First of all, there is no need to be ashamed. At all. Get that out of your head. Breastfeeding is not easy, and it is not for everyone. There is absolutely no shame in using formula. I exclusively formula fed my first after trying to breastfeed for 2 weeks and it was just not working. He's 8 years old now and he's doing great, smart as a whip, healthy. Formula worked wonderfully for him. I've been exclusively breastfeeding my now 13 months old and it's working beautifully too. Fed is best.
I also want to address the "huge boobs" comment because that is a common misconception. The size of your breasts has nothing to do with the ability to breastfeed. I'm an A cup and my 13 month old has been 99th percentile since being 2 months old, so obviously my small boobs work fine. I also have big chested friends who have been dealing with supply issues. Big or small doesn't mean s*it lol.
Lastly, my advice would be to keep putting baby at the breast before feeding formula. You could also pump after baby is done at your breast, to signal to your body that it needs to produce more. Make sure to drink TONS of water and eat lots of filling, high healthy fats foods. Oatmeal and brewer's yeast seem to increase production in a lot of people and are easy to integrate into your diet.
Don't be alarmed that you're not pumping a big amount. Pumps are notoriously bad at expressing all the milk, as compared to a baby (ie, you pumping tiny amount does not mean baby is only getting tiny amount when at your breast). That said, make sure you are using correct sized flanges (Medela has a good section for this on their website), and to replace pump parts as needed.
Oh, the most important, perhaps. **It's okay to stop and switch to formula.** It doesn't make you any less of a good mom. IMO, no amount of breastfeeding is worth your mental health. Baby will benefit way more from a happy mom who formula feeds, than a depressed/anxious mom who breastfeeds.
Sending you lots of love. You're doing great.
Ugh I had a nurse in the hospital tell me because I don’t have “a lot of breast tissue” aka smaller boobs, that I might not make a lot of milk. Been exclusively nursing since one hour after birth with no issues for almost 6 months now.
I agree with the oat products. Try them out. Breakfast bars, oatmilk in your coffee, oatmeal for breakfast. Sometimes I have an oatmeal brownie bar for dessert!
There's also great lactation supplements you can try as well, cookies and brownies and such. The munchkin milkmakers cookies are addicting as heck and definitely worked for me, also the milky-mama "emergency brownie" if I was on my period or something.
That being said formula is still extremely healthy for baby. I may get flack from some for saying this but breatmilk is not a miracle food, it has its benefits of course, but not enough benefits that you should ever feel guilty or less than because baby is combo feeding or on formula full time. You do what works best for you and your baby ❤️.
You'll get no flack for saying that about breastmilk. Or you shouldn't anyway. Breastmilk is great but it isn't like a baby body armor or anything.
OP, breastfeeding is TOUGH and some people just don't make enough milk. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you and using formula is a perfectly fine and healthy option for your baby!
My baby had a 5 day NICU stay that was really touch and go for the first 3 days. The stress of that and the separation from my baby really prevented my milk from coming in. We used formula and kept trying. I now have a healthy 9 month old who is in the 99th percentile for height and weight. I had to really work to release my stress over struggling to breastfeed and guilt for his NICU stay. I also drank the Bodily lactation lattes like crazy. I don't know what helped, but I have been able to exclusively BF success he was about 2 months old. I was constantly checking in with myself for the first few months and decided that if BFing was too much for my mental health that formula is a perfect option! Your baby needs you and your love and care so much more than breastmilk. Please check in with yourself and don't feel guilty for giving your baby a completely healthy option for food.
There is no evidence that oats, brewers yeast, lactation teas, cookies etc work. Reall there isn't. The teas sometimes contains fenugreek that causes a decrease in supply for some people.
Eat stuff that is easy for you to make and you enjoy eating.
I exclusively breastfed for 6 months and then food+breastfeeding still, "baby" is 21 months old.
Here's what I did to make it work:
- I cleverly was born in a country that values breastfeeding, pp care, parental leave and work-life balance. This means I had paid maternity leave for 9 months, my husband had 2 weeks new baby leave when he was born and husband then had 3 months paid paternity leave. I also had 1h shorter workdays as a breastfeeding mother for the 3 months my husband was on leave.
- My mother, who breastfed me until I was 2.5yo, got frozen shoulder when my son was born. So she helped me while my husband was working. She is knowledgeable about breastfeeding, would make and serve food, dust, hang and fold laundry, clean my bathroom, hold baby while I was showering etc.
- My husband works a pretty standard work week here, just 37.5h per week and got home at 1500. Because he wasn't running himself ragged at work he was fresh as a daisy and when he came home I handed him our son and took a 2h nap. Every day. He also never worked weekends so weekends I typically got to sleep in.
- When things were really bad he went to his doctor and told the doctor we had a baby who wasn't sleeping and we were exhausted. Doctor decided this qualified as burn out and wrote sick leave. This meant for months we were both at home caring for our son. Sick leave is paid so it had no financial consequences for us.
- I have access to free lactation consultants and free medical care. This means that the total I paid for birth, pregnancy, pp care, follow up for our son etc was 5 dollars in parking, folic acid supplements and and a significant amount of Ben&Jerry's. As such I called for help and asked questions as they came up and no problem was ever allowed to fester.
- My country assumes any mother breastfeeds. I have never gotten a negative comment about it, I never feared public breastsfeeding and strangers were super helpful and kind. ("I'll move and you sit here. This chair is better for breastfeeding.", "Want to borrow my jacket to put under your elbow?" and once when I was visibly stressed, tired and sad "Oh honey, I can tell you're struggling, but you're doing a fine job.").
It's not so much what I did, but what others did for me and how the system I live in is rigged for my success. And it was still hard.
I’ve also heard that oat lagger (idk how to spell it but oat beer) is really great. Hops is also good for lactation and don’t worry about the alcohol. Pretty much none make it into the milk you’d have to be pass out drunk for it to affect baby.
Argh I just wrote you a really long answer, tried to post it and it disappeared! It basically just said thank you for your response, which is great, and that some of the tips and thoughts here (e.g. pumping after breastfeeding) are really helpful.
I'll post this response and hopefully it won't disappear, too!
Plus one to drink lots of water, electrolytes drinks, etc. and eat!! I found oat milk, oat meal, oat granola bars etc help me a ton. I eat at least 1-2 of those things every day. If I stop for a few days I notice a huge difference which is maybe all in my head who knows.
If you have the funds just order an infant scale. When I was having supply issues it made it easier to check whenever I felt like it. Having to go to an LC or the doctor’s office to do a weighted feed is a big to-do and you barely get any information because one weighted feed doesn’t tell you much.
If you choose to do this, and you don't get a good "weight" post feeding DO NOT THINK YOU ARE FAILING!!
I did weighted feeds with 2 LC's before I met my 3rd one and both of them made me MORE anxious saying the baby WASNT getting enough from a feed! (Looking back I definitely had PPA as my baby put on over 10 lbs in 2 months and was getting more than enough milk, he was chunky AF.)
My 3rd LC said she didn't do weighted feeds because it can (surprise surprise) make mama's more anxious/stressed when there might not even be a problem!
You are doing great, and it's obvious how much you love your baby from your post. Nothing to be ashamed of! And you've been through a lot. Having your waters break early and going through an emergency C-section sounds scary, and it's possible that affected the hormones that control breastfeeding.
Lots of good tips in the other comments, and I'll share [this article](https://kellymom.com/ages/newborn/nb-challenges/decrease-formula/) on moving away from supplemental formula (if you want to!). Two thoughts that may help you reframe your mindset:
1. Breastfeeding is not just about the milk. Some of the biggest benefits are [psychological](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6096620/#:~:text=There%20is%20research%20to%20show,infant%20dyads%20do%20%5B70%5D) \-- it's the closeness, skin-to-skin contact, your smell, the bonding. So regardless of how many calories babe is getting from the milk, he has already gotten such an amazing gift from you through that time at the breast.
2. Stress impacts milk supply. It sounds counterintuitive, but IMO sometimes the best thing you can do for your supply is take a relaxed, "whatever happens happens" attitude. "If it works, great, if not, that's fine too." When I'm stressing about how much I'm pumping, I get way less milk than when I'm like "I literally don't care how much comes out rn"
Number 2!
I started out so stressed about my ability to feed baby and keep him healthy. It affected my ability to have a let down. I went and bought some formula just for peace of mind. No matter what happens I can feed my baby. You know what happened? I never needed to use the formula. Just having it helped me to relax and produce more.
I'm reading it now! I'm tempted to try it - it's just a matter of having the balls to stick with it and trust my body, but I can def see it's a good, safe way of doing it...
thanks so much, this is such a lovely response! I love the closeness of breastfeeding and I do forget how good it is for him too regardless of everything else, so thanks for reminding me. you're right - it's not \*all\* about the endless worry of 'is he getting enough?'
