Not enough milk - is this possible? Tiktok please respond

[Builde]

I've recently heard of a new mum who doesn't have any milk?

Is this possible?

I thought that everyone had enough milk and that BF only failed if the baby wasn't positioned correctly?

Could someone let me know?

I thought that the 'not enough milk' was a 1950s myth and I think it's sad that a baby is being given formula at only 10 days old.

Sorry, I'm not tiktok, but a few issues here:

• Has she had her latch checked by a bfc?
• Does she actually want to bf?
• if she does, has she tried a supplementary nursing supplement to give ff rather than a bottle? It would boost her supply while making sure the baby was getting nutrition.

Sorry, no more time to reply, hope tiktok is along shortly.

My friend had no milk. Completely possible. She got every help possible, but her milk never came in. She's wondering whether it was due to a traumatic birth, and she's pg again so fingers crossed for her.

But I think if your milk 'comes in' I don't think it's possible not to have enough, if that makes sense.

What is a supplementary nursing supplement?

I didn't have any milk. I produced collostrum but once that went my milk never came in.

So no, it's not a myth, although tbh your friend would be best advised to seek professional help.

Perfectly possible. I have very little without drugs and lots of pumping. She can try to build her supply by double pumping with a hospital grade pump, taking herbs like fenugreek, and taking domperidone, but she should start asap if she wants to take this route. And it's a hard route to take, full of sadness that so many people don't understand because they think it's easy and difficulties are easily fixed or are 'myths'

Try this website for an education

If someone literally has no milk, she needs to be investigated. eg for retained placenta.

Breastmilk is produced automatically - on the very, very rare occasions when it appears it is not being produced at all then something is wrong.

More common is for milk to be delayed, occasionally markedly delayed (perhaps due to something like PPH, or mother and baby separated after the birth), or for the supply to be insufficient....and far, far, far more common is for this insufficiency to be perceived, or for delay to be responded to with formula, which can then impact on supply.

Hope this helps!

TikTok - thank you

Well, the mother in question did have some milk but the baby has lost more weight than HV happy with. (hence the formula was introduced at about 10 days)

One breast was smaller than the other and had got lumpy. Mother was very worried about the difference in breast size.

To me (at distance) it sounded like baby wasn't latching correctly on to one side and therefore milk not being produced there but that mother could have fed more from the successful side.

But, I'm not there, being sleep deprived and told that my baby is losing weight, therefore shouldn't judge. I just think that we get obsessed by weight gain and that if there is milk, mums should just keep feeding and checking position.

Sometimes, the advice that it won't hurt if you latch correctly isn't right. Both of mine fed very successfully but it still hurt in the first few weeks.

Sorry - SNS.

Builde - then that's not 'no milk', is it? It's really important to get the terminology right, as 'no milk' is a very rare clinical condition, and 'baby lost more weight than the HV was happy with' is (usually) not a clinical condition...not getting at you, but clarifying

Difference in breast size? On the normal spectrum and usually not a significant thing at all.

A baby who is just not gaining weight well enough is probably not feeding effectively or often enough - so not accessing the milk that's there.

There may be reasons why this baby actually needs formula now, but honestly, in most cases, spotting ineffective or not frequent enough bf can be done early on, before a crisis hits, and things can be turned round within a day or so with no harm to the baby and no need for formula.

OOh Tiktok that's really interesting re the placenta - my friend had to have hers manually removed. Do you have any links I could show her? Would really encourage her that she might not have the same problem next time.

Google retained placenta breastfeeding, Picante....it's well-known and makes clinical sense as the delivery of the placenta instigates lactogensis (the start of milk production) by removing the 'brake' on prolactin. The presence of any placenta or placental fragments inhibits this.

She should have been told this at the time - don't tell me she wasn't

Tiktok.

Thank you again. Re: the 'no-milk' or 'not-enough' statements...

This is what I wanted clarified because the mum's friend has used both these statements in our conversation; hence I wanted to know whether it was possible to have 'no milk.'

and the 'no milk' statement seems to be a phrase used by lots of people to explain why they couldn't BF.

Nope she wasn't told anything. But I'll tell her this now, thanks.

I didn't have enough milk, ds lost weight for the 1st 3 weeks of his life, I ended up supplementing him with formula. The bf counsellor said it was because his latch was wrong and this meant that my prolactin receptors weren't stimulated.

If she gets help now she's still got a chance.

I couldn't produce enough milk.
I have a condition called Hyperplastic Tubular Breasts Scroll down a little to read about it.

I was devastated when I found out. Doctors, Midwives and Health visitors seem to know nothing about it - or very little.
More needs to be done so professionals recognise it and do something to help women like me. I went to my GP and the Health Visitor for help but the GP was so unsympathetic - I felt like she didn't believe me and the Health Visitors just looked at me blankly
I only found out after having my 2nd son, thanks to MN but no body could do anything for me

btw - my GP wouldn't even prescribe me domperdone. I had printed out a huge amount of research to show her but she didn't even flick through it, just refused me

Ditto fruitbatlings

It is devastating, and perfectly possible to have no milk/ not enough. Though I think lots more women believe they don't have enough milk when really they just don't know about things like cluster feeding etc.

I know 2 friends whos babys lost more weight than is 'allowed' (for want of a better word) that is, more than 10%. Both went on to exclusively BF after a period of expressing post feed and offering this in a bottle rather than using formula. Has she tried expressing at all? (Though this really is no indication of supply).

Hi you

Hope things are good for you?

Fruitbatling...what an amazing website. Hadn't realised that breasts come in so many shapes and sizes!