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Infant feeding

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

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Original poster

No breast milk....psychological?

40 replies

tappingmama · 30/06/2012 13:03

With my first baby I attempted to breastfeed and the midwives were satisfied that dd was latching on and off home we went. It was 3 days later (hard to believe now) 3 days with a crying and jittery baby until a routine visit from a hv uncovered the awful truth. I thought I was not producing much milk and dd was not interested in feeding but the hv put her finger to the roof of dd's mouth and said she was dehydrated. The hv sat with me and tried to help me express but there was no milk, not a drop. The hv was shocked and sent out for emergency formula feed and bottles. DD was bottlefed and happy as anything once the problem had been identified. Since then nobody could explain why this happened and other hv's said they had never heard of it. Great! So I want to know - am I really as freaky as they think or has anyone else had this one? Got to say - as a result I get pretty miffed with the judgemental branch of the breast is best brigade! :)

OP posts:

tiktok · 02/07/2012 14:29

Glad you got sorted, Fine :)

But "in hospital I was told feed baby every 3/4 hours." - seriously bad stuff :( :(

" concept of timing feeds from the start of a feed rather than the end" - not really, as feeding should not timed in that way anyway though I do see what you mean. Babies should be close to the breast in these important early days, so they can communicate feeding cues which just as you say will be often. If they are not often ( 8-15 times in 24 hours or more, really depending on how you are counting :) ) , then the baby may need some proactive offering.

tiktok · 02/07/2012 14:29

Not Fine, Fane :)

Imnotaslimjim · 02/07/2012 15:02

I'll be honest, they weren't very forthcoming with an explanation. They took a lot of blood the first night he was admitted, which showed elevated levels of something (that I can't remember off the top of my head and the paperwork is packed away) by the time they did the 2nd lot of bloodwork, we had him on FF, so they were normal

When the seziures continued, they did say they were going to do an EEG, but they just stopped when he was about 9 weeks so they never bothered. Just blamed it all on those first 3 days

He does have some low level issues now (no concentraion, bad co-ordination, fine motor skill problems) but they can't pinpoint anything wrong with him. We'll never know if those seziures early on caused him any harm!

tiktok · 02/07/2012 15:49

If they took blood and found 'high' levels it would prob be sodium (dehydration) but the 'low' levels would be low blood sugar (probably). Neither is good news for a newborn, but both can usually be addressed by making sure feeding is frequent and effective.

Seizures in babies can be a real mystery (one of mine had frequent seizures as a baby/toddler triggering a ton of investigation and then they just stopped). Your baby's issues now may not have been caused by the seizures - rather the seizures and his issues now may both spring from the same cause...whatever that is/was.

nickelbarapasaurus · 02/07/2012 15:57

I can tell you the lack of iron had nothing to do with it.

I'm also veggie, and I was anaemic for a week or so, after a PPH.
my milk came in on day 2, and i produced a lot.

I think it sounds like you weren't given a chance for your milk to come in.
There's a chance that it didn't, or just that you just didn't get engorged (lots of women can BF without having had engorgement)

did you BF your 2nd once you got your milk?

Your HV sounds like she seriously needs training in BF. but you aren't to blame, you took advice from her, and you fed your baby in the best way you could.

nickelbarapasaurus · 02/07/2012 16:12

yes, i remember not knowing what to do with the baby - she didn't really cry or whinge, and I felt like i was thinking "i suppose I ought to feed her even though she's not asking for it" and the MWs would come and say "when was she last fed?" I didn't have my watch (because it got taken off during birth and I forgot about it), so I didn't have a clue. and they'd say "every 4 hours?" and I'd say "yes, i suppose so"

I think I should have fed her more often, but I was in such a daze that I really didn't know what to do.

RandomAdams · 02/07/2012 19:54

How distressing.

To my (limited) knowledge, this can happen when the placenta did not detach properly/entirely. The levels of placental hormones do not drop enough for the body to register the birth and thus the lactation cycle.

I expect that this was not the case though as it is relatively easy to check (placenta check/examination).

tiktok · 02/07/2012 20:05

True - retained placenta can affect breastmilk supply, but there are other symptoms and it does not mean no milk.

Original poster

tappingmama · 02/07/2012 21:01

It seems that there are lots of difficult starts for something that is so natural. Thanks for sharing everyone - it seems that MN might be one of the best places to get info nowadays! The MW's and HV's just make me a bit nervous!

OP posts:

03angels · 02/07/2012 22:33

Tiktok, That's what I was told, i asks had gestational diabetes so I thought this could be the reason, but Iv since had tests and appointments with the consultant and I was told that the reason I had no milk til 6-7 week was due to high blood preasue(although it was only slightly raised)

tiktok · 02/07/2012 23:36

I have never heard of this (slightly raised blood pressure) causing such a major delay in milk coming in....in fact I have never heard of a delay of that magnitude. What happened in those 6-7 weeks, angles? Are you confident your HCPs understood/knew about bf?

03angels · 03/07/2012 08:01

I never had any milk at all, no engorged breasts or anything until 6-7 weeks later

tiktok · 03/07/2012 08:15

I'd be willing to bet you did have some milk, just that you didn't experience engorgement until that time....it was there, just not showing :)

Having milk does not have to come with engorgement. Some women never experience it.

BebeBelge · 03/07/2012 08:41

I didn't have any milk with dc1 either. I was in hospital for 6 days and we tried everything to stimulate my breasts. Pumping round the clock when not feeding, hand expressing, supplements etc. We had to give formula as dd was so hungry but we gave it through syringes or tubes taped to my breast. My milk never came and on day 7 we switched to bottles. Dd gobbled it down and had her first contented full-tummy sleep since being born. Noone ever came up with any explanation for it. Then with dc2 and dc3, the milk came in 'normally' on day 3 or 4. There was nothing differentt about the pregnancies. Just told it was one of those things!

Original poster

tappingmama · 05/07/2012 13:54

Bebe - this sounds so familiar and yes I suppose it is one of those things. With my 2nd baby I put him straight on the bottle and my milk came in on day 5 by which time he was on the bottle and really happy. I dont know - nothing has ever been confirmed so it remains a bit of mystery. x

OP posts:

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