Contrary to popular opinion, most women can and do make enough milk for their babies

[moondog]

Here

Maybe if people other women didn't judge womens choices on how they feed their child so harshly, women, who for whatever reason choose not to breastfeed wouldn't feel they had to justify themselves?

I fail to see what that has to do with this.
Better to start another thread eh if there is something on your mind?

That is based on babies being diagnosed with dehydration- most mums would switch to formula long before then. I breasted my second baby until she was nine months, but first daughter only until four months as my milk genuinely did dry up, but we would not have fallen into these stats as I switched her to formula as soon as it became clear she wasn't getting milk. And this article is in the Daily Mail so not likely to be completely reliable.

Using the daily mail as a reliable source of evidence? Hehe

Have you considered taking up knitting? Would give you something else to think about.

Yes, but breastfeeding still doesn't work for everyone for whatever reason. As long as baby is fed, does it matter if its from a boob or a bottle?

And it's the Daily Mail, so unlikely to be very accurate or based on real scientific studies.

I fail to see what that has to do with this

Really? what was the 'contrary to popular opinion' bit about then?

Better to start another thread eh if there is something on your mind?

Nah, I don't actually give a shit what other women do or think in relation to how they feed their babies, or how I feed/fed mine. So I don't feel the need to start a thread about the issue, thanks.

Oh do we have to have another I'm better than u thread for doing x or why? Gets so boring...

Just feed the baby. Gosh gets worse than religion sometimes as a subject.

Wouldn't mind if a proper source btw but DM just makes my brain roll over and die in whimpering pain...

There is a Guardian article too here with a slightly different focus - that the reason for bf rates being low is poor support, not poor intentions.

Still, I made enough milk but was physically incompatible with DS1 for some weeks. I expressed but only because someone (not one of the many HCPs involved in my care at the time, because they were not allowed to do so ) suggested it to me. So do I count as "couldn't bf", or does DS1 count as "couldn't bf", or what?

I really don't produce enough milk. Threads like these don't educate mothers. They do guilt trip those who can't feed.

Actually, in the course of 15 years parenting I have heard so many women say 'I didn't make enough milk' to know that this fear is a real barrier to significantly increased breastfeeding rates. It is important to talk about that because more breastfeeding is a Good Thing. Women stopping ebcause they think they're starving thie child is a Bad Thing.

Most do. Some don't. Sometimes it's the baby not the mother that's got a difficulty with feeding.

Your point is?

(Haven't read the article. It's the Daily Fail.)

The report is a study, on neonatal hypernatraemia, published in a peer reviewed journal, and the Daily Mail has just paraphrased from the Guardian's report www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/mar/20/breastfeeding-myths-dispelled?INTCMP=SRCH.

The study focuses solely on breastfeeding linked with readmission to hospital in the first days after birth. The research indicates that while this is linked to poor intake on the part of the babies', it is likely to be mismanagement of bf support that leads to it, not intrinsic lack of breastmilk.

The study, and the newspaper report, has got nothing to do with whether women think they are better than other women for breastfeeding/not breastfeeding, and the snippy, sour posts here are misplaced. It has nothing to do with the Daily Mail's reputation for accuracy or otherwise.

I think the study, and the report, are well worth considering, given that early cessation of breastfeeding when a mother planned to breastfeed is something most people would like to avoid. The study underlines the importance of early, practical, knowledgable support of breastfeeding in the first days after birth.

and how is that going to improve though?

I had my first child over a decade ago, the help was virtually nil. Then I had my last baby 5 years ago. Nothing had changed. HV's were still telling you to give a bottle if they hadn't followed the curve, you were tired, had pnd etc. Most women don't access things like the national childbirth trust. How are people supposed to breastfeed successfully if there is no support? if you have a barrage of visitors for days and days on end? if your family didn't do it and you get criticised all the time? It's really so much more complex than women just 'giving up' after a couple of days. I don't think people understand the mechanics of breastfeeding either, you are just told it is better.

oh and I bf for 6 months with the first two, 18 months with the last so well below expectations according to the world of mumsnet :) but I had read books with the third and understood more about the mechanics which i felt helped anyway

disclaimer: I don't judge anyone who chooses to bottlefeed from birth, soon after or otherwise

The only thing that is relevant to any woman is her own situation. Statistics and articles are totally irrelevant. I can produce enough milk, and my baby latches on without stress hence I am bfing. I probably wouldn't be if I was in a situation where every feed was a difficult stressful nightmare.