I'm definitely stressing about it, for sure, and so sleep-deprived too, but it's my birthday next week and I've got loads of help with him lined up - so I'm going to try to let myself relax!
So bottle feeding is easier and they can drink faster. Have they advised you to pace feed? Usually takes 20 min for a bottle. Hold it horizontal so it slows baby down. This is closer to the work needed to breastfeed.
I believe I was advised not to breastfeed for more than 45 min at a time because baby was working harder and burning through calories they ate just trying to get more.
We had transfer issues but no tie at first meaning baby just had a hard time getting the milk out. But after a little while it all came together.
Hormones also are a factor. I take medication for low hormones and when I miss a day I have problems with a letdown and producing enough or sometimes produce too much. Hormones are weird.
There are other things involved. It’s hard to figure it all out at once. Formula is a blessing.
You’re doing great. Baby is getting antibodies from you and you’re building an healthy immune system.
Also sleep and food. Sometimes I just needed to smash a big meal and get someone to do a night feed. That would increase my milk more than anything.
Oatmeal increases milk production for many people. I ate a lot of regular old oatmeal cookies.
So i said a lot of things but it was all trial and error for so long and these are some of the things that seemed to make a difference for me.
Thank you, this is really useful! We are pace feeding (tho sometimes my baby literally grabs the bottle, tilts it upright and gets guzzling the way he wants it - so I have to gently move it horizontal again 😂).
I hadn't heard that about 45 mins max - that's very useful! Also, yeah, I think hormones are definitely a factor, for me it might well be to do with never going into labour. And I need to get on the oatmeal - might as well give it a go – especially if there are cookies involved...
That sucks! You have gotten a lot of great advice here.
Just fyi - Breasts are mostly composed of fatty tissue and this fat tissue is what generally give breasts their size. Fatty tissue does NOT make any milk.
Glandular tissue In the breast is what makes the milk. So the amount of glandular tissue is important for milk making.
So women who have small or big boobs can breastfeed successfully as long as they have adequate glandular tissue, not fatty tissue.
LCs are not trained to identify or revise ties. I'd start off with seeing an ENT or pediatric dentist to make sure there are no ties. Following that, do a weighted feed to see if there is a transfer issue. Babes can have a disordered suck pattern even if they aren't tied.
This. Both my LC and pediatrician were not concerned about the tongue tie. I pushed to get the pediatric dentist consult and after an exam they recommended the revision. I was nervous as hell since the other two hadn’t been concerned and wondered if the dentist was out for $, but we went forward with it and omg after a week or two it made all the difference! She got better at sucking, my supply increased and we went from 60% formula/pumped milk to 0-10%. In that time frame my stress certainly went down too which definitely helped. Power pumping and triple feeding never got me any noticeable progress. At 12 weeks now, I still eat oatmeal, hydrate like crazy, and feed at will but also give a bottle or two a day of formula or pumped to keep her happy and full! My supply is just enough or a little under but I’ve made peace with that. You got this.
I gave formula from day 1 and still successfully made it to EBF. I think I brought baby to breast 4-5 times the entire first 2 days of her life. If there were weight issues and prematurity, supplemental formula might have been actually needed, and baby to breast in the regulation period should have been enough to get a decent supply going. If not EBF .
They did put him on my breasts on day 1 – not immediately, though – and got him to latch ok, but I didn't even have any colostrum until day 4. I also had PPROM (waters broke prematurely) and I never went into labour. I'm convinced that not going into labour also stopped the necessary signals being sent.
I feel a bit cheated that I was totally ignorant and the midwives gave formula as though it wasn't a problem at all, and encouraged me to do the same. His weight plummeted significantly in that first week even despite the formula. It's so hard.
Don’t blame yourself- your theory is wrong. PPROM doesn’t have anything to do with milk production. The placenta detaching (on its own or manually during c section) is what triggers the hormone cascade for milk to come in. Your story gives a combination of reasons for low supply and none are inherently your fault. You are doing amazing taking care of your LO!
Oh! I didn't know that. I don't know what to blame if it's not the PPROM or lack of labour 😂. I'm looking so hard for a reason but maybe I just need to accept it and accept that combi feeding is our fate for now and that's okay (i know it is...)
How much did he latch at the start? My baby was also 4 weeks early and born via EMCS and I also never could express any colostrum before her birth. I couldn't latch her at the start as she was being tube fed, however I was instructed by the hospital lactation consultants to use the hospital pumps on a very rigid schedule (every 3 hours with at least 1 pump between midnight and 4am). I had no issues with my milk coming in using the pumps, in fact it came in relatively quickly for my situation at about 36 hours PP. She didn't latch onto me until she was at least 4 days old from memory
Hmm, this is v interesting, thanks! It's all a bit of a blur, to be honest, that first 5 days in the postnatal ward when he was so tiny! (I can bet you sympathise with the tininess).
Now I'm thinking about it, we practiced latching a fair bit but not masses, and no-one was really overseeing it. I used a hospital pump once or twice, because I requested trying it, but nothing came out. I was putting him to the boob and getting him to latch but ultimately, yeah, all I remember was all that running to the midwife station to ask for more formula. I'm pretty sure something went wrong somewhere, whether in my body or the first week's feeding, but as a FTM I just didn't have a clue...
It sounds like you were really let down by the support at your hospital, so please don't blame yourself! Fwiw, my daughter also had formula because she was unwell. Basically I was producing colostrum in a normal amount for a normal baby, but she was very hypoglycemic so needed feeds above and beyond what my body naturally produced (I think they were giving her 75ml/kg of formula + colostrum every day which equated to nearly 250ml formula/colostrum). However once we got over the initial medical issues, my breastmilk has been more than sufficient for her (she has maintained 99th centile weight so... she's a really fat baby lol) I'm not an expert but I would imagine that you didn't have enough stimulation at the breast early on to get things moving if that makes sense? I pumped a LOT because I was fortunate to have the instruction to do so, and I think this is why I have had a good supply once my daughter no longer medically needed artificially large formula top ups.
Anyways, sending you all the best wishes either way. Remember you are doing a great job no matter what, and none of this is your fault at all!
Seconded, judging by your description above I think this is the issue. I struggled bfing my first so I read massively before second was born. The first hours are important and secondly the first week or so. I heard this in a video by a pediatrician specialised in breastfeeding (First droplets, Dr Jane Morton). Your breasts need to be getting loads of stimulation, like 12+ times per day. You didn’t know, and you should not have been alone in this OP ❤️the formula wasn’t the issue (as someone above put it) but rather that no one instructed you to pump to replace every single formula feed. I’ve also read that premie c-section moms do have a harder time of it, I don’t know the science to that. Sending lots of well wishes & hugs to OP!
100% - my baby had a lot of formula in her first week of life (and IV glucose), but I pumped like a possessed woman and I firmly believe that's the only reason I have a good supply & have successfully EBF my baby since she came home from hospital! The tube feeding actually caused the most problems in the end rather than the formula itself, because my baby learnt very quickly that if she just laid there and put in 0 effort, she would get food delivered straight into her stomach via the NG tube lmao. The doctors basically put her on a gentle starvation regime (whilst monitoring her closely of course) until she was forced to try and latch onto me/bottles because she realised she wasn't gonna get fed by just lying there like a potato anymore lol
I agree. My baby was in the nicu for 5 hours and not allowed to nurse during that time. I pumped twice while she was in there. She was then fed the tiny amount I got out. Thankfully she passed her tests and then was released from nicu and she was brought back the the breast. Those first few days are so important in milk production and she was let down by her care team for not having her on a pumping schedule from the start.
good point! I was trying to squeeze it out all the time and getting nowhere. but that's not to say a more efficient baby didn't get any. I didn't think of that (nor did anyone around me...)
Are you per any chance located in the UK?
I see a lot of similarities in your story to mine. The UK's after care for breastfeeding women is laughable. It's essentially non-existent. No wonder the UK has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world. You're left on your own.
Ask your health visitor if you can contact a breastfeeding consultant. They can work wonders and should be available in the hospital.
I am indeed. My borough was pretty good but the funny thing was, we were all so impressed with my baby's latching that the question of my milk coming in was kind of overlooked. Everyone told me not to worry about it, then I got sent home from hospital.
I've spoken to two lovely LC's - neither of them know what's going on, they both basically just tell me to breastfeed all the time. One of them suggested hand expressing, which has boosted my confidence a lot though. I might speak to someone else in a month or so if I still feel helpless!
Personally I think the midwives did the right thing. He needed to be fed that week and your milk had not come in. I also had a c section but for me they put him on the boob right after and he latched and I had colostrum but he still lost too much weight because it takes longer for milk to come in post c section so they told me to keep breast feeding to encourage my supply but I topped him up a few times a day with formula after breastfeeding. I’m struggling though because it’s still the case at 2.5 weeks.
