Hypoplasticity of the breast

[northernlassthree]

I was diagnosed with this with my first child and had to mix feed as a result. I'm pregnant again and really keen to try to up my milk supply so that I don't need to mix feed (at least not for long) if possible. The breastfeeding consultant is writing me a plan but has warned me that it may well not work. Wanted to hear if there are any positive stories from anybody who has this but has managed to breast feed fully.....

Who diagnosed this, northernlass? Were they confident about it?

This is quite a controversial area - there do seem to be women who have less breastmilk making tissue, but many of them do make plenty of milk. It's by no means a predictive diagnosis.

You could look at this site: www.mobimotherhood.org/MM/default.aspx as it has loads of info and some heartening stories.

An experience breast feeding consultant diagnosed it with great confidence. When she went through the symptoms (ie placement, size and shape of breasts, and lack of change during pregnancy) it seemed she was probably right.

OK - do you mean a lactation consultant? No such (qualified, recognised)job as a breastfeeding consultant...not casting aspersions, but there are some 'cowboys' out there :)

I do think the condition exists, but my personal experience is that women do breastfeed with it, though with some challenges at the beginning.

That's my point really. I know it's possible - i managed to partially breastfeed for 6 months - and the consultant has said that with proper support from the beginning this time I may be able to exclusively. What I wanted to guage was how likely it is that it will happen. I found it devastating last time that I had to mix feed and I don't want to get overly confident this time again to find myself having to mix feed again (which is the worst of both worlds - tied to the demands of breast feeding whilst having to give formula, sterilse bottles etc). So, my question again is, is there anybody who has this who can tell me a good news story?

hello, i think i have this (self diagnosed, but i am a doctor)

i had a difficult time feeding ds1, poor weight gain ended up mix feeding and he quickly refused the breast.

with ds2 i bf with every squeek, did more co-sleeping and sling use, breast compressions and felt my supply was better and fed for nearly 3 years! used a couple of oz of formula in the first 2 weeks as i wasn't confident but then ebf fine.

now have ds3 and bf fine at 9 months. i think my supply has got better each time. lots of frequent feeding for months though, but delighted it has worked.

i never took domperidone but have heard good things and would have done if it hadn't have gone well with ds2. must dash but happy to chat more tomorrow xx

Hi there - I have this too. I only have one dd and had to mix feed her, so I'm not the person you came here looking for, but I just wanted to mark my place because I'll be watching your thread with interest and hoping for more positive stories like weasle's.

I hope to have another child[ren] at some not-too-distant point and am hopeful that my supply will improve with subsequent pregnancies, as I've heard this can be the case.

I too was devastated when I discovered that I wouldn't be able to provide much milk for my daughter. What I found much harder, though, was the attitude from people who doubted that the condition existed and made assumptions about how misinformed I must be to "think" that I didn't have enough milk.

It's a tough line to walk: wanting to try everything and get all the encouragement you can to keep going and believe that your hard work will pay off, and wanting people to acknowledge that it's a genuine medical condition and that if nothing works, it doesn't mean that you didn't try hard enough or didn't do the right things.

I wish you the very best this time around. I sincerely hope that you find things much easier and your supply much improved, but if that doesn't happen, i hope that you are not too hard on yourself about it. Good luck.

Thanks for the responses - really good to know I'm not the only one with it to be honest! (As you say cloudy, there are so many doubters/questioners that you start to doubt yourself!).

Your story sounds really positive Weasley. My sister is anxious that I don't get too wound up about it again (because she saw how upset it made me) and I was beginning to think I might be setting myself up to fail. Obviously because you've had success, it doesn't mean I will too, but at least I can give it a good stab without it being a pointless attempt. I really needed to know it was acually possible so thank you.

I have a little boy coming up for 7 weeks and I have what i recognise as being tubular breasts (dangly things, huge aoreola, big gap between them).
i have managed to mainly breastfeed so far but it has been so so so difficult. he is on my breast pretty much constantly during the day, he falls asleep so i try to put him down somewhere and usually wakes after 10 mins, and then it's straight back to the breast! i do normally get an hour at some point in the day where i get to shower and try to tidy a bit of my bombsite of a home!
i'm worried about his growth. while he has gained everytime he is weighed, he's doing so very slowly. he was born on the 75th centile and is now following under or on the 50th centile. while this may sound fine, his length is on the 98th centile (very tall parents) so surely his weight should be on a higher centile to.
he has the right amount of wet nappies and passes dirty nappies often enough to not be worried if you read the guides.
however, i spend a lot of time looking at his fontelle, which is sunken most of the time, a sign of dehydration.
i have had some time away from him where he has been formula fed (i have never had the opportunity to express and store as he needs it all himself!) and i was able to measure that i was producing just a smidge under an oz per hour. this should be enough to satisfy him for his age according to the side of the aptimil pack. however in the same time i was doing that my other half was having to feed him 50% more in formula to keep him happy.
i too have the problem where he feeds until my breasts are fully empty and then he starts to get upset. when he is inconsolable i end up giving him a 2 oz formula top up, and then he is still hungry so i put him back on the breast where he probably doesnt get anything but at least he has calmed down! i havent yet had to top up more than twice in one day.
as he is gaining slowly and his fontelle is often sunk i wanted to start perhaps giving more in formula just so that he is getting what he needs. he is often whiny when being breastfed but my husband said he was an absolute treasure when he was being formula fed! i just worry about the formula as i dont want my supply to decrease, i just want him to be satisfied! does anyone have any methods of combination feeding which still encourages breast milk production?

a bit of positive for you, i was ABLE to breastfeed exclusively for 2 weeks. i capitalise ABLE as i had to stop for 48 hours early on as i had a CT scan, and even though i only expressed 3 times over this 48 hours (i wasn't aware of the supply/demand thing!) it only took another 24 hours before i was back to breastmilk only. so it can be done! i guess i could exclusively breastfeed now, but i would have quite an upset baby. he's only getting 4oz a day max in formula, some days nothing, but i am finding it hard. also because i need some life too! my husband has been out of work so he's been able to make me lunch and drinks etc while i am glued to the sofa, but he starts a job next week and i fear i may starve if i carry on trying to exclusively breastfeed!

also, an odd thing to add incase anyone else experienced it. i never had any colustrum, or if i did it was white.