Articles are interesting yes, but not relevant iyswim.

It can only benefit women who want to BF to know that true low milk supply (with a biological cause) is very rare. Thinking they don't have enough milk is one of the primary reasons for women stopping breastfeeding before they wanted to. Anything that helps women to breastfeed as long as they want to, which includes busting the myths surrounding breastfeeding, is a good thing.

"And it's the Daily Mail, so unlikely to be very accurate or based on real scientific studies."

:o

The acceptable face of ignorant prejudice.

Even if the mother has enough milk, the baby may not be able to access it due to poor latch, feeding infrequently, tongue tie. Sadly the support isn't always there for these women, and insufficient stimulation early on can and does cause supply problems later meaning women think they are unable to produce enough milk. Also many women believe that babies should go 3-4 hours between feeds, which is very often not the case for bf babies and again, this leads to women thinking they don't have enough milk. In fact true inability to lactate is very rare, less than 1% of the population apparently. It's no good telling women that they can and should breast feed when hcps give out conflicting, and often downright wrong advice about bf. when I was pregnant with my first baby, everyone was banging the bf drum, but not one person bothered to tell me that newborns should bf every 1-2 hours, if I had had a sleepy baby who couldn't feed on demand, we would have been in hot water!

Yes I understand that most mums can produce enough milk but in order for the milk to be produced the breasts need to be stimulated by a hungry baby. If like me you have a baby that has a very bad birth and doesn't feed for the first 15 hours after birth and is then too weak to stimulate you to start the feeding then you won't produce because nothing is asking your body to produce.
Agree with the lack of sensible support, all I got was a continued statement to put her back on your breast, 5 days later, weighing 15% less we were back in hospital tube feeding her.
If it works brilliant. If it doesn't brilliant. The problem with this country is brain washed ranting on one being best and one being evil. End of day if baby is alive who cares? They don't

As long as the baby is getting fed, who cares? Do what is right for you and your baby and poke your nose out of everyone else's business!

I couldn't breastfeed any of mine. I really produced no milk at all.
Much later, it turned out I had an autoimmune pituitary disorder, and wasn't producing the hormone that induces lactation.

Thank goodness for formula, or none of mine would have survived.

I still feel regret and guilt though, even though they are all teenagers now.

"As long as the baby is getting fed, who cares?"

A lot of women who think they aren't producing enough milk.

Obviously.

Shit, if even a woman who knows she produced no milk due to a diagnosed medical condition feels regret and guilt, there must be many, many more who care very much.

And who could be helped by this knowledge.

If you didn't care how you fed your baby, then bully for you.

But it is disingenuous (at best) to pretend this is something mothers don't care about.

Wintersdawm, breastmilk coming in is endocrine led, not demand led. It is signalled to happen by the placenta detaching and happens whether you ever put your baby to the breast or not for most women, which is why even when women choose to FF from birth, their milk still comes in.

As for who cares, well, plenty of women do and plenty of women suffer long term emotional trauma because they weren't able to breastfeed. Except, most of them would have been able to breastfeed if they had had the right information and support.

I have said it on another thread. I will say it here and get flamed

There should be really good support for BF everywhere so that every mother who wants to is able to give it the totally and utterly best go possible.

But if it doesn't work out for whatever reason, don't beat yourself up about it.

There won't be any 21 year olds getting ready to go out this weekend shedding tears they weren't BF.

Nobody thinks women should "beat themselves up" if breastfeeding doesn't work out.

Why would they?

It just seems a shame that so many women think they didn't produce enough milk when in many cases there was no actual problem, just a perceived one.

You can't measure breastfeeding and that freaks people out and makes them think it's not happening.

So much comes down to confidence, and it's hard to feel confident 3 days after some crazy lunatic gave you a baby to look after and it cries all the time, you haven't slept for days, your breasts are like rocks, you keep crying, and it's hard to remember to eat.