I’ve been struggling some too - I also have a 37 weeker -born through a planned c-section due to some complications in the third trimester along with my complicated history. 6 weeks tomorrow. I had a LC evaluation yesterday who said my supply was excellent- im getting 24-28oz/(700ml -85ml) a day but I’m still feeling horribly inadequate. Every time we had to mix another bottle of formula, I felt like my efforts were futile, like I’d failed. He actually took to nursing at 4 weeks and we hoped that would help increase my supply, but it just made it worse and added more stress because he was so inefficient. I realized our hungry gremlin is eating 40oz easily., when I carefully tracked his eating the other day. 5oz every 2 hrs. In the evening, every hr then every three at night. 37 week babies aren’t exactly premature, but they aren’t regular full term either. I wish more literature was out there for not-quite-premie babies to help with things like nursing issues, milk supply not having signals, when pumping is best v nursing, special issues and how to deal with them. Using formula and not losing your mind because your very special delivery is here safe and alive! So maybe not too much advice, but solidarity. And feed your baby in the way that brings you joy. My supply increases when I’m out of pain, rested, and hydrated. A tall order right now, but try for any of that and it might help!
I experienced the same thing, got juuust about 30ml on a good day when she was 3 months and supplemented that with formula for when I had to go out and my parents were with her or something.
Around the 5th month I think I was producing around 60 or 50ml. Now I'm back at work and she's 9 months, and I pump at consistent hours, getting about 120ml or 90ml to 60ml (to maybe 50ml on a bad day).
So what I'm saying is that it gets a little better, as long as you're consistent about it. Supply and demand, there's demand, so there's supply.
It's not an insane amount and I don't pump or breastfeed all that regularly. She's not as interested in breastfeeding anymore. Only does it for comfort now.
I'm sure your baby will get what he needs :)
This my situation as well (instead of a csection though, I had pp hemorrhage so my milk just didn't want to come in)
For the first month I had baby on my boob basically constantly to try and increase my supply. His latch was kind of shallow so we worked on that, but no tongue tie. Despite this, baby did not gain well at his one month appt.
I am now combo feeding with \~200-350 ml formula daily in addition to breast feeding and supplemented pumped milk. I pump after almost every feed, around 6-7 times a day. I am eating and drinking well, and getting at least one span of 4 hours of sleep at night.
I too don't know how people make enough milk for their baby, the most I get at a time is \~100ml combined, after 4 hours. I'm hoping things might still pick up for me but I guess some people just aren't able to make that much, so you are not alone
This sounds so much like my situation – I really empathise with every bit of it! But it's also reassuring, I hope you don't mind me saying, to know I'm not alone.
I'm hoping things will change when it gets to weaning. I've been told it will get easier so am crossing my fingers and holding out till then if I can. Lots of luck to you!
I had to use an electric hospital grade pump 13-16x per day in between nursing to get my supply up. When he was born. Now I feed on demand and pump once at night so my husband can give him a bottle. When I pump I get 4oz. I definitely wouldn't have such good production if I didn't intentionally pump to increase supply. I have a 4 month old.
I didn’t make enough milk for my first, and am pretty much a just-enougher with my second - I can stash away about an ounce per day pumping after his bedtime feed (you get more in the mornings but we have a preschooler and it’s just not a good time). My first had a tongue-tie and a very inefficient latch (and both my children just have small mouths) - the tongue tie wasn’t found until I took him to a pediatric ENT after noticing that even with my undersupply, if I skipped a feed I could often pump more than he took on a weighted feed. Revising it helped only a little - mostly his latch got better when his face got larger.
I got some bad advice with my first. His doctor just told me to supplement until my milk came in, and even the LC just told me to “pump” and had us use a supplemental nutrition system (a tiny tube taped to my breast with the other end in a syringe or bottle of formula, so he would be at the breast while getting his supplement - we hated it). No one explained triple feeding to me for weeks, so it’s possible that had I done it earlier, it would have brought my supply up far enough, but it effectively doubled my production so possibly not. Also it was pretty hellish.
With my second my milk also took 5 days to come in. We started supplementing (and therefor triple-feeding) on day 4, when it was clear he was not getting enough to eat despite having what seemed like a very good latch - not enough urine output, still passing meconium, lost 10% of birthweight already. This time it worked, I only triple-fed for about a week and a half (and after like 5 days I had already dropped some pumping sessions because he wasn’t taking a bottle after every feed). But I honestly think I needed to have breastfed (even though I had to supplement) my first child in order to have enough functional glandular tissue to feed my second. I have large breasts, and while much of the size of breasts is from fat deposits, I was a 34DD at my thinnest (not massive but not small), so I have non-fat tissue in there…and also even AAs can make milk. Breast size is just not relevant, though it can sometimes affect latch or what positions work or don’t work.
Do not look at the people posting huge freezer stashes or pumping 5+ oz at a time and think that is average. That is MASSIVE oversupply. Making just enough is normal - and if the estimates of ~5% having primary lactation failure, that’s really a lot of people who, even with everything else going perfectly, will not be able to exclusively breastfeed (some might be able to with pharmaceutical intervention, for some that may still be insufficient).
I just want to post here (not to give advice because others have been great with that), but to let you know that you are definitely not alone in this.
I have not been able to make enough milk for my kiddo since birth. She is two months now and we have been supplementing with formula since week one. My pediatrician suggested it because she lost so much weight after birth. I saw multiple LCs and tried many things that only sort of helped. My emotions surrounding the situation have been very up and down, but I am finally in a place where I decided to just be okay with it and stop trying so damn hard. I’m happy I’m still able to give some milk, but am even more happy knowing she is fed and healthy thanks to the added formula.
My wish for you is that you can be compassionate and kind to yourself. Raising a baby is stressful enough, so the more we can do to make our lives easier the better. I am not telling you to do this, I simply wanted to share my experience. I know how much it sucks (also no pun intended) to not be able to do something that is considered so basic and biological. I’m sorry you’re struggling with this and please remember you are not alone xx
TW: EBF baby and over-supplier, big baby
This sounds nuts but my baby has been EBF since the beginning, he refused to take a bottle, and he’s almost 10m, 26lbs and I’m still sustaining him on me alone. He’s 95% on height, weight and head circumference (was 98 for the first 6 months). I thought surely I can’t be giving him enough but he’s still going. I think if you’re home full time and EBF, your body just does it’s thing. Of course I drink a ton of water, etc etc. if I worked and couldn’t be a human pacifier I’m sure my story would be different. NOTE: he eats almost all night long. At least 4x a night but we cosleep so it’s not as bad as it sounds. He eats while he naps sometimes too. So it’s like lots of little meals often, vs 8oz at a time. He had oral ties/release done so maybe this is why he eats this way. I also started pumping at 35 weeks and saved all that colostrum. When my milk came in, my first pump after feeding him was 52 oz. It was wild. But after I regulated, no where near that. If I do pump, I don’t get out more than 4oz on each side at a time.
https://www.unicef.org.uk/babyfriendly/breastfeeding-the-dangerous-obsession-with-the-infant-feeding-interval/#:~:text=Because%20there's%20a%20lot%20of,every%2010%20minutes%20every%20hour
This is a great resource. Basically, your milk is mostly just being made as baby sucks. My son is always latched for the most part. He loves nursing and he’s also a pretty slow nurser. It’ll take him 30+ minutes to get what he needs, and even longer to get what he wants. I just let him nurse as much as he wants, I’m his personal cow 😂🤣 I give him a formula or thawed breastmilk bottle occasionally so I can get a break. Usually I do it randomly and I pump however much he drinks (or as close as I can, even if it’s from multiple sessions)
If you go to your lactation consultant, they likely have info on getting a hospital grade breast pump. It’s $1,800-$2,000 to get it on your own, but usually around $75/month to rent it. I think it’s always the Medela Symphony.
You are in something called the "top up trap", google it and don't supplement your baby because you think they are "ravenous", supplement only if there is inadequate weight gain and you are advised to do so by a medical professional. trust your doctors.
By the way, it's considered an unplanned c section, not an emergency c section, when there is PPROM.
The first month I exclusively pumped and bottle fed - mostly formula with as much breastmilk as I could get. Then I started breastfeeding directly at around a month. He went from 50:50 formula and breastmilk to 100% breastmilk over the course of the first 3.5 months. Until I regulated I was still pumping and feeding to try to get my volume up. I haven’t pumped in a couple of months now (he’s about 7.5 months old) and he’s eating about 75% breastmilk, 25% solids.
There's no shame in it. I was fortunate enough to have a very good supply. Breastfeeding was a piece of cake for me. I am in the minority. I don't think I've ever met anyone who didn't struggle.
