Any experience of PCOS and breastfeeding?

[dotty2]

I tried my hardest to fully breast feed dd1 but I just couldn't increase my supply sufficiently (and I'm fairly sure I tried absolutely everything). I ended up mixed feeding her until I went back to work at around 7 months when we switched to all bottles. She's now 10 months old and full of zip so I've stopped feeling guilty. But it was a huge disappointment and really clouded our first few months together. Just out of curiosity, really, I would love to know why it just didn't work. I have PCOS, also had an emergency c/s after horrible labour and a big blood loss so was quite severely anaemic. Would love to hear from others with PCOS who've breast fed - successfully or not. There's only limited research in this area and most professionals I asked were hazy about the possibility of a link.

hello, sorry you feel bad and had a difficult time. i am sure you tried your best and she did have breast milk. i was not aware of any link with PCOS and b/f. i suppose the c/s was difficult to cope with after a hard time with labour.

i have PCOS and have b/f fine for just over 9months. i had a long labour (36hrs) dd was in scub for a night and we were in hospital for 4 nights. it was very hard to b/f early on no milk no latch on properly ZERO help, awful hospital staff.
should i have not been able to b/f it would have been due to the circunstances in hospital imo.
be interested to know others experiences
take care hope you both well

menat to say am still breastfeeding and dd is jjust over 9m

I have PCOS and successfully bfed DS1 for nearly 17m and am bfeeding DS2 who is 8 weeks old today - have no problems with supply and can express loads as well as feed him.

When you say you couldn't increase your supply sufficiently, why do you feel she wasn't getting enough?

Anemia can effect milk supply - perhaps this is what happened? Well done though for bf.

Sorry, was distracted and pressed post too soon - wanted to say that you did really well to bfeed at all after such a traumatic birth - she'll have had plenty of breastmilk and I think you should be really proud of yourself for bfeeding after being so ill after your delivery. I hope that doesn't sound patronising - it's really not meant to.

Came across this - www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mom/pcos.html

I have PCOS and had a c-section. Bf dd for 8 weeks then for some reason supply ran out - dd would scream for more food and I couldn't express even an oz. When it was good, it was great - I loved it, but am vvv :( it stopped. Can't wait to have another baby and try again! Am sure was nothing to do with PCOS.

catrin - might be worth starting a new thread on your experience. Milk supply doesn't normally behave like that....and expressing is no indication of what is actually available to the baby. Might have been other stuff going on - understanding what happened will help you next time :)

Thanks for your thoughts so far. I have friends with PCOS who have bf successfully so I know it can be done. Am partly thinking ahead to a possible next time, and whether to try again and risk going through all the anxiety and disappointment.

Hunkermunker, you ask why I felt she wasn't getting enough. She was constantly hungry and losing weight in spite of almost round the clock feeding. She never came off the breast looking satisfied, had v.few wet nappies, etc. I talked to several bf counsellors who tried to persuade me it was just a problem of my perception and a loss of confidence but I'm sure it wasn't that. There really was very little milk there.

Interesting! I have pcos and successfully bf my two kids. However, with DD the milk took 5 days to come in and never felt particularly plentiful.
It was slightly quicker with DS, but again, I was never able to express and store any milk...Just not enough.
Mind you they were both 10lb babies