No milk first time will I be able BF 2nd time

[neadsy]

When I had my DS 8 years ago I was desperate to BF. Had skin to skin straight away and he latched on really well but no latter how many times I tried him or a pump my milk just never came through. He was born on a Saturday and I eventually gave in and gave him a bottle on the Wednesday because he was starving. I thought I was maybe being hasty however no milk ever came through.
I'm now 8 weeks PG with number 2 and wondering I I will have the same problem again. I don't know anyone who didn't have any milk at all, even friends who chose to bottle have said their milk came through.

Has anyone out there had a similar experience?

Just out of interest (and I am no expert at all) how do you know there was no milk? Was he starving all the time?

Only because I literally never saw any milk while I was feeding DS, and never got engorged or anything when my milk came in. I mean literally never saw a single drop of milk, except once or twice when I tried to express after 10 weeks of BFing, and I got about 5ml.

With hindsight, DS had latch problems, so wasn't getting as much milk as he perhaps should have (and as a result fed almost hourly, for 45 mins at a time, for about 8 weeks), but there was milk there, even though I never saw any.

Would your DS stay latched on when you tried in the early days, or did he just come off screaming for milk?

Ummm, that's probably no help at all!

Are there any other issues with your health?

Alternatively, is there any chance you have tubular breasts?

And, as Hopefully has asked, how did you know your first child was starving?

I had issues with low milk supply with my first three children. With the last I took Motilium (domperidone) which stimulates milk production and feeding went SO much better. It was also a confidence-booster, so I was able to resist formula. Apparently they have used it with adoptive mothers who have then been able to breastfeed. Just a thought...

Had absolutely nothing no colosseum or anything. My breasts never grew or changed shape at all throughout or after my pregnancy. The BF support women had me expressing both breasts every hour with no joy. DS was screaming by the Wednesday wasn't talking formula out of the cup and was desperate for hydration (he was under the lights with 12 hours of being born due to jaundice caused by rhesus incompatibility)

I never had that feeling of milk coming in, I did manage to b/feed ds1, but not exclusively, he was on a mixture of breast and bottle. The other 3 I did manage, though none of them piled the weight on, all were skinny till they started solids!

What I would advise is;
Contact a breast-feeding counsellor BEFORE the birth - or possibly hire a doula? Someone who can sit with you through the early first feeds, and can check latch and manipulate the baby so that you can relax.

Don't try to be up and about too quickly - allow yourself time to sit with the baby in bed, or on the sofa. Make sure you have as much help as you can with your ds1, taking him to his activities etc. Don't put pressure on yourself to be supermum, getting meals etc. Stock up the freezer now, so that when the baby is born meals are easy.

Feed the baby on demand, and don't leave more than 2 hours between feeds - beginning of feed to beginning of feed. Look for feeding 'cues' - rooting, chewing hand, smacking lips etc. Don't wait until he's crying.

Relax!

Just checked tubular breast, nope haven't got that and no oter health issues. Was not offered any medsnto help get my milk going and I must say the BF support women at the hospital where I ha him were not very supportive.

I know of a couple of people who had milk coming in after 5 days. Both times the babies had jaundice and were rather sleepy. Bit of a vicious circle - not feeding so well, so not stimulating the breast, and jaundice not improving.

In one case the mum gave a few bottles of formula to satisfy the hospital and to get home, and then fed and fed and fed (with odd bottle of formula and then expressed milk when supply was up) and all was well.

Other mum just carried on as normal (was second time mum and had read loads/heaps of feeding experience) latching the baby on lots and lots and lots. Her milk did come in and fed for a long time.

This same thing happened to my mum, i know it was years ago now but still mw's were adament "theres no such thing as no milk" even then. With her second she bf no probs at all, with 3rd again no milk and with 4th (me) bf for a year so how strange. Of course it is ridiculous to assume every mother will be able to bf if they want and this is definately not the case as you (and my DM have proved). Be positive that DC2 will be able to feed and don't worry too much as that can hinder milk release as i found when trying to pump, - never got the hang of it - far easier to bf in the end.

As others have said get bf support early on before the birth and all the best neadsy!

Thanks all. Some good tips and positive help there. Think I will just have to wait and see what happens. One thing im not going to do this time is get wound up felt such a failure last time I was a wreck. Was only thanks to my mum that didn't crack up completely.

Hi Neadsy,

I was in exactly the same position as you. I had NO milk at all with my dd. Not evenb colostrum. I was in hospital for 6 days afterthe birth and that whole time I was speaking to lactation consultants and nursing and pumping continuously but milk never came in. I had to give formula as my dd was starving and losing so much weight. We tried using supplementation systems with tubes attached to my breasts etc, but nothing ever worked. My NCT ante-natal teacher came in to see me after the birth as I had called her all upset about what was happening, and she very sheepishly said that it can happen. Nobody knows why and at NCT they are not really encouraged to talk about it as a possibility. Just to push the bf. My physiotherapist had 3 kids and never had any milk.

Anyway, point is I had a son 8 weeks ago and I am bf! I did not feel any differnet in this pregnancy than before - my breasts never changed much either time, but lo and behold milk appeared! No real difference in the babies either as far as I can tell. Both born at 6lbs 5, both easy births, skin to skin straight away and good latch on from day one. So no rhyme or reason to this at all.

Hope it works out for you!