Is it my fault I’m not producing enough milk

[EchoAlpha]

Hey all

I’m still very new to the whole parenting thing (My newborn is 10 days old) and I just feel like I’m not producing enough milk.

Whenever I give my daughter breastmilk, we try both sides for like an hour and she still cries for more. I top her up with Aptamil and she takes the whole serving for a 1-2week old.

I mix feed so it’s not a massive problem but I always hoped I could rely more on breastfeeding and expressing, rather than formula.

For some reason I’ve lost a large part of my appetite since giving birth, so not sure if that contributes to this…

Any advice would be much appreciated!

You need to eat! BFing uses a lot of energy.

But also, mixed feeding is tough to start with, and can affect your supply. Are you pumping as well to keep that up?

I’d call one of the BF helplines for advice.

Your body will make the amount of milk that matches what your baby drinks.
One possibility from what your describing is the latch isn’t very effective so she is working too hard to get milk and is getting tired and frustrated. It’s easy to drink out of a bottle and takes no effort compared to BF.
Would you consider seeing a lactation consultant or going along to a local BF support group. At least then she won’t be getting frustrated at the breast and you can then continue to combination feed for as long as you want to.

I forgot to add pumping can help and the most important time to get her to BF is during night when the prolactin levels are at the highest.

This.

You need to look after yourself, plenty of food and fluids. Also loads of feeding in bed, skin to skin contact. The more you feed, the more your supply will increase. Your baby is possibly going through a growth spurt too and can be extra unsettled.

Congratulations!

It’s a tried and true old wives tale: Eat porridge oats. It really does increase milk supply. I swear by this. I’m a long way away from feeding babies now at 51, but I struggled and really found that with DCs 2&3, the porridge oats indeed boosted my supply.
I second seeing a lactation consultant, just to make sure she’s latching on correctly.
Congratulations on your little one!

Try spending two days in bed with the baby, cuddling and breastfeeding and doing as little as poss
The mixed feeding will be effecting the supply. Wait until bf is established (about 6 weeks for me) before doing mixed feeding.

Excellent advice on this thread! Congratulations OP

This is absolute poppycock, the only thing that increases supply is feeding/pumping more whilst being hydrated and eating enough.

Your supply doesn't regulate until 6-8 weeks. You do have to be careful to not cause an oversupply as that can be equally stressful. There's nothing wrong with combination feeding, just always offer boob first so you don't decrease your supply.

Lactation consultant recommendations are good. There are a few brilliant ones on Instagram who have lots of great advisory info and often offer free Q&A advice on their stories

instagram.com/lucywebberfeedingsupport_ibclc

instagram.com/kathrynstaggibclc

instagram.com/olivia_lactation_consultant

I meant the porridge, not sure why the quote feature hasn't worked

You need to take care of yourself by eating and drinking even more than usual. I usually drink a lot of water but when I was bf then I pretty much drank constantly. As has been mentioned, see a lactation specialist to check the latch and for other issues (NCT have drop in sessions for free/donations) but also remember that you're ten days in, presumably for the first time. That's nothing, and your baby will cry not just when they're hungry. At that age it's a constant cycle of feed, poo, potentially sleep, cry on repeat.

If you've got a pump then you could also try pumping to give a bottle of expressed milk instead of formula which will help increase your supply, but it's really early days. Again your fluid/food intake is key here. What are your reasons for combi feeding btw? We did this too from very very early on (one bottle a day of formula), so completely no judgement.

Also look up paced feeding videos on YouTube as then whoever is giving the bottle can do it in a way that mimics her getting milk from your breast rather than just shoving it down her throat, which is a lot easier/less work for her.

You need to eat, and be careful topping up as that will stop your supply increasing.

BF in the first few weeka is pretty constant as their stomach is so small and by BF they are helpijg to increase your supply

In addition to all the good advice above, if you have a drop in breastfeeding clinic near you it could be really helpful. Sometimes a very small adjustment in latch/position can mean that baby finds it much easier to get milk, and can get more with less effort.

I had this problem too and tried everything. Please do see a lactation consultant. Sometimes though some women don’t produce enough milk, just a fact of life. Don’t give up without trying the advice of a consultant though. Equally, try not to blame yourself if your supply isn’t enough. Good luck and congrats

Thank you so much for your advice everyone, really helpful! Just finding it hard to not be harsh on myself.

I have a community midwife visiting this week, so will ask her to check that she is latching on properly.

I will also take on advice about eating/staying hydrated - even if I need to force myself!

@MrsBunnyEars - yes, I try to pump but only manage to get 90(ish)ml in total from both boobs!

@MaraScottie - fair point on the growth spurt. I just would have thought it’s a bit too early for that!

