Failed BF my first child, will my supply fail 2nd time too?

[PumpkinBump]

When my son was born, I didnt have much luck breastfeeding him. It took me 10 days for my milk to come in, and even after it came in my son got dehydrated, and was also peeing blood. Wasnt gaining weight either. My pediatrician had me supplement with formula because he definately wasnt getting enough. Then he started refusing to eat from my breast so i had to start pumping. I could only pump less than half an ounce from each breast no matter how often i pumped (sometimes every hour i would pump) , and all the supplements and medications i used. I tried 3 different hospital grade double electric pumps (2 medelas and 1 hygeia) , I saw 3 lactation specialists and my OB and nobody could help me. Around 10 weeks he was only getting 1 bottle of breast milk for about 10 of formula because my body just couldnt make enough milk. Then my milk completely stopped coming, i couldnt pump more than a few drops, so he was then 100% formula fed.

So fast forward to now, I am 20 weeks pregnant and am wondering if I am doomed to have the same supply issues. Did anybody else fail at breastfeeding with their first child due to supply issues, but have success with their second?

And please dont judge me and say Ishould have done this, or should have done that with my first. I did anything and everything possible and just couldnt breastfeed or make enough milk for my first, and it hurt my feelings bad!

 

[patch2006uk]

How was your birth with your first? Was it a scheduled c-section? Did you labour at all? A traumatic birth can delay your milk coming in. 10 days is pretty uncommon, 3-5 days is more the average, and I have a friend whose took 7. The reason for your supply did was probably the pumping, rather than anything fundamentally wrong with your supply. Bottles can cause latching difficulties, so I'd advise to avoid those. I had to supplement my first son and we gave them in a cup. You can also syringe feed. Do you have access to BFing support groups? You could even go along while pregnant and talk over your experiences before the new baby comes along.

Good support will be the key, and knowing what's normal and what isn't will help you to have confidence in your supply. Hope all goes well x

 

[PumpkinBump]

How was your birth with your first? Was it a scheduled c-section? Did you labour at all? A traumatic birth can delay your milk coming in. 10 days is pretty uncommon, 3-5 days is more the average, and I have a friend whose took 7. The reason for your supply did was probably the pumping, rather than anything fundamentally wrong with your supply. Bottles can cause latching difficulties, so I'd advise to avoid those. I had to supplement my first son and we gave them in a cup. You can also syringe feed. Do you have access to BFing support groups? You could even go along while pregnant and talk over your experiences before the new baby comes along.

Good support will be the key, and knowing what's normal and what isn't will help you to have confidence in your supply. Hope all goes well x

My birth was very easy, not tramatic. Vaginal birth and i got my epidural before i felt any contractions so it was a piece of cake! And i forgot to mention we did use syringes at first with my son, and i never let him use pacifires either because i wanted him to feed from the breast. I was very determined to make the breastfeeding work. But regardless, he just wouldnt feed from the breast at all, so i swapped to bottles because it just wasnt gonna happen.

 

[misspriss]

Hm 10 days is quite long for a vaginal birth, but not out of the realm of normal.

Mine was in by 7 but probably not fully in until 10. I was induced at 33 weeks though and ended up with an EMCS. Didn't even get to try pumping until long after the birth.

I won't say you should have or could have, because it doesn't help now. You did the absolute best you could do. What matters is this time. You can't let your past experience discourage you this time. I have read (don't remember where) that it is usually easier and your milk comes in faster with a second? Anyway, I do not believe for a minute that your struggles with your first will doom you with your second, and you shouldn't either

 

[PumpkinBump]

Hm 10 days is quite long for a vaginal birth, but not out of the realm of normal.

Mine was in by 7 but probably not fully in until 10. I was induced at 33 weeks though and ended up with an EMCS. Didn't even get to try pumping until long after the birth.

