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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

Could it have been because ......

19 replies

onmymindallthetime · 03/10/2005 22:04

...of anaemia?

My dd is 5 months old and has been bottle fed after I gave up bf at about 3 weeks (not lightly I should add). Tried everything and dd was having none of it - usual story.

I am just getting to the stage where I am wondering if I could have done anything different. There was a thread a while back where ClairenadRich (back in May)said that she was "very anaemic after a cs and I have since found out that this could have been the reason for me not producing enough milk for her. I never went through that phase of having hard breasts, full of milk - they never leaked, etc. either. Plain and simply I don't think there was enough milk for her"

Anyway does anyone else know this to be true. The reason is that I lost so much blood during birth and c-section and was very anaemic and I didn't get any milk coming in feelings etc or anything else related to going from breast to bottle. I was producing colostrum for about 5/6 days. I tried everything, even Cranial massage to help with bf but my lovely placid baby would turn into completely different baby when trying to feed. (Also I was kept in hospital for 6 days due to csection and loss of weight of dd).

I am not starting this as a breast vs bottle thread or to get sympathy but I just want to know why - it all happened so quickly and am only now having chance to reflect on it.

By the way although I bottlefeed now I am proud of myself that I actually was able to give her the good stuff in the first fews days .

Long post but really question is does having anaemia affect milk production as this would explain a lot. Would love to hear from ClairenadRich if still around

OP posts:

Bellie · 03/10/2005 22:10

gosh not really able to help, but you have got me thinking too. I gave up trying to breastfeed after 7 days as dd was not getting anything to eat and starving, and I went through an emergency c-section and was also told that I had lost a lot of blood.
I managed to express and feed dd mixed feeding for the first 3 months, but wondered why I was unable to feed her myself as throughout my pregnancy (from about 26 weeks) had been leaking.
Sorry not many answers, but understand where you are coming from

moondog · 03/10/2005 22:11

Sorry things didn't work out,and you're right,she had a good dose of the best stuff!

There are so many threads on this..might help to browse in the archives,looking out for stuff by mears and tiktok in particular.

I'm not a b/f counsellor but anecdotally,it would seem that a lot of early difficulties are caused by people misreading the baby's behaviour. Constant sucking stimulates milk production but many panic and think it means the baby isn't getting enough milk.

Did you get any specific advice re your anaemia??

Original poster

onmymindallthetime · 03/10/2005 22:11

Please anyone? I know its a long one so sorry about that. Also I have changed my name as I didn't want to be judged as good bad or ugly! re bottle vs breast

OP posts:

moondog · 03/10/2005 22:13

Sorry to that you're worried about being judged.
You gave it a go,that's all that matters....

vickitrickortreatmum · 03/10/2005 22:14

I had aneamia with both mine (went undiagnosed for 5 months with my DD). I breastfed both fine. And they gained weight fine. I was bloody tired though!

Sometimes it just doesnt happen. Dont beat yourself up on it.

Original poster

onmymindallthetime · 03/10/2005 22:18

whoops was a bit impatients there!!

Thanks Bellie did you feel that those days after c section were a complete blurr - I am thinking of asking for my hospital notes to read to fill in some blanks.

Moondog - latching on was fine but no milk to speak of - even tried expressing - Once spent nearlly 2 hours trying to express and only got less than 1/2oz

No advice on anaemia - just given packet of iron tablets when I left hospital. Didn't explain that the side effects were horrendous (you thought newborn baby poo was bad - thats nothing compared to someone taking iron tablet's poo

Will look at other threads - I know there is nothing I can do about it now but I would just like to know/ make other people aware if there is something I could have done

Thanks

OP posts:

Original poster

onmymindallthetime · 03/10/2005 22:20

Thanks Vicki - good to know - maybe it was just a no milk supply thing then - will try again if I ever have another baby.

OP posts:

moondog · 03/10/2005 22:20

omm...what you can express is no indication of how much the baby is able to suck. It's a different thing altogether.I've always had a nightmare expressing and have never leaked a drop (well,one,honestly,that was it!) yet b/fed for 30 mths and 11 mths respectively.

hunkerpumpkin · 03/10/2005 22:20

Expressing's absolutely no guide as to how much milk you have - some women just can't pump milk, for whatever reason, even though their babies get it just fine. One woman I knew breastfed a baby who was 11lb at birth and he piled the weight on - but she couldn't express a drop!

jamiesam · 03/10/2005 22:20

I think claireandrich might be Hulababy now?

