't see that coming through.

So basically a bit if background. ive never leaked milk during pregnancy with either pregnancy. I developed high blood pressure at 38 weeks with Kitty and ended up having a c section at 38+5. I was in hospital for another 4-5 days. During that time I breast fed Kitty, but her weight kept dropping. I kept telling them I'm not making anything, not even the colostrum. They kept poo pooing me. Finally someone tried to milk me and guess what? NOTHING came out, zero, nadda, nothinggggggg. She brushed it off and said Oh well any day now it will come in. So I go home finally. I keep telling them nothing is coming out... 5 days pass at home and she's losing weight that whole time and constantly latched and upset, no pooping, dry nappies etc. By now I'm worried sick and actually had not slept for 5 days straight. I was switched to health visitors and finally one said you're going to have to top her up but make her work for it, get her to feed at the breast and then top up... 2 feeds in she rejected my breast totally and my dream was lost. I had no pain of drying up.. I tried to express so I could put that in the bottle at least and guess what? That's right, nothing came out.

This was so upsetting to me, I cried and dealt with a lot if guilt.

Since then my mum has told me that my long passed Nan (we had late babies, my mum is in her 70's) had no supply back then and my mum was on cows milk from birth and my mum also had no supply and bottle fed me). What if I just won't make milk? What is I'm genetically unable to feed my own babies?

Does anyone have any advice at all for me feeding this precious little girl growing in my belly? Thank-you if you read everything!

 

[Celesse]

I have a very hard time getting going in the first few weeks. I had an 18% weight loss with #1 and a 14% weight loss with #2 (though he was poorly and tube fed for a bit,). I don't leak in pregnancy, never really leaked after baby has been born either.

My first was readmitted on day 5. I had pretty much no milk there for her. I remember one day the Sister came over, gave my boobs a squish (as they do) and got me prescribed domperidome. That, plus frequent expressing helped my supply increase to a reasonable level and I was able to slowly transition from bottle to boob.

My second was a bit more complicated as he was poorly, then I was poorly. But same similar situation.... by 3 weeks I didn't have enough of a supply to successfully breastfeed him and needed to take domperidome and express a lot before I had a good supply.

This time I'm not sure what my plan is. I do have stockpiles of domperidome, but I don't know the expiry date on it. I am planning on heading to my local boobie group after I've got a clear idea on my birth plan and work out a solid feeding plan to avoid another case of low supply and poorly baby.

 

[happigail]

I've never even heard of domperidome, so this is something can suggest? And also you had to bottle feed a little but then transitioned back to boob. Omg there may just be hope for me yet. Thanks celesse

 

[chulie]

I had a very petit daughter and was worried I wasn't producing enough so I was also prescribed domperidon..it worked great. It actually can work so well women who totally stop nursing it can start taking it and have their milk "restart". Another option I heard about that I may consider next time is a vitamins you can buy at any store. "Blessed thistle" and "fenugreek" I've hear can do amazing things to increase supply.

Also...water is so crazy important. I mean obviously you need more than just the but....along with the vitamin..drinking a ton of water every day will help with milk production. Good luck hunny!!!!

 

[seaweed eater]

I would look into support groups for IGT (insufficient glandular tissue). I don't know whether it's hereditary but I wouldn't be surprised. Taking domperidone can help.

Another possibility is that your LO had some latch problems that prevented her from stimulating your supply and that's why it was so low...but I would still expect you to have noticed your milk coming in in that case. Even moms who never even try to BF usually produce milk at first.

You did wonderfully knowing when to quit with your first baby. Rule #1 is feed the baby! It sounds like you were well informed and did everything you could. There is absolutely no shame in giving formula, especially if there is a real need. And don't let anyone tell you that it hindered your bonding or nonsense like that. I completely understand grieving that things did not turn out the way you wanted, but it sounds like you were a great mother to your LO despite the circumstances.

 

[Flake-y]

I didn't leak milk in my last pregnancy, none so far this one. And I very rarely leaked the whole time I was feeding either. Leakage isn't an indicator of supply.

Low milk supply is possible, but it's very rare, less than 1% of women have a true low supply. I would probably say that poor latching is a more likely cause for the problems you have.

In the first few days you won't get much, if anything coming out, colostrum is just the odd drop here & there. And no one, not a midwife or any pump in the world can get milk or colostrum out as efficiently as your baby. Even once your milk comes in, a pump might not get anything, cause your boobs are used to making milk for your baby & all the hormones that go along with that, not a plastic machine.

Most important thing is to get the baby on the boob as often as possible in the early days. As soon as baby is born, get them on the boob. They'll probably need to feed at least every 2-3 hours at first, or maybe more, & cluster feeding is also totally normal. If your baby hasn't fed for 3 hours & is still asleep, wake them up. You might get a lot of people telling you not to wake a sleeping baby but it's more important to stimulate your breasts to tell them to hurry up & get your milk to come in!

Hopefully things will work out better for you this time!

 

[CandyDay]

as others have suggested fenugreek and blessed thistle are supposed to help with supply. You need to take quite a bit at least 3 of each 3 times per day. You should smell like maple syrup if you don't then take more fenugreek. They are natural and you can get them at a health food store. You can also look up foods and recipes for lactogenic foods to help with supply. Lactation cookies taste great. You can also talk to your doctor about domperidone. That is a prescription that can help. If you have a La leche league in your area I would suggest looking them up. They are a great support and knowledgeable. You can go to some meetings before you give birth and after as well. Talk to your doctor about the fact that your nan had troubles lactating and you want to be checked for anything hereditairy that could be contributing to your lack of milk production. If you do need to supplement in the beginning consider a supplemental nursing system. So that your LO is always on the breast to feed to help stimulate milk production.

Look up breast crawl as well. Perhaps you can try it when you give birth.

 

[happigail]

Wow Thank-you so much for the excellent advice everyone and I will be asking for the prescription and buying the supplements.

I had Kitty to the breast constantly and was told her latch was perfect, it did feel right I must admit.

It does seem so odd that 3 generations of women all couldn't produce milk. I want to break the chain if I possibly can so this advice is amazing, Thank-you so much x