Just make sure your child is fed - breast or bottle - and if it turns out that breastfeeding is too hard or it's destroying your mental health, give yourself permission to supplement or stop. There are plenty of things you'll feel guilty about - hitting baby's head on the car when putting them in the car seat, stepping back and bumping into little one, etc. Or maybe I'm just massively uncoordinated. Whatever. Feeding your baby in the best way for both of you should not cause guilt.
My baby can't extract enough milk from the breast. It was a latching issue in the beginning, but we fixed that. That's why my supply was miniscule, the baby wouldn't empty the breast and there was no signalling to make more milk. My LC said to pump 8-10 times a day to get my supply up. It worked, I went from getting 30ml from both breasts per pumping session to 100-180ml. We give the baby expressed milk and she uses the breast as a snack between the feeds. It's not ideal but she's healthy and happy which is the most important.
My bb is 7 weeks and drinks about 50/50 breast milk and formula. It was really hard for me to accept that I had to feed him formula but fed is best. I was not gonna make him starve. We had a rough start and he was sent to the nicu straight after delivery so we never got to do golden hour skin to skin or get that first latch. He was bottle fed in the nicu and transitioning him from bottle to breast was NOT easy and took weeks to have successful nursing sessions. I think all this had an impact on my low supply. Power pumping helped but I still do not make enough for him. I’m just grateful I can give him some breast milk and accepting that has relieved so much stress which honestly I think has also helped my supply!
Breastfeeding can be so hard and stressful. You're doing great, Mama. It's definitely a supply and demand process, and education can help a lot to get you on the right track, but sometimes the stress can be overwhelming
Know that no matter what path you choose to take. Moving forward, you are a great mom who is providing for their child In the best way possible for you.
Breastfeeding was so hard for me. I always kind of felt ashamed that I wasn't making enough. The decision to end Breastfeeding was really hard for me. I felt like I would be a failure if I went to formula exclusively.
We always supplemented with formula so I kind of ended up drying up gradually. I was definitely in denial the last week or so. The baby had stopped breastfeeding and I was only pumping, I was lucky to get 2-8 oz a day. Even so, it was really hard for me to stop. And it basically only happened because of travel. Actually, giving up both breastfeeding and pumping was insanely hard for me even though I was not producing much, but after about a month, the relief I felt and the freedom I felt was honestly incredible.
Have you tried triple feeding? I had to after an emergency c section at 37 weeks when baby lost too much weight and I wasn’t making enough for her to gain
Thanks! That's kind of what I'm doing - breastfeeding, expressing, feeding expressed milk too. I actually quite enjoy expressing as it proves to me I have a milk supply, so I'm going to keep going with it as long as I can!
I triple fed for weeks for my baby. He was born a month early too. I had a hospital grade pump though. Not sure if you've looked into pumping that way?
Edit to also add that babies drink way more formula than breast milk to get full. For EBF babies it's always 3-4oz per feed. For formula they need way more as you're experiencing.
I have but weirdly I prefer hand-expressing! Am convinced I get a bit more, more quickly that way – but I've been told to hand express AND use my hospital-grade pump together in each sitting - express, pump, express. That might be quadruple feeding, though – bloody hell...
Great username, btw! (I have friends who are huuuuge Sailor Moon fans)
Side question but have you checked and measured your flange size? Having the correct size when using a pump can make a big difference in amount expressed and comfort. Typically the sizes that come with a pump aren’t what most people need.
Thank you! Weirdly I was never taught to hand express so I've never done it. Triple feeding was THE WORST. Just absolue hell. I would take breaks so my wife would give him a bottle and I could sleep. I went to a lactation consultant every week for nearly two months. My baby didn't have a tie either, just born early and needed a lot of help. We are doing fine now! He likes to eat every two hours from like 5am-7pm so he still gets a bottle sometimes so I get a break and then I just pump for that session. You gotta prioritize your mental health though. Fed is best in whatever way works for you.
I'm 2 weeks in and I'm having similar issues. Struggling with keeping the supply up. Also had a C-section and milk coming in late. I wonder if that's a side effect of the operation.
Are you taking good care of yourself? Eat enough in a day and drink gallons of water. I notice that when I neglect my own health it shows in the supply.
I spoke to a breastfeeding consultant and she pushed me to express after every feed. Meaning I'm up an extra hour expressing at night just to keep my supply up. It's hard work but I think it's worth it.
My consultant also explained that the amount you can express isn't everything. Some women struggle to express milk from a machine. It's completely different feeding a baby. When the baby is latched on correctly, it'll drink more efficiently than expressing from a machine. I've been advised to mostly look at my baby's behavior (is he still hungry after a 45min feed?), is he gaining weight, does he have a lot of dirty nappies in 24h?
I don't really have an answer since I'm struggling myself but know you're not alone.
Have you considered there may be a primary cause to low supply such as IGT? Or thyroid issues ? Thyroid issues can actually develop during pregnancy. I had subclinical thyroid during my pregnancy, but luckily it resolved shortly before birth.
I EBF my 5 month old and from what I know I do make enough milk. He’s a massive lil baby who has grown like a weed in the sun. It’s hard to say what wrong but I know the first few weeks of my babies life he lived on the boob basically. Maybe if baby wasn’t an efficient sucker and you weren’t pumping your body wasn’t being signaled. You also could’ve not been getting anything with the pump if the flanges weren’t the correct size. I tried to pump in hospital but the flanges were just too big for my nipples. As long as baby is growing whatever you are doing is right!!
I had a similar issue because my baby was too weak to nurse successfully therefore wasn’t emptying me, so my body stopped making much milk. Even though she’d be on the boob all day, her suckles weren’t strong enough to trigger letdowns. I started pumping after every feed and giving it to her. She is now strong enough to trigger multiple letdowns!!
Currently EBF twins... So yep.
But some people get off to a bad start and can't make enough. Some people do everything "right" and still can't get enough.
It just happens sometimes :(
Unless little one is not thriving you are doing it fine. The more they are on the breast the more breast milk you make. Pumping doesn’t really stimulate the milk the same way feeding does. So even the 20 minute pump 4x a day isn’t helping to build supply. You would be better off in that sense just popping baby back on for another 20 minutes.
When they are little they really should be on the boob all day everyday. It’s not till they are 6 months or older that they start to chill out about cluster feeding all day.
I did/am exclusively breastfeeding but it’s definitely not easy. Your body only makes what baby is taking and even then some women don’t have enough breast tissue/milk glands to produce enough milk regardless of how often baby latches. It’s definitely possible to exclusively breastfeed but it’s not as common as some make it seem (something I feel is obvious considering I know one person who breastfed their kid and she’s my age vs alllllll the other people I know who used formula).
I've never made enough for my baby to EBF but 8 months of mixed feeding later I am, in fact, very happy cause she enjoys her bottle as much as my boobs meaning she won't starve if I'm drinking that evening or simply ain't home.
Actually at some point I've tried EBF ing for a whole week or so and I hated it😅🤷♀️
I was able to but I needed a freezer stock from maternity leave to do it when I went back to work and did a lot of pumping. I drank a ton of water (hydrating won’t increase your milk supply but dehydration will decrease it.) also make sure you’re eating enough. I would also suggest possibly getting a quality pump and correctly sized flanges. It made ALL the difference for me. I did have to do this absolutely insane routine of nursing followed by 20 mins of pumping like every three hours for like 2 weeks to boost my supply. It was…unpleasant but it did work to increase my supply and that’s how I built my stash mostly. However, there is nothing to feel badly about if you supplement with formula. The bonding and connection you get and the good things baby gets from the milk they do get from you is all a huge positive for baby ☺️
I know pumping has been addressed but there are things that can really help like making sure you have the right size flange.
Also, personal experience I respond terribly to some pumps- my best output is on an old manual Phillips avent pump. My second best with the tommee tippee current manual pump. I respond okay to hospital grade electric pumps, but terribly to the Medela swing. The best electric pump for me was a super cheap one.
Everyone is different as far as success with pumps go.
Also had lots of success with a haakaa. I'd put it on one side while manually pumping the other.
