Milk disappeared

[scater]

Hi all

I have 15 day old twins. As they were in scbu for nearly two weeks they have been formula fed and expressed breast milk. Sadly have not yet got them to latch.

In the last three days my milk has virtually disappeared. I am expressing 5/6 times a day and where before I was getting nearly 100mls per express I am now lucky to get that in a whole day.

I accept I may get less as I was using a hospital standard pump and am now using the home version.

However, my boobs just don't feel full of milk and aren't leaking like they were before.

I am hydrating and trying to eat well and enough.

Any other ideas? I always said if I couldn't breast feed I would not beat my self up about it but I do feel quite distressed to be honest.

My advice would be to ask someone to help you with the latch - and keep on letting them have a go. Someone told me that oats are good (so I always eat plenty of porridge etc) and make sure you are eating enough as well. I imagine that with twins on your hands you may not be getting too much time to eat??!
Good luck. I'm sending you a virtual hug and also want to say that I can understand that you might be feeling distressed but if it doesn't work out then it really won't be the end of the world. They are very lucky to have a mum that cares so much :-)

Also, it's worth noting that just because your boobs don't feel bursting full, it doesn't mean there's nothing in there.

I think that lots of skin-to-skin contact is often recommended.

Will try all those things thanks. In hospital nurses said positioning for bf was great the girls just snuffle around, I will keep trying, formula is pricy:)

Sadly, expressing 5 or 6 times a day, with no breastfeeds at all isn't enough to establish or maintain a supply. You really need to be expressing at least 8 times in 24 hours/every three hours, including at night.

I agree that some real life breastfeeding support to try and help you get them latched would be most helpful in the long run though.

Agree that you probably need to be expressing more. It is super super difficult though. Do you know that you can hire a hospital grade pump? I really really recommend that you get one of these because you really need to minimise the time that it takes you to pump and then concentrate on lots of skin to skin etc. Also it is hard when they are small but I found tandem feeding really helped to get the milk going (you could also try feeding one twin while pumping on the other side to get the milk going as well)

Also try to get a specialist lactation consultant to see them. Have they been checked for tongue tie? Both my twins were TT and it was missed by the peadiatrician. I had them prviately snipped at home when they were 8 days old and DTS latched on for the first proper feed of his life.

Good luck. I hope it works out for you as I personally found it helped me to hond with my twins and although it was very difficult for a good few weeks/months, I was glad that I managed it in the end. That said, do whatever you need to do. I used some formula for the first 4 weeks until DTS managed to have enough strength and energy and me enough milk to feed directly from the boob but then I breastfed exclusively until 6 months and kept going until 1 year in the end.

Firstly you need to be expressing more to maintain supply. At least 8 times a day and at least once at night. Secondly get yourself some fenugreek tablets and take at least 6 a day and 6 blessed thistle they will help boost supply.

I exclusively expressed for one DD from when she was two months old to five months old. I got a hospital grade pump from a charity which helped. You get much more milk if pumping from both breasts at the same time.

Failing that, do one side for 5 mins, then the other side, then back to the first and repeat. Make sure you're collecting from both breasts even if only expressing from one.

In order to produce enough milk for one DD, I expressed at 2am, 5am, 8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm, 11pm with a hospital grade pump. This just gave me enough. So I would agree with others that you need to be expressing more often I'm afraid. The more you pump, the more it stimulates your body to make more.

It's gruelling and so I eventually gave up.

Congratulations on your twins. I hope that they latch on for you soon and you can hang up the breast pump.