No Breastmilk

Priya, congrats on your baby. I have a few questions to understand your problem, hope you find the time to answer them.
How well did your baby gain when he was on breastmilk before you put him on formula? Why did you think you did not make enough breast milk? It is a fact that some women pump a lot less than they make, so I am trying to establish what it was like before when you are bfing...
How was the latch? where you in pain when your LO latched on? Poor positioning and latch could mean the transfer of breast milk is not efficient, frustrating the child and tanking your supply.
How often did your child breastfeed - a newborn should feed at least 1o to 12 times a day. Have you tried to get him on your breast every 2 hours?
How long did he feed? What were the wet diapers like, it is good if he was peeing 6 to 8 times a day.
If he did poorly on all these fronts, have you had a help of a lactation consultant in figuring out what your issue is?
What is your pumping schedule like - at this stage it is recommended that you pump to mimic your child's feeding pattern, i.e. 10 to 12 times a day for at least 20 to 30 minutes. Do let us know how things are going with you.
You will find some interesting articles in this link on what you could expect whenyou start bfing your child. Do let us know if you need any specific information. Hang in there, hugs.

 

Yes, stress does have a role in reducing the amount of breastmilk you make. But what I do not understand is why a weight loss of 10 percent was considered significant enough to need hospitalisation - it is pretty standard. DS was born 1.95 kg at 6 weeks pre-term and was 1.7 kg at release on day 9. That was considered absolutely standard newborn weight loss for us. I too had a lot of stress at that point and was on combination feeding. So I understand what you say about the priority being nutrition.

That should work along with galactagogues like fenugreek capsules.

I am assuming you are bottle feeding him now, do correct me if that is not so. As you already have an SNS, would it work for you to put him on your breast with the SNS and then pumping another 10 minutes after he has done nursing. That would be double stimulation for you, from your LO whose latch is good and another 10 min from the pump after he is done. The milk you get from pumping can also be used for supplementation. Are you using a double bp?

I know it is easier said than done, but is there anyway you can take some time to de-stress. Maybe a walk or whatever gets you to wind down a little. The first few weeks are very intense - especially so if you dont have the full support of your family. Hopefully things ease up for you. Good Luck and Hugs.

 

hi priya,

I am also a proud mom of 10 day old baby gal. I do have same problem that you were facing.

I too did all things that could make breast milk up. I too give hot cloth massage. Though it improved a little, its insufficient for the baby. I give her 50% formula and 50% breastmilk.

I am sure about the latch, pumping all the things that lactation consultant told. After each feed i get 5ml to 10ml of milk and there isnt any significant increase.

The milk that you get through pump is not all the milk that you are generating. The baby gets more milk than the pump.

When i was searching through internet i found that hormone levels have a huge impact on the breast milk supply. And they tend to change after delivery. So ask your doc and test for correct levels of tsh and prolactin. I had hypothyroid even before during pregnancy and i was continously monitored throughout pregnancy. I am taking medications for it. but after delivery i havent yet been tested. I am gonna call my endocrinologist and find if i m taking correct levels of meds.

All the best!
Dont lose hope.

Cheers,
Kavitha

 

hi friends,

try this for milk secretion make the fenu greek powder and mix it with butter milk and have regularly, u can really feel the heavy breast. i did it for my baby. all the best.

 

Hi Priya,

Congrats on the new addition. I have a 25 day old baby, and initially faced the problem of no milk. i found that putting the baby more to the breast helps. as tikka said, put the LO once every two hours. Also, i tried expressing milk manually, but to this day am not too successful. But when i feed my baby, milk flows freely.

All the best for a healthy and happy BFing.

amba

 

hello

stress
can bring down the milk flow
also constipation
clear bowels everyday
without fail if necessary with an enema

drink more water

if you can get dhurva grass/arugampil
i think it is cynadon dactylon
also called bermuda grass

the grass that is used
to make archana for ganesha
the hindu god
make juice of it and drink
twice a day

garlic can be boiled in milk
and taken at night

sathya

 

The first few months are very intense and intensive. Hang in there, I wont say it gets easy w.r.t child care, but the intensity does let up
Is there some way you can get yourself something to drink when you bottle feed your baby.
the bottle works very differently from the breast. Even in a no-drip one there is some milk that goes into the mouth when you first put the bottle inside. The child then has to swallow, which brings more milk into the mouth. It is much quicker than nursing and that does make bf-ing a little difficult for the child. Try and make nursing from a bottle both similar in duration and work as bfing goes. Bottle nursing techniques should help that.
Breast compressions helped me feed my sleepy preemie. After the letdown when things slow down a bit you can get your child to keep nursing my making the flow from you faster. HTH