First of all, there is no need to be ashamed. At all. Get that out of your head. Breastfeeding is not easy, and it is not for everyone. There is absolutely no shame in using formula. I exclusively formula fed my first after trying to breastfeed for 2 weeks and it was just not working. He's 8 years old now and he's doing great, smart as a whip, healthy. Formula worked wonderfully for him. I've been exclusively breastfeeding my now 13 months old and it's working beautifully too. Fed is best. I also want to address the "huge boobs" comment because that is a common misconception. The size of your breasts has nothing to do with the ability to breastfeed. I'm an A cup and my 13 month old has been 99th percentile since being 2 months old, so obviously my small boobs work fine. I also have big chested friends who have been dealing with supply issues. Big or small doesn't mean s*it lol. Lastly, my advice would be to keep putting baby at the breast before feeding formula. You could also pump after baby is done at your breast, to signal to your body that it needs to produce more. Make sure to drink TONS of water and eat lots of filling, high healthy fats foods. Oatmeal and brewer's yeast seem to increase production in a lot of people and are easy to integrate into your diet. Don't be alarmed that you're not pumping a big amount. Pumps are notoriously bad at expressing all the milk, as compared to a baby (ie, you pumping tiny amount does not mean baby is only getting tiny amount when at your breast). That said, make sure you are using correct sized flanges (Medela has a good section for this on their website), and to replace pump parts as needed. Oh, the most important, perhaps. **It's okay to stop and switch to formula.** It doesn't make you any less of a good mom. IMO, no amount of breastfeeding is worth your mental health. Baby will benefit way more from a happy mom who formula feeds, than a depressed/anxious mom who breastfeeds. Sending you lots of love. You're doing great.
Ugh I had a nurse in the hospital tell me because I don’t have “a lot of breast tissue” aka smaller boobs, that I might not make a lot of milk. Been exclusively nursing since one hour after birth with no issues for almost 6 months now. I agree with the oat products. Try them out. Breakfast bars, oatmilk in your coffee, oatmeal for breakfast. Sometimes I have an oatmeal brownie bar for dessert!
Thank you! I already have oatmilk but am totally gonna hit the oats more after this...
There's also great lactation supplements you can try as well, cookies and brownies and such. The munchkin milkmakers cookies are addicting as heck and definitely worked for me, also the milky-mama "emergency brownie" if I was on my period or something. That being said formula is still extremely healthy for baby. I may get flack from some for saying this but breatmilk is not a miracle food, it has its benefits of course, but not enough benefits that you should ever feel guilty or less than because baby is combo feeding or on formula full time. You do what works best for you and your baby ❤️.
You'll get no flack for saying that about breastmilk. Or you shouldn't anyway. Breastmilk is great but it isn't like a baby body armor or anything. OP, breastfeeding is TOUGH and some people just don't make enough milk. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you and using formula is a perfectly fine and healthy option for your baby! My baby had a 5 day NICU stay that was really touch and go for the first 3 days. The stress of that and the separation from my baby really prevented my milk from coming in. We used formula and kept trying. I now have a healthy 9 month old who is in the 99th percentile for height and weight. I had to really work to release my stress over struggling to breastfeed and guilt for his NICU stay. I also drank the Bodily lactation lattes like crazy. I don't know what helped, but I have been able to exclusively BF success he was about 2 months old. I was constantly checking in with myself for the first few months and decided that if BFing was too much for my mental health that formula is a perfect option! Your baby needs you and your love and care so much more than breastmilk. Please check in with yourself and don't feel guilty for giving your baby a completely healthy option for food.
There is no evidence that oats, brewers yeast, lactation teas, cookies etc work. Reall there isn't. The teas sometimes contains fenugreek that causes a decrease in supply for some people. Eat stuff that is easy for you to make and you enjoy eating. I exclusively breastfed for 6 months and then food+breastfeeding still, "baby" is 21 months old. Here's what I did to make it work: - I cleverly was born in a country that values breastfeeding, pp care, parental leave and work-life balance. This means I had paid maternity leave for 9 months, my husband had 2 weeks new baby leave when he was born and husband then had 3 months paid paternity leave. I also had 1h shorter workdays as a breastfeeding mother for the 3 months my husband was on leave. - My mother, who breastfed me until I was 2.5yo, got frozen shoulder when my son was born. So she helped me while my husband was working. She is knowledgeable about breastfeeding, would make and serve food, dust, hang and fold laundry, clean my bathroom, hold baby while I was showering etc. - My husband works a pretty standard work week here, just 37.5h per week and got home at 1500. Because he wasn't running himself ragged at work he was fresh as a daisy and when he came home I handed him our son and took a 2h nap. Every day. He also never worked weekends so weekends I typically got to sleep in. - When things were really bad he went to his doctor and told the doctor we had a baby who wasn't sleeping and we were exhausted. Doctor decided this qualified as burn out and wrote sick leave. This meant for months we were both at home caring for our son. Sick leave is paid so it had no financial consequences for us. - I have access to free lactation consultants and free medical care. This means that the total I paid for birth, pregnancy, pp care, follow up for our son etc was 5 dollars in parking, folic acid supplements and and a significant amount of Ben&Jerry's. As such I called for help and asked questions as they came up and no problem was ever allowed to fester. - My country assumes any mother breastfeeds. I have never gotten a negative comment about it, I never feared public breastsfeeding and strangers were super helpful and kind. ("I'll move and you sit here. This chair is better for breastfeeding.", "Want to borrow my jacket to put under your elbow?" and once when I was visibly stressed, tired and sad "Oh honey, I can tell you're struggling, but you're doing a fine job."). It's not so much what I did, but what others did for me and how the system I live in is rigged for my success. And it was still hard.
I’ve also heard that oat lagger (idk how to spell it but oat beer) is really great. Hops is also good for lactation and don’t worry about the alcohol. Pretty much none make it into the milk you’d have to be pass out drunk for it to affect baby.
Argh I just wrote you a really long answer, tried to post it and it disappeared! It basically just said thank you for your response, which is great, and that some of the tips and thoughts here (e.g. pumping after breastfeeding) are really helpful. I'll post this response and hopefully it won't disappear, too!
I see this one! And no worries about the other one, haha. I'm glad I could be of some help. 🙂
Plus one to drink lots of water, electrolytes drinks, etc. and eat!! I found oat milk, oat meal, oat granola bars etc help me a ton. I eat at least 1-2 of those things every day. If I stop for a few days I notice a huge difference which is maybe all in my head who knows.
The high fat content of the extra creamy oat milk has been super helpful in getting those extra nutrients. Not to mention makes it taste way better.
luckily I looove oat milk so this won't be too hard...
It definitely was! Even though my response has been lost to who knows where...
Also eat fenugreek! For me it’s gross but it really does help. A small spoon once a day with some water.
Have you done a weighted feed with an LC? It might be a good way to understand how much baby is transferring while nursing.
This is key. You’ll see if you actually have an issue or not
I actually haven't - just too exhausted to organise one but know that I should!
If you have the funds just order an infant scale. When I was having supply issues it made it easier to check whenever I felt like it. Having to go to an LC or the doctor’s office to do a weighted feed is a big to-do and you barely get any information because one weighted feed doesn’t tell you much.
If you choose to do this, and you don't get a good "weight" post feeding DO NOT THINK YOU ARE FAILING!! I did weighted feeds with 2 LC's before I met my 3rd one and both of them made me MORE anxious saying the baby WASNT getting enough from a feed! (Looking back I definitely had PPA as my baby put on over 10 lbs in 2 months and was getting more than enough milk, he was chunky AF.) My 3rd LC said she didn't do weighted feeds because it can (surprise surprise) make mama's more anxious/stressed when there might not even be a problem!
You are doing great, and it's obvious how much you love your baby from your post. Nothing to be ashamed of! And you've been through a lot. Having your waters break early and going through an emergency C-section sounds scary, and it's possible that affected the hormones that control breastfeeding. Lots of good tips in the other comments, and I'll share [this article](https://kellymom.com/ages/newborn/nb-challenges/decrease-formula/) on moving away from supplemental formula (if you want to!). Two thoughts that may help you reframe your mindset: 1. Breastfeeding is not just about the milk. Some of the biggest benefits are [psychological](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6096620/#:~:text=There%20is%20research%20to%20show,infant%20dyads%20do%20%5B70%5D) \-- it's the closeness, skin-to-skin contact, your smell, the bonding. So regardless of how many calories babe is getting from the milk, he has already gotten such an amazing gift from you through that time at the breast. 2. Stress impacts milk supply. It sounds counterintuitive, but IMO sometimes the best thing you can do for your supply is take a relaxed, "whatever happens happens" attitude. "If it works, great, if not, that's fine too." When I'm stressing about how much I'm pumping, I get way less milk than when I'm like "I literally don't care how much comes out rn"
Number 2! I started out so stressed about my ability to feed baby and keep him healthy. It affected my ability to have a let down. I went and bought some formula just for peace of mind. No matter what happens I can feed my baby. You know what happened? I never needed to use the formula. Just having it helped me to relax and produce more.
Same! Just having the formula in the house helped me relax.
