Failed to EBF first time round. How can I make second experience better?

[JaniceBing]

I suffered from a genuine low supply with my first and had to combi feed very early on (currently 14 months and I'm still BFing). He had a TT which we had snipped but this didn't make a huge difference. Weight gain was poor while EBF and I don't think undiagnosed CMPA helped either. I did everything in the book to increase supply, and it worked for a few days but as soon as I didn't pump 8302 a day, my supply would dip again. I did work with an IBCLC but we never quite got to the bottom of why my supply was low. I did have suspected PCOS but never confirmed.

Anyway, DH and I are now trying for baby #2 and I REALLY want to succeed at EBF this time around. Would really appreciate any tips to get a headstart on this. Obviously it's a long way away, but would harvesting colostrum later in pregnancy help? What else can I do? I have ordered pregnancy and lactation vitamins etc to take once we conceive. I really do mean it when I say I tried everything.

Hey, I also had a very tough first time bf journey! Combi fed due to poor weight gain and gave up bf entirely at 4.5 months. It was tough but in the end we were both happier.

We have just had our 2nd baby. She's is 6mo and I have successfully EBF this time.
I spent the first month just feeding her constantly. Of course we feed him on demand still now but the early days I was feeding her every hour and a half, sometimes less. I bought a 1.5L water bottle from Amazon and drank 3 per day/night.
She didn't have a dummy until about 2 weeks ago to help soothe her at night so I was her only source of comfort which helped increase my supply.

Also, I had a home birth this time. I would highly recommend looking into it.

The birth was incredible and I felt our feeding journey got off to a good start from the get go. I wasn't being watched by anyone in a hospital (obviously we had midwives at the birth but they didn't stay long after) and we got straight into my own bed after the birth.
I fed her for an hour when she was minutes old so she got a good amount of colostrum straight away which I think also think helped massively.

Good luck with your ttc journey 😊

I have hypoplasia secondary to PCOS and my supply improved each time but I never managed to EBF and honestly I don’t think anything I could have done would have made that possible. I was able to drop formula entirely when DC3 was established on solids and we’re still bf now she’s nearly 3.

It’s likely you’ll have more milk this time and that might be enough to bridge the gap but it’s also worth considering what if it isn’t.

Sounds like you're pretty clued up on what might help this time but I think if you suspect PCOS might be a factor, it might be an idea to look into mixed feeding as well? Lucy Ruddle IBCLC wrote a good book on this which came out this year. I was going to suggest following some BF experts on social media as I always think it's helpful to have that drip drip reminder of info so maybe she would be a good one to follow.

I really struggled with dc1 - undiagnosed tongue tie, mastitis, specialist midwife, and eventually had to start to combination feed at 5 weeks due to baby's failure to gain weight. Fed til 14 months. I was so disappointed and all the pumping and worrying in the early days really drained some joy from the experience. With Dc2 I was determined not to get so het up. Despite an elcs it was a different experience. Midwife noticed a slight tongue tie at 2 days, snipped at 3 days, and ebf like a dream after that.

I was so relieved I didn't try to express and bottle feed at all. I then ended up with opposite issue of being unable to bottle feed as they rejected it when I tried at 9 months, had an awful time night weaning at 3 yrs, and still not given up bedtime feed at 5...

With my first I had to combi feed as either low supply and / of poor latch.
With second if was a breeze. s po said I fed on demand even if it was frequent. Co slept too which helps.

I am currently combi feeding my 4.5month old and i have PCOS. Have you spoken to an endocrinologist? I suffered from a rubbish supply, coupled with lots of stress as my DD was in NICU / SCBU for two weeks with sepsis after birth, and we just couldnt get BFing to work for us. DD dropped below the 0.4th centile at one point. The infant feeding team gave me a plan which was 30-45mins of BFing, 2oz formula top up and expressing at each feed, 8 times day. It was exhausting! But did get my supply up and I've now largely dropped expressing, but we have kept the top ups going. When i mentioned all this to my endocrinologist at my first appointment after having my baby, the only thing he suggested was taking domperidone. By this point, i had already decided i was happy to carry on combi feeding, but could be worth looking into further for you. I was told GPs won't prescribe as using it to boost supply is an off-label use, but the hospital can write to the GP and tell them what they need to do.

Btw, be careful colostrum harvesting. I'm convinced it was what brought on my labour at 38w!!