Will I fail again?

[Joshjunior]

To try and cut a long story short, ds1 ended up in SCBU at 10 days with very severe dehydration, 1 week on a drip etc. I pumped and tried to BF for 14 weeks - best ever was 2oz in 24hrs. Now 14 weeks into pregnancy, is there anything I can do to try and get some milk this time or should I accept I will be dry and plan to Bottle feed? Admit - got no help establishing BF with ds1. Any ideas anyone - TIA

I am sorry to hear that it must have been horrible. Dont give up the hope of breastfeeding it could be totally different this time. Is there a breastfeeding support group near you? Ive found the one near me really good. Were u able feed ds1 at all when in scbu or just expressing?Expressing doesnt provide the same stimulation that a baby sucking can so this could be why. If you want to try breastfeeding again go for it, it is worth a try! You just need lots of support

Did you try the over the counter medicine that is often recommended to boost your milk supply? I keep thinking of Dom Perignon but it's not that (more's the pity).

hehe it's domperidone.

find out about b/f counsellors in your area before the baby is born so that you can see one asap.
that means you will be able to make sure your LO is latching on correctly and getting enough milk etc

Domperidone (the active ingredient of Motilium)

Knew it was something like that

Agree with getting BFing support for latching and encouragment. La Leche might be in your area - they are very knowledgeable and pro breastfeeding.

How old was your ds1 when he was put into SCBU?

Make sure you drink plenty of water when bfing and relax! You can do it!

drink fennel tea too (get it at holland and barrat or health food shop) increases milk supply/production (and dont let anyone tell you it doesnt) my boobies would fill up a treat after a cup !!(takes 1/2 hours to get through) good for wind and settling babies tummy too

btw you can do it but the right help and encouragement is very important
good luck x

Yes the Swiss are big on fennel tea while lactating. I drank loads of it and always had oddles of milk.

Thanks everyone - I did try the motiliun but it didn't really help much. I think I was so stressed by that time that nothing was going to help! To answer a question - ds was 10 days when admitted to SCBU. Unfortunately the BF advisor in the hospital was worse than useless - spent 10 minutes and said we could go home and pop into her coffee morning if I wanted to - having had a C section and unable to drive the 35 minutes to the hospital!That was before the blood test results came back and then all hell broke loose. Also didn't help that I was so scared to breast feed after that, I wanted to know what ds was consuming. So I pumped but didn't put to breast for several days - wrong now I know but not advised so at the time. Does anyone know if I can pump before birth to start things off in any way?

You didn't fail! You had a very sad and unfortunate situation with your son in special care at a vital time for establishing breastfeeding. You did your best and it didn't work out, largely due to stuff out of your control. There is no reason at all why this time it can't be completely different. Your new baby probably won't go into special care and you can start breastfeeding earlier. But there is little you can do at 14 weeks pregnant (congratulations btw). Nearer the time you can make sure you know where to go for support if things aren't working out (eg baby clinic, breastfeeding support/baby cafe etc). But it might be easy this time around.

I see, he was ten days old when he went into SCBU. This time you could make sure you see the bfeeding counsellor before you leave hospital. Did you have an early section - ie before 39 weeks? It seems this can delay milk coming in by a day or so.

From your story its sounds to me that you didn't fail at all. The health professionals failed you! There is no reason not to try feeding this time, but this time you have the time to try & help prevent problems or get a support system in place before you give birth. Often that in itself is enough for successful bfing as you are then not afraid to ask for help as you are asking familiar people & not strangers.

Highly recommend contacting any or all of the bf organisations - ABM, LLL NCT etc & find a councillor in your area you can see in person as well as going along to a bf support group. They can go through your experiences last time & suggest things that you can try this time. All are very happy to see pregnant ladies & will provide you with lots of tips & frienly faces when you need them.

You don;t mention what the actual problem was last time. Was it confirmed by a qualified councillor as being a supply problem? It may be worth getting a hold of all your LO's notes the the hospital if you are unsure what caused the dehydration and it m ay help any councillors you see.
Good luck
Sarah