New to breastfeeding and need some support
MrsAlliP
member
It's been a week since my baby girl was born, and I'm starting to get really discouraged by how little milk I have and how breastfeeding is going. Things seemed really good at the hospital, and I was trying to feed every 2-3 hours. We worked with several lactation consultants and I felt really good about things. During our first night home on Monday, she started getting really, really upset and showed signs of being hungry that never went away. No matter how much I tried to feed her, she would get frustrated and eventually completely refused to breastfeed. By midday Tuesday, she was very yellow and we had only 1 or 2 diapers in 24 hours. I got an appointment with a lactation consultant and saw her on Wednesday. The LC and our pediatrician helped me decide that we were going to have to supplement to keep Lauren healthy. At that time, I started to pump every 2-3 hours to try to help my milk come in and stay on track with breastfeeding. We used an SNS to try to keep her at the breast as much as possible, and I fed her what little breast milk I was pumping in addition to the formula.
Yesterday, the lactation consultant weighed Lauren to see how much milk she was taking in when we were breastfeeding. We learned that she was not getting milk out on either side. Finally with a nipple shield, she was able to get milk out on the left side, but not on the right. A big part of the problem is how low my supply is. There is very little milk for her to get out on the right side. When I pump every 3 hours, I'm getting about 1/2 oz on the left side and less than a 1/4 oz on the right side. I've not really seen an increase in milk for several days- very discouraging. Right now, I'm breastfeeding with the nipple shield on both sides and then pumping every 2-3 hours. We're still supplementing with formula because I'm not making nearly enough milk to keep her full.
Has anyone had a similar experience? Is there any hope that my milk supply will increase? Any thoughts on how to boost my supply, especially on the left side?
Thanks, Ladies. I expected breastfeeding to be the hardest part of having a baby, and it definitely has been so far. My husband is incredibly supportive, and our lactation consultant is wonderful. Without the two of them, I'm sure I would have given up by now.
Re: New to breastfeeding and need some support
Like you I had supply issues in the very beginning. I had to supplement with a lot of formula and would barely get anything with pumping. I think the first week I was getting something like 10 ml combined! I saw a LC at the hospital and then went back as an out-patient. When I got there I was told they almost canceled on me because of how little milk I was getting (that made no sense to me since that meant I probably needed help and a lot of support - I hated the hospital LC's but that's another story). I was EP'ing for the first 3 weeks because of the horrible experience with the LC. Around 3 weeks I decided to bring DS back to the breast and wing it. It started going OK but I still had to supplement because he was not satisfied after nursing.
It was then that I saw a private LC. She helped with DS latch and gave me a supplement called more milk special blend. A few days after taking that my milk supply had increased. It has now been over a month and I have not had to supplement with any formula. I sometimes even have enough to freeze a little here and there.
Just keep up what you're doing and try to bring your DD to the breast as much as possible. Even if it looks like your supply isn't increasing right now it will.
I was in a similar situation when DS had jaundice. I gave him formula for a few days until he was no longer yellow. I pumped a lot in the first few months and was able to build up a nice stash. I would do my best to feed on one side and pump on the other throughout the day and that helped to build my supply. Drink lots of water, eat as healthy as you can, and as hard as it might be relax and rest when you can. It is so challenging at first but any milk you can give your baby is great!
(((HUGS))) It gets so much better. Hang in there. My supply was nothing at first and now I can't get this kid to wean.
My left side has always made half as much as my right and DD's been in the 90th%ile her whole life. Many moms only feed on one side so don't worry about that.
Good luck.