Breastfeeding Problems

Hi M.
I have no great advice just words of encouragement. DO NOT feel like a bad mom! I tried for 6 months with my son, pumping and nursing. I only produced 4-6 ounces a day for a six month old! I never produced enough to feed my kids with supplementing formula. It took my son over three weeks to get back to birth weight because I was supplying enough food. The peditrician made me start formuala at 2 weeks to supplement my breastfeeding. With my second I tried for 6 weeks going to a lactation specialist everyday! My kids were only 16 months apart and I felt so guilty for not trying longer with my second. However I saw my lactation specialist at church almost a year later and she introduced me to the person she was with and said "We tried so hard, we did everything and tried everything. But Oh goodness was mom here a trooper". After almost a year I finially didn't feel as guilty. Do other mom's still give me that "look" that says you "didn't breastfeed, gasp"? Yes, but I know in my heart I tried everything and am still a great mom. I was too exhausted to keep trying..plus with my son I went six months and still no luck! Please pay no attention to those ladies who "have no idea why you have problems. It came so easily to me". It in no way makes you a bad mom. My kids are healthy, smart wonderful toddlers. My friend who produced no milk after 3 weeks was told by her pediatrician that a rested (as well as any mom is rested) mom is the best thing for a baby. Your next one may nurse with no problems or you may go through the same thing but the most important part is to be the best mom you can (with or without breastfeeding). DO NOT LET OTHERS MAKE YOU FEEL BAD!!! It is not your fault you can not produce enough milk. I too tried all the teas, herbs, home remedies and even prescription medicines to up my supply...nothing worked and no one had any explanations.
The worst part of it all was the way other moms made me feel.
If anyone is reading this who happened to have no problems breastfeeding....thank your lucky stars and keep your smug comments to yourself.
Best of luck to you, I know your a loving mom. It's proven by how hard you have tried!

Oh M., does that sound familiar.
When my daughter was born I knew breastfeeding was best, I lasted 5 weeks. I cried every time it was time for her to eat. Every lactation consultant said that she was latched on correctly. I felt so guilty. You can find so much support out there for breastfeeding, but when you want to stop there's no one out there to support that. It was not a bonding experience for me, it was painful and I felt that it wasn't fair that I was the only one that could help this crying baby. I got thrush after 4 weeks and could not go on any longer with the pain. We switched to formula, and I felt like I had found the light. Feedings were now a positive experience, not a dreaded one. I absolutely would attempt breastfeeding again, but if it becomes such a negative experience I wouldn't continue and I would try my hardest not to feel guilty about it. My daughter, now 19 months, is a happy, healthy and smart little girl. And I'm sure your son is the same... as will be your future children despite your decision to or not to breastfeed.

Don't feel bad and definitely try with #2.
You know, we aren't around a lot of women who are bf, and so it is really foreign to us.
Get to a La Leche League meeting, even if you have to drive an hour, it is worth it. I went while I was pregnant, and so when it came time to nurse, and it was going terrible, I had someone to call. The leaders were so patient and optimistic, they really believed in me in a different way than Lactation consultants.
I have flat nipples and my baby didn't know how to latch. It was aweful to hear him cry and know I couldn't feed him!
Have you tried Nipple Shields? I had to use them, and they recommend working with a consultant, and I used a LLL leader. She said my baby's suction reflex probably wasn't mature enough to trigger him to suck. I used them for about 8 weeks, and weaned him rather simply (not easily, but simply). Also it helps with the pain, but once we stopped using them it really hurt and eventually stopped hurting.
good luck!
ps: you can go to la leche league international's website to find a leader near you.

Don't feel bad. Some women just dry up fast. Something that helped me (and it's a little controversial so I'll probably get some flack for suggesting it) is beer. Just one a day really seemed to help (ok sometimes I had two but that second one was after she went to bed ;-).) Stick with something dark like Newcastle or Guiness. If you drink it slowly you can keep your blood alcohol level from getting too high or you can just pound it an wait at least one hour to feed or pump.