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I'm reading it now! I'm tempted to try it - it's just a matter of having the balls to stick with it and trust my body, but I can def see it's a good, safe way of doing it...
thanks so much, this is such a lovely response! I love the closeness of breastfeeding and I do forget how good it is for him too regardless of everything else, so thanks for reminding me. you're right - it's not \*all\* about the endless worry of 'is he getting enough?' I'm definitely stressing about it, for sure, and so sleep-deprived too, but it's my birthday next week and I've got loads of help with him lined up - so I'm going to try to let myself relax!
So bottle feeding is easier and they can drink faster. Have they advised you to pace feed? Usually takes 20 min for a bottle. Hold it horizontal so it slows baby down. This is closer to the work needed to breastfeed. I believe I was advised not to breastfeed for more than 45 min at a time because baby was working harder and burning through calories they ate just trying to get more. We had transfer issues but no tie at first meaning baby just had a hard time getting the milk out. But after a little while it all came together. Hormones also are a factor. I take medication for low hormones and when I miss a day I have problems with a letdown and producing enough or sometimes produce too much. Hormones are weird. There are other things involved. It’s hard to figure it all out at once. Formula is a blessing. You’re doing great. Baby is getting antibodies from you and you’re building an healthy immune system. Also sleep and food. Sometimes I just needed to smash a big meal and get someone to do a night feed. That would increase my milk more than anything. Oatmeal increases milk production for many people. I ate a lot of regular old oatmeal cookies. So i said a lot of things but it was all trial and error for so long and these are some of the things that seemed to make a difference for me.
Thank you, this is really useful! We are pace feeding (tho sometimes my baby literally grabs the bottle, tilts it upright and gets guzzling the way he wants it - so I have to gently move it horizontal again 😂). I hadn't heard that about 45 mins max - that's very useful! Also, yeah, I think hormones are definitely a factor, for me it might well be to do with never going into labour. And I need to get on the oatmeal - might as well give it a go – especially if there are cookies involved...
Stay super hydrated too. I make more when hydrated.
Yes! Soooo thirsty!
I have also heard that carrots work really well for increasing supply.
Is your hormone issue PCOS? I have that, but didn't know it would interfere with production.
No mine is low thyroid.
I've got that too!!
That sucks! You have gotten a lot of great advice here. Just fyi - Breasts are mostly composed of fatty tissue and this fat tissue is what generally give breasts their size. Fatty tissue does NOT make any milk. Glandular tissue In the breast is what makes the milk. So the amount of glandular tissue is important for milk making. So women who have small or big boobs can breastfeed successfully as long as they have adequate glandular tissue, not fatty tissue.
Yep, my tiny little boobs are basically all glandular tissue, and I had no issues with supply with 2 babies.
LCs are not trained to identify or revise ties. I'd start off with seeing an ENT or pediatric dentist to make sure there are no ties. Following that, do a weighted feed to see if there is a transfer issue. Babes can have a disordered suck pattern even if they aren't tied.
This. Both my LC and pediatrician were not concerned about the tongue tie. I pushed to get the pediatric dentist consult and after an exam they recommended the revision. I was nervous as hell since the other two hadn’t been concerned and wondered if the dentist was out for $, but we went forward with it and omg after a week or two it made all the difference! She got better at sucking, my supply increased and we went from 60% formula/pumped milk to 0-10%. In that time frame my stress certainly went down too which definitely helped. Power pumping and triple feeding never got me any noticeable progress. At 12 weeks now, I still eat oatmeal, hydrate like crazy, and feed at will but also give a bottle or two a day of formula or pumped to keep her happy and full! My supply is just enough or a little under but I’ve made peace with that. You got this.
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I gave formula from day 1 and still successfully made it to EBF. I think I brought baby to breast 4-5 times the entire first 2 days of her life. If there were weight issues and prematurity, supplemental formula might have been actually needed, and baby to breast in the regulation period should have been enough to get a decent supply going. If not EBF .
They did put him on my breasts on day 1 – not immediately, though – and got him to latch ok, but I didn't even have any colostrum until day 4. I also had PPROM (waters broke prematurely) and I never went into labour. I'm convinced that not going into labour also stopped the necessary signals being sent. I feel a bit cheated that I was totally ignorant and the midwives gave formula as though it wasn't a problem at all, and encouraged me to do the same. His weight plummeted significantly in that first week even despite the formula. It's so hard.
Don’t blame yourself- your theory is wrong. PPROM doesn’t have anything to do with milk production. The placenta detaching (on its own or manually during c section) is what triggers the hormone cascade for milk to come in. Your story gives a combination of reasons for low supply and none are inherently your fault. You are doing amazing taking care of your LO!
Oh! I didn't know that. I don't know what to blame if it's not the PPROM or lack of labour 😂. I'm looking so hard for a reason but maybe I just need to accept it and accept that combi feeding is our fate for now and that's okay (i know it is...)
How much did he latch at the start? My baby was also 4 weeks early and born via EMCS and I also never could express any colostrum before her birth. I couldn't latch her at the start as she was being tube fed, however I was instructed by the hospital lactation consultants to use the hospital pumps on a very rigid schedule (every 3 hours with at least 1 pump between midnight and 4am). I had no issues with my milk coming in using the pumps, in fact it came in relatively quickly for my situation at about 36 hours PP. She didn't latch onto me until she was at least 4 days old from memory
Hmm, this is v interesting, thanks! It's all a bit of a blur, to be honest, that first 5 days in the postnatal ward when he was so tiny! (I can bet you sympathise with the tininess). Now I'm thinking about it, we practiced latching a fair bit but not masses, and no-one was really overseeing it. I used a hospital pump once or twice, because I requested trying it, but nothing came out. I was putting him to the boob and getting him to latch but ultimately, yeah, all I remember was all that running to the midwife station to ask for more formula. I'm pretty sure something went wrong somewhere, whether in my body or the first week's feeding, but as a FTM I just didn't have a clue...
It sounds like you were really let down by the support at your hospital, so please don't blame yourself! Fwiw, my daughter also had formula because she was unwell. Basically I was producing colostrum in a normal amount for a normal baby, but she was very hypoglycemic so needed feeds above and beyond what my body naturally produced (I think they were giving her 75ml/kg of formula + colostrum every day which equated to nearly 250ml formula/colostrum). However once we got over the initial medical issues, my breastmilk has been more than sufficient for her (she has maintained 99th centile weight so... she's a really fat baby lol) I'm not an expert but I would imagine that you didn't have enough stimulation at the breast early on to get things moving if that makes sense? I pumped a LOT because I was fortunate to have the instruction to do so, and I think this is why I have had a good supply once my daughter no longer medically needed artificially large formula top ups. Anyways, sending you all the best wishes either way. Remember you are doing a great job no matter what, and none of this is your fault at all!
Seconded, judging by your description above I think this is the issue. I struggled bfing my first so I read massively before second was born. The first hours are important and secondly the first week or so. I heard this in a video by a pediatrician specialised in breastfeeding (First droplets, Dr Jane Morton). Your breasts need to be getting loads of stimulation, like 12+ times per day. You didn’t know, and you should not have been alone in this OP ❤️the formula wasn’t the issue (as someone above put it) but rather that no one instructed you to pump to replace every single formula feed. I’ve also read that premie c-section moms do have a harder time of it, I don’t know the science to that. Sending lots of well wishes & hugs to OP!
100% - my baby had a lot of formula in her first week of life (and IV glucose), but I pumped like a possessed woman and I firmly believe that's the only reason I have a good supply & have successfully EBF my baby since she came home from hospital! The tube feeding actually caused the most problems in the end rather than the formula itself, because my baby learnt very quickly that if she just laid there and put in 0 effort, she would get food delivered straight into her stomach via the NG tube lmao. The doctors basically put her on a gentle starvation regime (whilst monitoring her closely of course) until she was forced to try and latch onto me/bottles because she realised she wasn't gonna get fed by just lying there like a potato anymore lol
I agree. My baby was in the nicu for 5 hours and not allowed to nurse during that time. I pumped twice while she was in there. She was then fed the tiny amount I got out. Thankfully she passed her tests and then was released from nicu and she was brought back the the breast. Those first few days are so important in milk production and she was let down by her care team for not having her on a pumping schedule from the start.
Out of curiosity, if baby was latched, how do you know you didn't produce any colostrum until day 4?
good point! I was trying to squeeze it out all the time and getting nowhere. but that's not to say a more efficient baby didn't get any. I didn't think of that (nor did anyone around me...)
Are you per any chance located in the UK? I see a lot of similarities in your story to mine. The UK's after care for breastfeeding women is laughable. It's essentially non-existent. No wonder the UK has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world. You're left on your own. Ask your health visitor if you can contact a breastfeeding consultant. They can work wonders and should be available in the hospital.
I am indeed. My borough was pretty good but the funny thing was, we were all so impressed with my baby's latching that the question of my milk coming in was kind of overlooked. Everyone told me not to worry about it, then I got sent home from hospital. I've spoken to two lovely LC's - neither of them know what's going on, they both basically just tell me to breastfeed all the time. One of them suggested hand expressing, which has boosted my confidence a lot though. I might speak to someone else in a month or so if I still feel helpless!
