[nikkiethridge]

My story is long, But I will try to sum everything up and get to my actual question.
My son is almost 10mo now.
When he was born, I had no supply at all. I had a natural, but pitocin augmented birth, and no drugs. My son lost his 10% weight in 48 hours. I went to an LC, and she examined me. She was really surprised that nothing was coming out when she hooked me up the a hospital grade pump. I was told to supplement. She told me that my milk will come in soon and I would see dramatic increases. In the meantime I was to keep trying to nurse before I supplemented and pump 7 times a day. So I did.
It wasn't until my 7th or 10th post postpartum day that I started to see milk. I was still nursing, but with pumping alone I was able to get out 1/2 an once for the entire day (pumping 7-8 times a day, 20-25min each time). My son would nurse ok, but his stomach was always growling and after nursing 30-40 min he would just start screaming, so I would supplement. I'm pretty sure his nursing was effective, but even still I was told I would see increases with pumping alone. I was using a Medela Lactina.
I started myself on fenugreek, with no noticeable improvements. My LC instructed me to go see my midwife, and have her check my thyroid and hormone levels.
She did, everything was normal.
Then, I started taking fenugreek and reglan. I was pumping around 3oz a day, one time I was able to pump out 8oz for the entire day for 2 days, but then it dropped back down to 2-3oz. I soon had to take myself off the reglan due to side effects.
I made sure my diet was great, I stayed hydrated, drank barley water, introduced all kinds of lactogenic foods, rested when I could, ect. Nothing was working.
I fell into such a depression that I really don't remember much about my son's 1st month of life. I just remember always being at the LC's office asking "what's next?" and doing internet research.
I gave up 2, almost 3 months postpartum.
A WONDERFUL mama on here PMed me and sent me dom (like reglan but without the side effects) Sadly, It just wasn't strong enough to bring my milk back. I know donor milk is always an option, but I need MY body to work. If it can't...I NEED to know why. I don't think there is a day that goes by that I don't wonder what happened. If there was something more I could have done. My husband and I talk about having another baby someday, but I just feel like if I can't figure out what happened, or if I really am unable to breastfeed, then I really have no business TTC.

Is there a specialist I can see, maybe someone who can check and see if my ducts never fully formed? Or if maybe I just don't have the glandular tissue?

Could perhaps the pitocin during my labor cause all of this?

I'm hoping someone can read this and please offer me some advice.

 

[azgirl]

This book helped me start thinking about my plan for next time...you will know a lot of the info, but it is the most up-to-date stuff. I plan to re-read it when I am pregnant!
http://www.amazon.com/Breastfeeding-...8753626&sr=8-1

 

[thepeach80]

My copy of the book is on it's way!

Start here http://www.mobimotherhood.org/MM/default.aspx and gather info. I'm following that for this pgcy and will hopefully find something that helps.

 

[bri276]

were you nursing for those 48 hours before the LC hooked you up to a pump and for some reason was surprised not to see milk? (it can easily take a few days for your milk to come in, before that it was just drops of colostrum for me) If so, did your baby have wet diapers? How often was he nursing?

Honestly, I think the supplementation is what destroyed your supply. The most important thing is demand. The seven times a day you were pumping, how long were your nursing sessions before pumping and how long did you pump for, and was it a hospital grade pump?

I am sorry you had this experience last time...I wouldn't assume you'll have a problem this time, but stay away from formula. Losing 10% of body weight is definitely the most you'd want to see, but it does happen on occasion, and as long as there are plenty of wet diapers the baby is okay.

 

[thepeach80]

Quote:

Honestly, I think the supplementation is what destroyed your supply. The most important thing is demand.

Honestly, it's saying things like this that just make things worse. I totally fell for this w/ my first, I blamed myself for supplementing (feeding the baby, it's something you HAVE to do, whether it's bm or not and some people really do need to do it) and it did not help things w/ my next. I worked harder w/ #3, but still didn't know what I know now b/c groups like LLL don't know these things. Low supply is not talked about b/c 'so few women have it' that some people don't even believe it can exist. I now have a strong hx of low supply, my babies could demand all day and it would do nothing, and honestly I can't just sit around and nurse a baby for 24 hrs straight even if they were content doing so, which most aren't if they're not being fed in the process. If baby is still hungry after nursing for 30-40 mins, there's a problem (whether it's mom or baby) and the OP IME is smart for trying to figure it out. Though, you may never know and probably won't at least until you have another baby. While it was 1 factor in us not wanting to have more kids, it would not stop me from TTC if that were the only factor. There are lots of things you can do in future pgcies to help and the sooner you know about the problem, the more likely it is to help.

 

[Tofu the Geek]

Quote:

Originally Posted by azgirl This book helped me start thinking about my plan for next time...you will know a lot of the info, but it is the most up-to-date stuff. I plan to re-read it when I am pregnant! http://www.amazon.com/Breastfeeding-...8753626&sr=8-1

That looks like a really great book!

