Breast feeding - milk supply

[Militarywife7]

Hi ladies,

I thought this might be helpful for new mothers who may be in a similar situation.

When my little miracle Jasmine was born, she lost 10% of her body weight in hospital. We had a traumatic birth, which resulted in haemorrhaging - 2 litres blood loss. I stayed in hospital for a week and Jasmine was cluster feeding.

I would hear ladies crying in other beds every night due to the struggle of breast feeding and the immense pressure put upon them to conform.

I’ve been told so many times that low milk supply isn’t a thing. But when you have had substantial blood loss, your body focuses on getting better and therefore I wasn’t supplying enough milk for my baby in hospital and she was practically starving. The nurses told me it would all be fine and my milk would come through and be enough for her.

My baby didn’t get back to her birth weight for a further two weeks, after we resorted to formula as per the consultants advice, alongside breast feeding and pumping.

I think breast feeding is amazing and I’m still managing to express along with formula. There’s such immense pressure on us to breast feed these days, and it doesn’t always work out for everybody for one reason or another and that’s ok too. We’re all doing the best for our babies, and they will thrive wether they are fed on breast milk or formula. ❤️❤️❤️ xx

[MissSaoPaulo]

We struggled with breastfeeding too. My baby didn't latch well and would fall asleep within seconds. She lost almost 10% of weight in the 4 days we were in hospital and a week after discharge she had actually lost a bit more - after I'd been up all night trying to keep her awake to feed from my raw nipples. It was awful.

We introduced formula and I started expressing and still trying to breastfeed her. It started to hurt less and she seemed to get the hang of it and we even managed to phase out the formula. But at 2 1/2 months she was falling below her curve again so we abandoned breastfeeding and exclusively expressed to monitor her intake. We got really obsessive about it, noting down how much she took and the time. We still do that!! I'm still worried about her not getting enough, especially now we're weaning and she's not taking to it very well

You have to work out what works best for you and your family and your routine and that will look very different for everyone. We have a very strange set up where I have a baby who has been sleeping through for months but I'm still getting up in the middle of the night to express!! I'm pleased that for the most part I've been able to feed her exclusively breast milk, but it's reassuring to know there's a tub of formula in the cupboard if we ever need it.

For something that should be the most natural thing in the world, breastfeeding is bloody hard!!

[Lynnr54]

It is really hard. And there’s so many reasons it can go wrong that people don’t identify. Both my boys had tongue tie and I won’t go into the log stories but it impacted both their feeding in one way or another. There’s a lack of support out there at the best of times and it is even harder at the moment with all the breast feeding clinics closed. I would say to both of you watch out for signs of tongue tie and if there are any then get a professional to check it out (not your gp or local feeding clinic - usually needs referring to a specialist clinic in hospital). It’s a real game changer in terms of feeding if that is the issue and you can get it sorted. And pain, cracked nipples, lipstick shaped nipples are not necessarily a given. I didn’t have any of them with either of my boys. For me it was falling asleep on the boob really quickly (because of how hard they were working), dribbling milk when feeding, the odd clicking sound (not all the time) and excess wind from all the air that was being taken in. My second didn’t even get diagnosed until he was 13 weeks and that’s because I pushed so hard for it. And I’m sure it’s because I didn’t have the “traditional” symptoms that no one took me seriously. You’re doing a great job though getting any milk to her. Well done x

[Tugsgirl]

This is very true. While we were in hospital Mary-Elizabeth lost 8% of her birth weight despite having a great latch and me seemingly having no issues with supply. It really upset me. When I got home I struggled with the cluster feeding in the early days. I didn’t even think it was normal! No one told me! I was exhausted. So I let Hubby supplement her last feed with one bottle of formula at night so that I could rest. I use to cry with the exhaustion. I’d use the time to pump. These days I have a huge supply of breast milk in the freezer so we’re using a bottle a night for her last feed with Daddy. It’s good bonding time for them. The rest of the time she’s nursed by me. Breastfeeding has become hard again recently because my LO pinches and twists my breast flesh while nursing. I have little bruises over my chest. It hurts, I’m not going to lie but when I tell her off she cries so I’m just grinning and bearing. I won’t give up on breastfeeding especially at such a crucial time for her immunity. She’s 8 months now and weaning on two meals a day too.

Breastfeeding can be really hard at times but if ladies hang in there and make it through the other side then it’s so rewarding for both you and your baby xx

[Scarlett13]

Hi everyone! Fabian lost 11% of his birth weight due to blood loss in my csection, being 2 weeks early, my milk supply being late to come in and mostly due to his 90% tongue tie both anterior and posterior. The lactation consultant referred him for a tongue tie division but they’ve all been suspended due to the corona virus. He’s almost 6 weeks now and I’m still breastfeeding him every few hours but the formula top ups have increased from one to two to three to four ounces...and that’s to maintain the 9th - 25th centile (he was born on the 75th). I can only usually get 40ml total from a 20 min pumping session with an electric pump and can’t get it to increase. I started domperidone today prescribed by the GP to hopefully boost my supply. Thankfully Fabian is clinically well but we have no division coming up any time soon so not sure what’s going to happen. He gets tired and falls asleep at the breast then ravishes the formula. He gives me lipstick nipples often but thankfully it doesn’t hurt too much. X

[SRA8 in reply to Scarlett13]

My baby was born tiny at 37 weeks by c section after a failed induction. I didnt have a major bleed but my haemoglobin dropped and I was transfused. Baby developed neonatal jaundice. Struggles to latch and lost 11% of weight by day 5. I have inverted nipples. We are really struggling with breast feed. When he does manage get on he fails asleep quickly and it's hard to get him to stay on. He then guzzles the formula in similar quantities to yours to maintain his weight. How did you get diagnosed with tongue tie? I've had very little support due to corona.

[Scarlett13 in reply to SRA8]

Sorry to hear you’re struggling with breast feeding. Because I’m a community nursery nurse with health visiting I have had some tongue tie training through work so recognised it myself, asked the midwife to refer me to a lactation consultant and she diagnosed the severity of it for me and gave me advice and referred me for a division but they’ve all been suspended on the nhs in Kent because of CV. I’m on an nhs waiting list to get it done at kings in London now and in the meantime I continue to feed on demand and then give 5 bottles of 4oz of formula after a breastfeed. Good luck, hope you can continue to breastfeed. You could try seeing if a lactation consultant can FaceTime you? Mine offered to do this if I need further support x

[SRA8 in reply to Scarlett13]

Thank you for replying. Had a video call with midwife regarding breast feeding today and was really useful. Will ask to see a lactation consultant if I cant resolve the latch issues.

[Sunflowersandlight]

I had my baby 3 months ago and it’s been a journey trying to breastfeed, my baby has a unique case of having all 3 ties: lip, tongue and buccal tie. I went to the lactation plenty of times and baby would do great but at home it was a whole different story. He too lost weight and was told to keep trying but with my PTD/ A it wasn’t helping any of us. I was about to have him go through laser surgery for free which was going to save me over $800, but this pandemic ruined that chance. His able to breastfeed at night but during the day when his fully awake he gets frustrated that he can’t eat. I opted for formula I just couldn’t see him upset just so he could conform to what’s supposed to be “natural”.