I haven't any milk for my DD. Any help/ advice?

[kailie]

I wanted to breastfeed my DD. she is 1 week old now and we have had to use formula as my milk still hasn't properly come through. DD latched on beautifully from birth - no problems there, just that there is nothing for her.

I've hired an all-singing all-dancing medela hospital grade breast pump and am expressing every 1-2hours. I'm lucky if I can get 30ml from the whole day's worth. I'm drinking loads and eating healthily.

I'm gutted that I can't feed her - does anyone have any ideas for boosting milk supply?

Oh poor you - what a horrible situation to be in. This might sound silly, but are you absolutely sure there is no milk? I fed mine successfully but could never express. What happens when you put her to the breast? Have you tried just spending the day in bed with her having lots of skin to skin cuddles and feeding er practically continuously?

30 ml isn't that little - a newborn's stomach is so tiny, just the size of a marble.

Seeker's advice is spot on. Do nothing but stay in bed for 24 hours, leaving only for the loo! As much skin-to-skin contact as possible will be hugely helpful to the both of you. Get your partner/ your mum to come around and look after you, and you can just focus on your daughter. She might just feed for a few minutes at a time, but the frequency will mean she gets everything she needs.

Do you have any health issues? Does your daughter?

When you express, what colour is the milk?

Expressing isn't a good guide to what you're producing, babies are better at getting milk out. Thousands of years of evolution beats a machine some blokes invented, any day!

What happens if you just feed her directly?

And when you have fed directly, are your nipples sore?

And cruciallly - is she happy and peeing and pooing and not losing weight?

Gosh, 30mls is heaps to express. I am feeding a massive chubbly baby and on a good day I can get that much, my boobs just don't like the pump.

Can you ditch the formula and just let her feed feed feed? At 1 week my babies were on the boob more often than they were off. Were just constantly feeding, one breast, then the other, then back on the other.

Get your's and baby's clothes off and snuggle up.

Has she regained her birth weight? Is she doing plenty of dirty and wet nappies?

If it really is a supply issue (it probably isn't) then More Milk Plus is a very good supplement. But be careful, if you don't in fact have a supply problem you could end up with oversupply.

thanks so much for all your replies.

have had to use top up feeding from day 3 as she needed more milk than she could get from me. I have tried letting her feed all day and she just ends up exhausted, and very very hungry.

Morloth, I'm confused - the midwife thinks she should be taking 40-60ml per feed - I am only producing 30ml per day (as in every 24 hours)

have had midwife check milk/ flow and she has said there is not enough to sustain DD at the moment. DD is doing well but only because I have been using formula to top up her feeding. I am hugely upset that I can't feed her.

ib - thanks for the tip - will try this ASAP!

The thing is, for some women their milk doesn't come in until day 5 or 6 (mine came in on day 5). Up until that point dd had only colostrum which is produced in tiny amounts but is enough to sustain them until the milk comes in. And they do feed all day at first, that's how your milk comes in. Formula will interfere with this.

I am very confused by how your midwife knows there isn't enough milk. Signs of there being milk are the latch, the observable transfer of milk and more importantly the nappies and health and weight of the baby.

You need to see a qualified breastfeeding counsellor. Do you have the numbers?

Kailie.

I think you really, really need to see someone knowledgable in real life for a full, second opinion.

Topping up from day 3 is always risky - it is very undermining to milk production and when it is done, it should always be done alongside frequent (at least 8x in 24 hours if the baby is not feeding at all) expressing.

The other things to check include any placental retention; oral anomalies in the baby; medical issues (PPH; thyroid).

How much formula is she having? If a lot then ditching the formula is not a good idea - you need to work on reducing it alongside building up your milk supply.

The midwife should be working very hard with you to protect your milk supply - it is early days, and it can be rescued, but it needs a proper assessment.

Hope you get the help you need to work out why things are not working well.

I agree that you should see a bf counsellor, your midwife sounds a bit sketchy on bf.

kailie, your midwife has given you really bad advice

expressing is not any indication of what you are making

it is NORMAL for a baby to want to feed a LOT before oyur milk come in. i go to a point with ds2 and ds3 where they were feeding literally every 15-20 minutes by day 4 before my milk finally came in.

iving formula top-ups just undermines your supply because instead of baby suckling to increase the supply you are giving something else instead

i can't even imagine how your midwife has checked your supply/flow.....????

agree that you should see a qualified breastfeeding counsellor asap and spend as much time as possible feeding your baby direct from the breast. even if you DO have supply issues (and i'd wager that you don't) your dd will be stimulating the breast to produce more.

I am surprised you were advised to introduce formula from day three. With my first I didn't really have milk until day 5, and DD spend the first 4 days suckling a lot!

Forget the machine, I have never really been able to express other that first thing in the morning after 8 hours since last feed when breasts feed full.

Can you hand express any? eg can you spray it?

I agree re: getting into bed for 48 hours, feed as often as possible. And also get thyroid levels checked by GP ASAP.

Please use the kellymom website while waiting for a proper breastfeeding counsellor. It will help you to understand how bfing works.

I had a c-section at 38 weeks (not sure if pertinent or not) and it took nine days for my milk to come in, so there is hope for you!

Not sure if this has already been said, but the amount you can express (especially in the early days) is not representative of how much milk you have. If your baby's latch is good, they are much more effective at getting milk out than a pump

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HTH

Kellymom