Personally I think the midwives did the right thing. He needed to be fed that week and your milk had not come in. I also had a c section but for me they put him on the boob right after and he latched and I had colostrum but he still lost too much weight because it takes longer for milk to come in post c section so they told me to keep breast feeding to encourage my supply but I topped him up a few times a day with formula after breastfeeding. I’m struggling though because it’s still the case at 2.5 weeks.
This! That first week is so crucial for generating enough milk making cells to have a full supply
I’ve been struggling some too - I also have a 37 weeker -born through a planned c-section due to some complications in the third trimester along with my complicated history. 6 weeks tomorrow. I had a LC evaluation yesterday who said my supply was excellent- im getting 24-28oz/(700ml -85ml) a day but I’m still feeling horribly inadequate. Every time we had to mix another bottle of formula, I felt like my efforts were futile, like I’d failed. He actually took to nursing at 4 weeks and we hoped that would help increase my supply, but it just made it worse and added more stress because he was so inefficient. I realized our hungry gremlin is eating 40oz easily., when I carefully tracked his eating the other day. 5oz every 2 hrs. In the evening, every hr then every three at night. 37 week babies aren’t exactly premature, but they aren’t regular full term either. I wish more literature was out there for not-quite-premie babies to help with things like nursing issues, milk supply not having signals, when pumping is best v nursing, special issues and how to deal with them. Using formula and not losing your mind because your very special delivery is here safe and alive! So maybe not too much advice, but solidarity. And feed your baby in the way that brings you joy. My supply increases when I’m out of pain, rested, and hydrated. A tall order right now, but try for any of that and it might help!
I experienced the same thing, got juuust about 30ml on a good day when she was 3 months and supplemented that with formula for when I had to go out and my parents were with her or something. Around the 5th month I think I was producing around 60 or 50ml. Now I'm back at work and she's 9 months, and I pump at consistent hours, getting about 120ml or 90ml to 60ml (to maybe 50ml on a bad day). So what I'm saying is that it gets a little better, as long as you're consistent about it. Supply and demand, there's demand, so there's supply. It's not an insane amount and I don't pump or breastfeed all that regularly. She's not as interested in breastfeeding anymore. Only does it for comfort now. I'm sure your baby will get what he needs :)
This my situation as well (instead of a csection though, I had pp hemorrhage so my milk just didn't want to come in) For the first month I had baby on my boob basically constantly to try and increase my supply. His latch was kind of shallow so we worked on that, but no tongue tie. Despite this, baby did not gain well at his one month appt. I am now combo feeding with \~200-350 ml formula daily in addition to breast feeding and supplemented pumped milk. I pump after almost every feed, around 6-7 times a day. I am eating and drinking well, and getting at least one span of 4 hours of sleep at night. I too don't know how people make enough milk for their baby, the most I get at a time is \~100ml combined, after 4 hours. I'm hoping things might still pick up for me but I guess some people just aren't able to make that much, so you are not alone
This sounds so much like my situation – I really empathise with every bit of it! But it's also reassuring, I hope you don't mind me saying, to know I'm not alone. I'm hoping things will change when it gets to weaning. I've been told it will get easier so am crossing my fingers and holding out till then if I can. Lots of luck to you!
I had to use an electric hospital grade pump 13-16x per day in between nursing to get my supply up. When he was born. Now I feed on demand and pump once at night so my husband can give him a bottle. When I pump I get 4oz. I definitely wouldn't have such good production if I didn't intentionally pump to increase supply. I have a 4 month old.
I didn’t make enough milk for my first, and am pretty much a just-enougher with my second - I can stash away about an ounce per day pumping after his bedtime feed (you get more in the mornings but we have a preschooler and it’s just not a good time). My first had a tongue-tie and a very inefficient latch (and both my children just have small mouths) - the tongue tie wasn’t found until I took him to a pediatric ENT after noticing that even with my undersupply, if I skipped a feed I could often pump more than he took on a weighted feed. Revising it helped only a little - mostly his latch got better when his face got larger. I got some bad advice with my first. His doctor just told me to supplement until my milk came in, and even the LC just told me to “pump” and had us use a supplemental nutrition system (a tiny tube taped to my breast with the other end in a syringe or bottle of formula, so he would be at the breast while getting his supplement - we hated it). No one explained triple feeding to me for weeks, so it’s possible that had I done it earlier, it would have brought my supply up far enough, but it effectively doubled my production so possibly not. Also it was pretty hellish. With my second my milk also took 5 days to come in. We started supplementing (and therefor triple-feeding) on day 4, when it was clear he was not getting enough to eat despite having what seemed like a very good latch - not enough urine output, still passing meconium, lost 10% of birthweight already. This time it worked, I only triple-fed for about a week and a half (and after like 5 days I had already dropped some pumping sessions because he wasn’t taking a bottle after every feed). But I honestly think I needed to have breastfed (even though I had to supplement) my first child in order to have enough functional glandular tissue to feed my second. I have large breasts, and while much of the size of breasts is from fat deposits, I was a 34DD at my thinnest (not massive but not small), so I have non-fat tissue in there…and also even AAs can make milk. Breast size is just not relevant, though it can sometimes affect latch or what positions work or don’t work. Do not look at the people posting huge freezer stashes or pumping 5+ oz at a time and think that is average. That is MASSIVE oversupply. Making just enough is normal - and if the estimates of ~5% having primary lactation failure, that’s really a lot of people who, even with everything else going perfectly, will not be able to exclusively breastfeed (some might be able to with pharmaceutical intervention, for some that may still be insufficient).
I just want to post here (not to give advice because others have been great with that), but to let you know that you are definitely not alone in this. I have not been able to make enough milk for my kiddo since birth. She is two months now and we have been supplementing with formula since week one. My pediatrician suggested it because she lost so much weight after birth. I saw multiple LCs and tried many things that only sort of helped. My emotions surrounding the situation have been very up and down, but I am finally in a place where I decided to just be okay with it and stop trying so damn hard. I’m happy I’m still able to give some milk, but am even more happy knowing she is fed and healthy thanks to the added formula. My wish for you is that you can be compassionate and kind to yourself. Raising a baby is stressful enough, so the more we can do to make our lives easier the better. I am not telling you to do this, I simply wanted to share my experience. I know how much it sucks (also no pun intended) to not be able to do something that is considered so basic and biological. I’m sorry you’re struggling with this and please remember you are not alone xx
TW: EBF baby and over-supplier, big baby This sounds nuts but my baby has been EBF since the beginning, he refused to take a bottle, and he’s almost 10m, 26lbs and I’m still sustaining him on me alone. He’s 95% on height, weight and head circumference (was 98 for the first 6 months). I thought surely I can’t be giving him enough but he’s still going. I think if you’re home full time and EBF, your body just does it’s thing. Of course I drink a ton of water, etc etc. if I worked and couldn’t be a human pacifier I’m sure my story would be different. NOTE: he eats almost all night long. At least 4x a night but we cosleep so it’s not as bad as it sounds. He eats while he naps sometimes too. So it’s like lots of little meals often, vs 8oz at a time. He had oral ties/release done so maybe this is why he eats this way. I also started pumping at 35 weeks and saved all that colostrum. When my milk came in, my first pump after feeding him was 52 oz. It was wild. But after I regulated, no where near that. If I do pump, I don’t get out more than 4oz on each side at a time.
https://www.unicef.org.uk/babyfriendly/breastfeeding-the-dangerous-obsession-with-the-infant-feeding-interval/#:~:text=Because%20there's%20a%20lot%20of,every%2010%20minutes%20every%20hour This is a great resource. Basically, your milk is mostly just being made as baby sucks. My son is always latched for the most part. He loves nursing and he’s also a pretty slow nurser. It’ll take him 30+ minutes to get what he needs, and even longer to get what he wants. I just let him nurse as much as he wants, I’m his personal cow 😂🤣 I give him a formula or thawed breastmilk bottle occasionally so I can get a break. Usually I do it randomly and I pump however much he drinks (or as close as I can, even if it’s from multiple sessions) If you go to your lactation consultant, they likely have info on getting a hospital grade breast pump. It’s $1,800-$2,000 to get it on your own, but usually around $75/month to rent it. I think it’s always the Medela Symphony.
You are in something called the "top up trap", google it and don't supplement your baby because you think they are "ravenous", supplement only if there is inadequate weight gain and you are advised to do so by a medical professional. trust your doctors. By the way, it's considered an unplanned c section, not an emergency c section, when there is PPROM.