I won't say you should have or could have, because it doesn't help now. You did the absolute best you could do. What matters is this time. You can't let your past experience discourage you this time. I have read (don't remember where) that it is usually easier and your milk comes in faster with a second? Anyway, I do not believe for a minute that your struggles with your first will doom you with your second, and you shouldn't either

YAY! Thank you so much for the encouraging words. I am soooo anxious and almost depressed thinking about how I might fail again at breastfeeding my new baby when she is born. But i hope you are right, I hope the milk comes in faster and I hope she latches on and feeds from my breast like a champ, unlike my son!

 

[sheldonsmommy]

Bf my second was so much easier than my first! Although I didn't have supply issues in the early days, it dropped at around 3 months for various reasons and I wasn't able to regain it. This time around has been a breeze in comparison, milk came in on day 3 despite c-section, and my son was exclusively bf until 6 months .

So by no means does one experience dictate the other negatively, in fact, it makes you more knowledgeable and more equipped to have a successful go. Read as much as you can about bf and how bf babies act in the early days, because even when it's going well it's tough. But if you can expect some hurdles that are considered normal, you can deal with them more effectively, in my opinion.

And you do your best and it doesn't work for whatever reason, please try not to feel guilty! You will have a happy healthy baby who loves you regardless of how you feed him/her

 

[PumpkinBump]

Bf my second was so much easier than my first! Although I didn't have supply issues in the early days, it dropped at around 3 months for various reasons and I wasn't able to regain it. This time around has been a breeze in comparison, milk came in on day 3 despite c-section, and my son was exclusively bf until 6 months .

So by no means does one experience dictate the other negatively, in fact, it makes you more knowledgeable and more equipped to have a successful go. Read as much as you can about bf and how bf babies act in the early days, because even when it's going well it's tough. But if you can expect some hurdles that are considered normal, you can deal with them more effectively, in my opinion.

And you do your best and it doesn't work for whatever reason, please try not to feel guilty! You will have a happy healthy baby who loves you regardless of how you feed him/her

Thank you! That gives me hope that my milk will come in sooner this time, oh the thought of it not coming in again until 10 days is stressing me out!

 

[patch2006uk]

Did you ever get him checked for tongue or lip tie? It sounds like you did all you could with your first. Sometimes we do the best we can, but we can't force a baby to suckle! My first took 8 days to latch on, and was never a great feeder. My second latched on within an hour of birth and has been a pro ever since. One hard experience certainly doesn't guarantee another. Make sure you know where the support is and who you can call if you need to speak to someone. Fingers crossed that this little one is a natural!

 

[PumpkinBump]

Did you ever get him checked for tongue or lip tie? It sounds like you did all you could with your first. Sometimes we do the best we can, but we can't force a baby to suckle! My first took 8 days to latch on, and was never a great feeder. My second latched on within an hour of birth and has been a pro ever since. One hard experience certainly doesn't guarantee another. Make sure you know where the support is and who you can call if you need to speak to someone. Fingers crossed that this little one is a natural!

Yes we had him checked, he didnt have either.

 

[patch2006uk]

In that case, I'd definitely make sure you have someone on call to be with you for the first few days to make sure that there's a good latch and effective milk transfer, and who will be able advise you whether you are one of the women who struggles to exclusively breastfeed. It's uncommon, but supply issues do exist. Perhaps express some colostrum before the birth this time and freeze it in syringes, so you have a method of supplementing that isn't formula for the first days. All you can do is try again and see what happens this time x

 

[MiniBump]

I would totally agree with the above. Don't even think about your previous experience, just like every birth is different, so is every breastfeeding journey. You need to go into this with confidence and trust that you and your baby will do just fine.

Make sure you have some good support around you so that you don't give up at the first hurdle and the colostrum expression is a great idea but don't do it too soon (I think it's safe after 36 weeks but do check). When baby is here, all you can do is try. Have skin to skin straight after the birth and as much as you can after that and put baby to the breast as much as possible.

A good thing to remember is that breastfeeding is 10% milk production and 90% determination. You sound like you have the determination part so don't worry, the rest will come and if it doesn't, you'll know it's not because of anything you did or didn't do!