 

[2goingon2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thepeach80 Honestly, it's saying things like this that just make things worse. I totally fell for this w/ my first, I blamed myself for supplementing (feeding the baby, it's something you HAVE to do, whether it's bm or not and some people really do need to do it) and it did not help things w/ my next. I worked harder w/ #3, but still didn't know what I know now b/c groups like LLL don't know these things. Low supply is not talked about b/c 'so few women have it' that some people don't even believe it can exist. I now have a strong hx of low supply, my babies could demand all day and it would do nothing, and honestly I can't just sit around and nurse a baby for 24 hrs straight even if they were content doing so, which most aren't if they're not being fed in the process. If baby is still hungry after nursing for 30-40 mins, there's a problem (whether it's mom or baby) and the OP IME is smart for trying to figure it out. Though, you may never know and probably won't at least until you have another baby. While it was 1 factor in us not wanting to have more kids, it would not stop me from TTC if that were the only factor. There are lots of things you can do in future pgcies to help and the sooner you know about the problem, the more likely it is to help.

This is so true. And then you come here for support and get that. I'm sorry. So sorry...I've lived this. No words of advice...just a cyber hug. Know that you are not alone.

 

[bri276]

Quote:

Honestly, it's saying things like this that just make things worse. I totally fell for this w/ my first, I blamed myself for supplementing (feeding the baby, it's something you HAVE to do, whether it's bm or not and some people really do need to do it) and it did not help things w/ my next.

Wait a second. I am someone who battled supply issues off and on for the 21 months I exclusively pumped for my daughter, and in that process, became very close with many mothers who had major issues with low supply for a variety of reasons. Yes, low supply does sometimes exist even in the absence of any supplementation for a minority of women. However, I personally do not see how it has been proven that this is absolutely the case here. It took five days for my milk to come in when pumping and that was more like 8-10 times a day, 20 minutes + per session, round the clock and on a hospital grade pump.

If you'd notice, I asked many follow up questions to the OP, and without those answers and more detail, I really don't see how anyone can make a determination one way or the other. Possibly the OP has some type of physical problem that does cause low supply. Or possibly, supplementing in the early days destroyed supply as it has for MANY women. I'm not trying to make anyone feel worse. Feeding the baby is the #1 priority but without knowing how many wet diapers this baby had, how often he was nursing, or whether he was even weighed on the same scale, there's no proof in this thread that he was in fact not getting enough colostrum and had to have formula immediately.

I never blamed the OP- she was following the LC's advice, and if it is the case that there were signs of dehydration, it was the appropriate advice. But to deny that supplementing negatively affects milk supply in many situations simply because it was not your experience isn't fair, either.

 

[ewe+lamb]

I would tend to agree that in this case the advice given by the LC was not great, at 2 days pp I would expect colostrum and not breastmilk, therefore expressing 'milk' on a pump really won't achieve anything, a newborn bb has a stomach the size of a small marble, at 10 days the size of a walnut and at 1 month the size of a pingpong ball, so a tiny little bit of colostrum is all that bb needs - around 2.5ml/5ml per feeding if we need to be precise. Please go to LLL meetings so that you can gain knowledge and support, motherlove tea is great for augmenting a milk supply - if needed, but give yourself the time for your milk to come in, I really don't feel that the LC gave you the time that was needed, hooking you up to a pumping machine and expecting you to be able to pump out 100ml or the equivalent is really stealing all the self-confidence from any mother and therefore your nursing relationship, in fact some babies do not nurse at all for the first 48 hours - and they will be fine - if the pregnancy has gone to term without any complications, maybe you need to research your birthing choices the next time, so you can be free of these impositions, we are all very vulnerable in the first few days especially with our first. So my advice would be - don't worry about not being able to nurse - you need to find that out first of all, which you weren't really given the opportunity to do, and then from there you can see how things go. Good luck and I do understand that bfing is sometimes more important than the birth - certainly it was for me, but don't not let yourself fulfill your expectations as a mother and future mother by not giving yourself the chance to find out.

 

[berry987]

You are not alone. I'd never heard that some women just don't produce milk until I had my first and struggled for 8 months to get a supply going. At best, I produced maybe 2 oz/feeding (based on weighing my son after feeding with a LC).

I was diagnosed with PCOS (although the first tests came back normal....it wasn't until I saw a reproductive endocrinologist that I was actually diagnosed) and hypoplasia (basically a lack of tissue in the right spots). I took dom, fenugreek, milk thistle, used a SNS, pumped like freaking crazy in between feedings, etc etc. for my second DS (and had a great homebirth so I was able to nurse within minutes) and I still made a very minimal amount for the entire time I nursed. Now I am pregnant again and sought out more help. I am taking goats rue and alfalfa, plan to take dom again, maybe fenugreek (although I break out in a rash from fenugreek...not sure how that will go). I am 34 weeks pregnant and for the first time ever my breasts are showing some changes in pregnancy! I am really excited to see if it makes a difference.

It was truly heartbreaking dealing with such extreme low milk supply. I was all about EB and planned to do it for a long time. I felt shame when I had to give him a bottle when I was out because I thought people would judge me. And people are so dang nosy - always asking whether you are nursing. So I feel for you. My sons were mainly formula fed (my sister pumped for both sons because she had babies at the same time), and they are super-healthy, happy boys. Never had an ear infection, no allergies, etc - kids are not doomed because they are formula fed. You did your best and that is what matters.