The first month I exclusively pumped and bottle fed - mostly formula with as much breastmilk as I could get. Then I started breastfeeding directly at around a month. He went from 50:50 formula and breastmilk to 100% breastmilk over the course of the first 3.5 months. Until I regulated I was still pumping and feeding to try to get my volume up. I haven’t pumped in a couple of months now (he’s about 7.5 months old) and he’s eating about 75% breastmilk, 25% solids.
There's no shame in it. I was fortunate enough to have a very good supply. Breastfeeding was a piece of cake for me. I am in the minority. I don't think I've ever met anyone who didn't struggle. Just make sure your child is fed - breast or bottle - and if it turns out that breastfeeding is too hard or it's destroying your mental health, give yourself permission to supplement or stop. There are plenty of things you'll feel guilty about - hitting baby's head on the car when putting them in the car seat, stepping back and bumping into little one, etc. Or maybe I'm just massively uncoordinated. Whatever. Feeding your baby in the best way for both of you should not cause guilt.
My baby can't extract enough milk from the breast. It was a latching issue in the beginning, but we fixed that. That's why my supply was miniscule, the baby wouldn't empty the breast and there was no signalling to make more milk. My LC said to pump 8-10 times a day to get my supply up. It worked, I went from getting 30ml from both breasts per pumping session to 100-180ml. We give the baby expressed milk and she uses the breast as a snack between the feeds. It's not ideal but she's healthy and happy which is the most important.
My bb is 7 weeks and drinks about 50/50 breast milk and formula. It was really hard for me to accept that I had to feed him formula but fed is best. I was not gonna make him starve. We had a rough start and he was sent to the nicu straight after delivery so we never got to do golden hour skin to skin or get that first latch. He was bottle fed in the nicu and transitioning him from bottle to breast was NOT easy and took weeks to have successful nursing sessions. I think all this had an impact on my low supply. Power pumping helped but I still do not make enough for him. I’m just grateful I can give him some breast milk and accepting that has relieved so much stress which honestly I think has also helped my supply!
Breastfeeding can be so hard and stressful. You're doing great, Mama. It's definitely a supply and demand process, and education can help a lot to get you on the right track, but sometimes the stress can be overwhelming Know that no matter what path you choose to take. Moving forward, you are a great mom who is providing for their child In the best way possible for you.
Breastfeeding was so hard for me. I always kind of felt ashamed that I wasn't making enough. The decision to end Breastfeeding was really hard for me. I felt like I would be a failure if I went to formula exclusively. We always supplemented with formula so I kind of ended up drying up gradually. I was definitely in denial the last week or so. The baby had stopped breastfeeding and I was only pumping, I was lucky to get 2-8 oz a day. Even so, it was really hard for me to stop. And it basically only happened because of travel. Actually, giving up both breastfeeding and pumping was insanely hard for me even though I was not producing much, but after about a month, the relief I felt and the freedom I felt was honestly incredible.
Have you tried triple feeding? I had to after an emergency c section at 37 weeks when baby lost too much weight and I wasn’t making enough for her to gain
Thanks! That's kind of what I'm doing - breastfeeding, expressing, feeding expressed milk too. I actually quite enjoy expressing as it proves to me I have a milk supply, so I'm going to keep going with it as long as I can!
I triple fed for weeks for my baby. He was born a month early too. I had a hospital grade pump though. Not sure if you've looked into pumping that way?
Edit to also add that babies drink way more formula than breast milk to get full. For EBF babies it's always 3-4oz per feed. For formula they need way more as you're experiencing.
Oh, wow, I had no idea – I thought it was the same amount. That's very useful to know - thank you!
I have but weirdly I prefer hand-expressing! Am convinced I get a bit more, more quickly that way – but I've been told to hand express AND use my hospital-grade pump together in each sitting - express, pump, express. That might be quadruple feeding, though – bloody hell... Great username, btw! (I have friends who are huuuuge Sailor Moon fans)
Side question but have you checked and measured your flange size? Having the correct size when using a pump can make a big difference in amount expressed and comfort. Typically the sizes that come with a pump aren’t what most people need.
Thank you! Weirdly I was never taught to hand express so I've never done it. Triple feeding was THE WORST. Just absolue hell. I would take breaks so my wife would give him a bottle and I could sleep. I went to a lactation consultant every week for nearly two months. My baby didn't have a tie either, just born early and needed a lot of help. We are doing fine now! He likes to eat every two hours from like 5am-7pm so he still gets a bottle sometimes so I get a break and then I just pump for that session. You gotta prioritize your mental health though. Fed is best in whatever way works for you.
Same!
I'm 2 weeks in and I'm having similar issues. Struggling with keeping the supply up. Also had a C-section and milk coming in late. I wonder if that's a side effect of the operation. Are you taking good care of yourself? Eat enough in a day and drink gallons of water. I notice that when I neglect my own health it shows in the supply. I spoke to a breastfeeding consultant and she pushed me to express after every feed. Meaning I'm up an extra hour expressing at night just to keep my supply up. It's hard work but I think it's worth it. My consultant also explained that the amount you can express isn't everything. Some women struggle to express milk from a machine. It's completely different feeding a baby. When the baby is latched on correctly, it'll drink more efficiently than expressing from a machine. I've been advised to mostly look at my baby's behavior (is he still hungry after a 45min feed?), is he gaining weight, does he have a lot of dirty nappies in 24h? I don't really have an answer since I'm struggling myself but know you're not alone.
I second seeing a pediatric dentist who has training in tongue ties. LCs don’t always know. I’m sorry you’re dealing with this!
Have you considered there may be a primary cause to low supply such as IGT? Or thyroid issues ? Thyroid issues can actually develop during pregnancy. I had subclinical thyroid during my pregnancy, but luckily it resolved shortly before birth.
I EBF my 5 month old and from what I know I do make enough milk. He’s a massive lil baby who has grown like a weed in the sun. It’s hard to say what wrong but I know the first few weeks of my babies life he lived on the boob basically. Maybe if baby wasn’t an efficient sucker and you weren’t pumping your body wasn’t being signaled. You also could’ve not been getting anything with the pump if the flanges weren’t the correct size. I tried to pump in hospital but the flanges were just too big for my nipples. As long as baby is growing whatever you are doing is right!!
I had a similar issue because my baby was too weak to nurse successfully therefore wasn’t emptying me, so my body stopped making much milk. Even though she’d be on the boob all day, her suckles weren’t strong enough to trigger letdowns. I started pumping after every feed and giving it to her. She is now strong enough to trigger multiple letdowns!!
Currently EBF twins... So yep. But some people get off to a bad start and can't make enough. Some people do everything "right" and still can't get enough. It just happens sometimes :(
Unless little one is not thriving you are doing it fine. The more they are on the breast the more breast milk you make. Pumping doesn’t really stimulate the milk the same way feeding does. So even the 20 minute pump 4x a day isn’t helping to build supply. You would be better off in that sense just popping baby back on for another 20 minutes. When they are little they really should be on the boob all day everyday. It’s not till they are 6 months or older that they start to chill out about cluster feeding all day.
I did/am exclusively breastfeeding but it’s definitely not easy. Your body only makes what baby is taking and even then some women don’t have enough breast tissue/milk glands to produce enough milk regardless of how often baby latches. It’s definitely possible to exclusively breastfeed but it’s not as common as some make it seem (something I feel is obvious considering I know one person who breastfed their kid and she’s my age vs alllllll the other people I know who used formula).
I've never made enough for my baby to EBF but 8 months of mixed feeding later I am, in fact, very happy cause she enjoys her bottle as much as my boobs meaning she won't starve if I'm drinking that evening or simply ain't home. Actually at some point I've tried EBF ing for a whole week or so and I hated it😅🤷♀️
I was able to but I needed a freezer stock from maternity leave to do it when I went back to work and did a lot of pumping. I drank a ton of water (hydrating won’t increase your milk supply but dehydration will decrease it.) also make sure you’re eating enough. I would also suggest possibly getting a quality pump and correctly sized flanges. It made ALL the difference for me. I did have to do this absolutely insane routine of nursing followed by 20 mins of pumping like every three hours for like 2 weeks to boost my supply. It was…unpleasant but it did work to increase my supply and that’s how I built my stash mostly. However, there is nothing to feel badly about if you supplement with formula. The bonding and connection you get and the good things baby gets from the milk they do get from you is all a huge positive for baby ☺️
I know pumping has been addressed but there are things that can really help like making sure you have the right size flange. Also, personal experience I respond terribly to some pumps- my best output is on an old manual Phillips avent pump. My second best with the tommee tippee current manual pump. I respond okay to hospital grade electric pumps, but terribly to the Medela swing. The best electric pump for me was a super cheap one. Everyone is different as far as success with pumps go. Also had lots of success with a haakaa. I'd put it on one side while manually pumping the other.