Bellie · 03/10/2005 22:21

completely a blur in fact as dd is early 1 was trying to work out what it was like in the first few days and weeks at home and tbh am struggling to remember other than the stress caused by her not being able to eat!!
I havn't asked for my notes but at my 6 week check at the hospital I probably could have asked lots more questions than I did and would if it happened in the future.
It is aslo something that I will ask lots of questions about when(and if) number 2 comes along!

hoxtonchick · 03/10/2005 22:22

my dd is 13 weeks old, she's my second child & i'm exclusively breastfeeding her. i haemorraghed after i delivered her, & lost 1.5 litres of blood. my milk didn't come in for 5 days either, & it was awful. you're such a hormonal mess at that stage anyway. dd screamed & screamed & i felt like i was starving her.

i never became engorged, there was just a gradual change from colostrum to milk. i was very very bloody minded about feeding her, literally didn't do anything else apart from put her to the boob practically every half hour. the sucking definitely stimulates milk production. i started a thread on here & had lots of support (here .

i only stayed in hospital for 1 night after i had her so at least i was at home, & had my mum & dp on hand to help. it also helped that i'd succesfully fed my son 3.5 years earlier.

i hope this doesn't make you feel worse, just wanted to tell you what happened to me.

Original poster

onmymindallthetime · 03/10/2005 22:24

Re expressing - agree with the expressing thing but I was doing this because dd was not taking to bf - I guess not being able to express sucessfully couldn't have helped my supply any either

OP posts:

vickitrickortreatmum · 03/10/2005 22:24

Yes, do try again. My mum couldnt with her first but did fine with the rest of us. She didnt expect to be able to with me (2nd) but so much milk came in she had to get rid of it by feeding me.

Original poster

onmymindallthetime · 03/10/2005 22:31

hoxtonchick - thanks for link - what I would have done for advice back then - still can't go back now - my dd is healthy and beautiful - so shouldn't get too hung up aboput it. At least I will know for next time.

Mears suggested on your link that anameia may delay milk coming in - now if only someone had told me that!! They did not even tell me I had it until the day I left!! oh well.

Growing my own veg so when I wean her I can feel good that she is getting the best! small consolation but one all the same.

OP posts:

Original poster

onmymindallthetime · 03/10/2005 22:44

Thanks Jamiesam - would love to hear from hulababy as to what info she got - if you are out there or someone else knows her

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serahscarer · 03/10/2005 23:51

Hi Onmymindallthetime - I have to be honest and suggest that you still might be beating yourself up ever so slightly over not breastfeeding now by this post, and by the fact that you have called yourself onmymindallthetime. I may be thick skinned but some things just don't escape my attention!

I had shedloads of breast milk - it was all over the blimmin place, but I or no midwife or breastfeeding counsellor could get him latched. Its a different story but the same old outcome - formula. Bloody great stuff - I'll tell you.

Do NOT feel guilty for feeding your baby. You have to leave that feeling of it being on your mind all the time behind you and enjoy the time you have feeding your baby with a bottle, and in future with your lovely homegrown veg and not the packet stuff. It is a most wonderful time. Breastfeeding (in theory, obviously from my perspective) is great and I raise my glass to your trying, but it is not the be all and end all, so love your bottle feeding times together! I do with my DS. My DS is nearly 10 months old now and is fit, healthy, and if I do say so myself, rather lovely. Formula does not actually hurt. Formula allows mothers who wanted to breastfeed but did not succeed to have a normal relationship with their babies. Enjoy it

Claireandrich sounds suspiciously like Hulababy... but she moved house this very weekend so I think she will be offline for a few days!

Original poster

onmymindallthetime · 04/10/2005 20:03

Thanks serahscarer - I think this post has helped me to put it all to rest and get on with it. Just needed someone who doesn't know me to spell it out that its not the end of the world.

Thanks all.
x

OP posts:

Surfermum · 04/10/2005 20:31

I've always wondered if I ever had any milk. I wasn't anaemic though. I never had hard breasts, I leaked slightly once in one boob, in fact never really noticed any change. All I know is that dd was hungry and cried almost constantly for 5 days. I was prescribed some Domperidone to encourage my milk to come in but still no improvement.

It's never bothered me that I switched to formula, but since finding mumsnet and reading about other people's experiences, it just made me wonder if that was why bf didn't work for me.

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