Good luck

Hi M.,
well, I just wanted to say, I too am a 32 year old stay-at-home mom with a wonderful husband of ...3 years, and an andorable, smiling baby boy :)
And, I have also had terrible times with nursing. He's going to be 5 months on the 17th and we are STILL trying to get enough milk to feed him. I've also been on every herb, had every consultant, pumped like crazy and am still using an SNS. Right now I am in Tennessee with my sister working on getting my nutrition up to 100% so that we can rule that out as the problem.
While I obviously am still struggling with it, one of the things that helped my heart was that there was another mom who used the same midwives as I did who had too much breastmilk and donated it to my son. Even though your little boy is older now, I would see if you could get some breastmilk for him...you'd be amazed at how it helped my emotions through this.
If this nutrition thing in TN doesn't work, you'll have to share it with me, but I've noticed there are several moms on this forum who have too much...you should contact them. I've noticed my baby seems to be healthier than other babies and I think it is because he got that extra set of immunities during the winter season. We had some serious sicknesses in our house and he didn't even start to get sick. So, there are benefits for our boys even though it is really hard for us as moms to not be able to meet their needs.
Also, everyone says it won't be like this on the next one...so...here's hoping!
Good luck and let us know how it goes!
E.

Dno't feel bad. i know it is hard. But you did everything you could. It sounds like you gave it 110%. Sometimes it just doesn't work. I can realte with the pain for the first month i was breast feeding my son i cryed ever single time i feed him. it got so bad the my doctor gave me pain killers that took as sparingly as possible but sometimes i just had to. I defintely think you should try again with the second one. i have a friend who could not with her first child but th second one took to it no problem. So have an optimistic mind set. you never know it just might be the best thing you ever do.
A.

Hi M.,
I had the same problem. Even with all the help from lactation consultants in the hospital and after, I couldn't get past the pain. My daughter latched on the moment I put her to my breast with such force it killed me! I didn't produce enough milk regardless of what I tried, I even rented a hospital grade breast pump. I made it 2 months and had to supplement with formula. I was SO discouraged as I really wanted to breastfeed for at least 6 months, but it wasn't meant to be. If we have another baby I will definitely try again and hope for better results. Breastmilk for ANY length of time is better than none at all, IN MY HUMBLE OPINION! I have heard of shields but not until I was done breastfeeding. I also think hiring a postpartum doula would be wonderful and would hire one too.
Sincerely,
L.

Hi M.,

Don't worry - some breastfeeding is better than none. There is a product called More Milk Plus from Mothers Love Inc. It really helped me a lot. I noticed that once I started taking my birth control my milk supply dropped dramatically. I started taking More Milk Plus on a friday and by Monday it was amazing, I had so much milk and then I put myself on a regular pumping schedule. After I fed my daughter I would pump and I got up 2 hours before her morning feeding to pump. As far as the sore nipples, Madela makes a wonderful product called nipple guards. They are really cheap - about 3 bucks or something and Target carries them. It's a very thin piece of silicon that is contoured to fit your nipple and trust me you will hardly feel anything! I had one of my nipples crack and that was so painful but with the nipple guard it fixed the problem. I was able to successfully breastfeed my daughter for an entire year! Good luck, hope you find a solution that works for you!

this is such a difficult subject. i had no problems with my first two. breastfed 18months with each. with my third, it hurt so badly.. but like the consultant told you, it was only in the beginning. so i took painpills and motrin right before hand... after a week, it got a ton better. i almost gave up. i'd say get more knowledge ahead of time. read everything you can. there are so many different ideas out there, all the way to roughing up your nipples to toughen them up. heard this doesnt' work however. you got alot of help. sadly sometimes our bodies don't work like we'd like them to. i know a few who were saddened because they just physically couldn't do it. good luck with your next baby. again, you did EVERYTHING right...

Hi M.
This brings back painful memories. I hated to breastfeed. I would shed a few tears,grit my teeth, and clutch things. But I was determined, because I felt it was the best for my son.i tried the pumping, talking to nurses, etc. The only thing that seemed to help was to air dry my nipples after each breastfeeding (that was fun) and I kept Lanolin Cream on them to try to stop the cracking. I lasted for about 6 months. I think it got better around the 3rd or 4th month, then I couldn't supply enough milk for him anymore. But if it makes you feel any better, we had our 2nd son 2 1/2 years later, it was better the second time around. My nipples were tougher.