May 2012 Moms

It's shocking to me.

Working at a daycare; I'm in shock at how many moms say that they're milk didn't come in fast enough and they had to supplement with formula.  Almost all the women said that they did this within the first week or two.  My milk came in incredibly fast with DS (took maybe 1.5 days) and I've never had problems with supply so I don't know how common this is.  but it seems like every other mom says this.

Was this an issue for anyone? Is it really common? 

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Re: It's shocking to me.

  • It was not an issue for me because I went into labor (induced, but still...). From what the LC said at the hospital, if you have a scheduled CS, or LO is in the NICU, your body does not get the signals that tell it to start production. Other than that, the AVERAGE person will have their milk come in after 3-4 days. Baby is fine on colostrum until then.

    There may be more CS in your area, or people may be pressured, even while still in the hospital, to just go to a bottle.

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  • I was leaking colostrum (minimally) before I gave birth and my milk came in pretty much right away.  DS and I had a really hard time breastfeeding due to his tongue tie and my flat nipples so I expressed milk into a spoon the first 4 days of his life, before we got his tongue tie snipped.  The LC at the hospital was amazed at how much I was able to hand express into a spoon the day after he was born.
                  
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  • My milk didn't come in for at least a week. My LO wasn't getting enough nutrients and became lethargic. I tried and tried to breast feed, saw a lactation specialist, and when I realized that he wasn't getting enough nutrients we supplemented with formula. For weeks I kept trying to pump at least 7-9 times a day and never got more than 3 oz combined at a time. Only a few times did my breast milk actually leak out.

    So, I decided that instead of stressing and dedicating so much time to something that obviously wasn't working out, that we would use formula. Personally, it upsets talk about it. I feel like I let my child down but I know that I did try and that is what matters. There is always the next one!

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  • imagealdavis78:

    My milk didn't come in for at least a week. My LO wasn't getting enough nutrients and became lethargic. I tried and tried to breast feed, saw a lactation specialist, and when I realized that he wasn't getting enough nutrients we supplemented with formula. For weeks I kept trying to pump at least 7-9 times a day and never got more than 3 oz combined at a time. Only a few times did my breast milk actually leak out.

    So, I decided that instead of stressing and dedicating so much time to something that obviously wasn't working out, that we would use formula. Personally, it upsets talk about it. I feel like I let my child down but I know that I did try and that is what matters. There is always the next one!

    This is similar to my experience, except I never got a milk supply at all.  We had to give DD formula from day 4 when we realized she was so dehydrated she had crystals in her urine.  I saw an LC immediately, rented a hospital grade pump, and starting taking herbal supplements to improve my supply.  The first time I pumped for 20 minutes, and got one-eighth of a teaspoon out of both breasts combined.  After a month of using the pump for hours every day, I still maxed out at only about one ounce total for the entire day.  Most pumping sessions I got as little as 3-5 ml.  I stopped after a month because I felt like I was spending so much time attached to the pump and stressing over it that I was actually not able to bond with my baby the way I wanted to.

    I have a condition called IGT (insufficient glandular tissue).  They are not 100% sure what causes low milk supply, but there are some links with hormonal imbalances, some are physical causes like mine.  Many LCs have told me that it seems to be increasingly common -- one theory is that it was caused by endocrine disrupters our mothers where exposed to while we were in utero.  There is also possibly a genetic component. 

    To the PP, depending on the cause, there are some things you might be able to do ahead of time to increase your chance of having greater success next time.  I would recommend talking to a knowledgable LC for an assessment ahead of time, if you want to try again in the future. And please don't blame yourself.  I know exactly how bad it feels to want to breastfeed your child and feel like a failure.  I struggled with that for a long time, but have finally come to terms with it.

    Here are a couple of links with good info:

    https://www.llli.org/llleaderweb/lv/lviss2-3-2009p4.html

    https://www.lowmilksupply.org/index.shtml

    https://www.mobimotherhood.org/MM/portal-lowmilksupply.aspx

     


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  • I breastfed LO the moment he was born and put him to breast every hour / two hours from that time on.  My milk came in a day and a half after he was born, and we haven't looked back since. He did become lazy at the breast the first week home from the hospital, but we just kept going.  The more he drained, the more milk I had.  I ended up with an over-supply that never became a problem for us because LO is a big eater.  Baby-led Breastfeeding.  It was just easy and natural for us.  I guess we're one of the lucky ones?

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  • My milk never came in, period.
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    Corbin | born 4.19.12
    Baby boy #2 | due 4.13.15
  • Mine took 4 days to come in.
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  • imagealdavis78:
    . For weeks I kept trying to pump at least 79 times a day and never got more than 3 oz combined at a time.


    I'm not trying make you feel bad but if you do want to try again with the next one, you should know 3 oz at a time in the first few months is a good amount. I never pumped more than 4 oz at once but I was able to bf my middle until a year only supplementing a bottle a day or two a day when I worked. The amount you pump is a terrible indicator of what the baby gets while nursing. But if it was too stressful a sain mommy is MOST important for lo!


    Op I think a lot of new moms freak when a new born wants to be at the breast for an hour off for 45 mins and back on and think there's something wrong with their supply and give formula. When that's very normal and how babies are designed to eat. Since their tummies are the size of a marble.

    My first my milk came in day 6 but I didn't bf because of personal reasons, still wish I had. My second I nursed from birth milk came in day 5 with constant nursing to help with jauntis. My third my boobs only had six months off so they never really dried up milk came in less than 48 hours and then battled oversupply and forceful let down.
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  • I was leaking colostrum from 28 weeks... I wonder looking back if maybe my body expected a preemie or something because the placenta stopped growing at the beginning of my third trimester (notes for next time: insist on a third trimester ultrasound!) Is that something that happens?!?  Pregancy is such an amazing thing...

    When they started inducing me at 37 weeks, I started leaking like crazy and my milk came in 3 days after DD was born.

    A friend of mine ended up using formula after a week of no milk... her milk came in at 6 weeks pp!  By that time she was too frustrated to BF though.




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  • I don't doubt that some women have trouble but I think the majority freak out, give formula, then create a bad cycle.  Pumping is not equivalent to breastfeeding as it doesn't stimulate letdown as well then women worry even more.  

    IMO alot has to do with lack of knowledge.  A google search of the size of a baby's stomach in the first week would put alot of mothers at ease and not rush to the formula.

    My milk came in about 3.5 days later.  What helped my peace of mind was that the second day, my lo spit up a tiny bit.  It was very little but it was proof that he was getting the colostrum.  The nurse showed me how to see if lo was swallowing so I would watch for that.


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  • Mine did not come in until day 4 both times but I never needed to supplement with formula completely. DD had to have one bottle of formula because I had an emergency C-section with her and was out for it followed by complications for me that did not allow me to see her for 4 hours and she was hungry. DS had to have 5mL of formula in an SNS to stimulate him to eat due to blood sugar issues and this was my choice. It helped him eat when he was super sleepy and did not eat for 7+ hours on day 2.

    I think many moms think that because their milk does not come in by day 1 or 2 that they need to supplement. At a day or two old babies tummies are only the size of a marble. There is no need to supplement, frequent every 2 hours of nursing is what will bring milk in. Supplementing early on will cause supply issues.

  • imagepinkmoonlight:

    Mine did not come in until day 4 both times but I never needed to supplement with formula completely. DD had to have one bottle of formula because I had an emergency C-section with her and was out for it followed by complications for me that did not allow me to see her for 4 hours and she was hungry. DS had to have 5mL of formula in an SNS to stimulate him to eat due to blood sugar issues and this was my choice. It helped him eat when he was super sleepy and did not eat for 7+ hours on day 2.

    I think many moms think that because their milk does not come in by day 1 or 2 that they need to supplement. At a day or two old babies tummies are only the size of a marble. There is no need to supplement, frequent every 2 hours of nursing is what will bring milk in. Supplementing early on will cause supply issues.

    PS. I also had a C-section both times and breastfeeding was never an issue.

  • I think that most new moms don't understand that what you can pump often doesn't equal what you can produce, because a baby can empty a breast so much more efficiently than a pump. Plus what PP said... when you see stores selling giant 8 ounce bottles for formulafed babies, it is hard to
    fathom that your 1week old really is
    fine eating just a half an ounce
    because their stomach us so small. We started giving our daughter a bottle of milk once a week at 1 month. Kellymom.com says babies can take up to 4 oz at one month, but she didn't take more than 2.5 to 3 oz until about 10 weeks. And she was a huge baby in the 90th percentile.

    Breast pumps are wonderful things but there is a huge lack of education on how to appropriately use pumps and pumped milk. There are always new moms on the BFing board who think they have to pump right away when you really need to just focus on nursing and put the pump away unless there is a problem. I have a friend who thought she could just pump and give her 1 week old a bottle of BM for a few days to let her nipples heal. Her supply took a huge hit and it took her weeks to get her baby to nurse again. Another friend's pediatrician told her to pump for 30 min after each feeding, of course she ended up with 3 times more milk than she needed and mastitis on both sides when she tried to stop pumping so much. My pediatrician also told me at our first visit 'pump every day' without telling me why. Luckily I ignored that advice until my daughter was 1 month, but even then it ended up making my oversupply and engorgement worse.
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  • BTW I realize this is a sensitive topic and I was not at all trying to offend any one.  I was just genuinely curious.
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  • I had an induction which turned into a C-section. My milk came in about 4-5 days later, but we had already started formula. I knew from the beginning that I couldn't BF due to a medication I have to take for my heart.
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  • It took about 4 days for my milk to come in, but I didn't supplement with formula

    DD Born 5.9.12

    MC March 2016@8.5w

    Expecting #2 4/30/17

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  • FTM...mine came in day 3. Never supplemented.
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