@brainstories568 - I work in a very demanding job and have never liked the idea of her being reliant on me for milk. I feed her formula maybe 3ish times a day. The thing is majority of the time, she cries a few mins after she has been breastfed, which tells me she’s still hungry and I’m not producing enough. But maybe we just need more time!

Maybe she has wind after breastfeeding and that’s why she’s crying just after a feed?

Has she regained birth weight? If so, don't pump or give formula top ups. Get in bed with your baby for a couple of days, loads of skin to skin, loads of food and snacks - I lost my appetite with my first and I found cold pressed juices helpful and a protein shake as I didn't have to be hungry to drink them. Lots of water and paracetamol as needed for any post birth pain. Get some sleep! Wind well after feeding. Don't mess around with formula or pumping until breastfeeding is established. Unless you're going back to work in the next few weeks there's loads of time to get baby to take a bottle. Focus on the here and now.

I wouldn't wait for your MW appointment. Especially if she isn't an infant feeding specialist,

You can ring the NCT infant feeding line anytime. You can also search for breastfeeding support in your area.

In the early days of combi feeding the focus needs to be on breast, with a bit of bottles so they're used to them. Get the supply sorted and then you can up the bottles as you wish.

Is she doing plenty of wet nappies and good weight gain? If so she's getting enough.

Not everybody is a fantastic milk producer. I always said if I were a cow, the farmer would've shot me. Your post resonated with me because there are posts somewhere on MN written about 15 years ago (albeit in a different user name) where I said pretty much the same as you.

If you're not someone who gushes lots of milk naturally, this means that your body needs time to work up a decent supply. Your baby is fussing because she needs to be at the breast constantly as only her suckling builds up the supply. It was explained to me that it was likely that I produced as much milk as other women but my drop-down reflex (or whatever it's called) was not as quick as another woman so my rate of milk production was slower (does that make sense??)

If you give formula, she's satisfied on that as it's filling and then she's not feeding from you and your supply will stay low. It's truly a vicious circle.

Breastfeeding a newborn can be fucking awful for some women. This is not helped by our societal expectation of a happy baby that sleeps through, feeds every 4 hours, mother has to be up and about with baby from Day 1, doing the housework and going to baby groups. In some non Western cultures, the mother and baby are pretty much expected to stay in bed for over a month doing nothing other than breastfeeding, eating and sleeping.

I would honestly get yourself to a La Leche league group or similar. They helped me enormously and they will check your position and the baby's latch. And you need confidence in your own body's ability to sustain your baby. And you need to eat and drink well. They can be a bit zealous about BF and a bit New Age- ey but they are truly knowledgeable.

At this age, I would expect you to do nothing but sit on the sofa with your baby breastfeeding and being brought food and drink by your DH and sleeping when your baby sleeps. Yes it's boring. And not everybody wants to do that.

You have to remember that it's a short term pain for a long term gain. In a few months breastfeeding will be a doddle. Don't forget your baby is also learning how to feed efficiently and as she grows and gets stronger, she will get better at it.

Good luck!

When my son was born he was always crying and switching from side to side. It felt like he was always hungry and never satisfied. He would cluster feed for hours. When he finally fell asleep he would wake up an hour later to start over again. I too, like you, thought I was not producing enough milk.

The answer to thus questions is, is your baby producing enough wet and dirty nappies? Have they regained their birth weight? If the answer to these questions is yes then you are producing enough milk and there's no need to introduce a formula top up. Your baby is establishing your breast milk supply for the coming weeks.

In my case, when my son was between 4-5 weeks old it was like the flood gates opened and I ended up with ample milk. It takes upto 5-6 weeks to establish a mill supply.

Can you Google for your local Infant Feeding Team if there is one? I had some issues at the beginning and my local team was so helpful, both so practical and really supportive. But the midwife nor the hospital mentioned them! Newborns do feed for ages, but if there's a tongue tie (which my feeding team identified and arranged to be corrected) they really can feed for aaaages, as transferring the milk is so effortful.

Pumping doesn't indicate supply. A baby transfers milk so much more efficiently than a machine can. So pumping 90ml is absolutely loads at this stage and definilitely doesn't suggest undersupply!

I didn't express until DS was 9 months (because I returned to work) and never got more than 30ml at a time. (DD never needed a bottle at all as she was 1 whem I returned to work). I bf them both for more than 2 years.

Unless you're planning to go back to work very early I really wouldn't worry about expressing yet. Just have lots of skin to skin, feed, feed, feed, and ensure she has plenty of wet and dirty nappies.
And don't rely on your midwife as your only source of bf info, they often know a lot less than you'd expect. I would go along to a local BF support group if you have one.

It sounds like you’re putting a lot of pressure on yourself to be worrying about going back to work already at this stage. With the newborn stage you can’t plan for the future so much and make everything work like it will in a few months time. Just take it half day by half day and get yourself established and in a routine (many weeks away yet) before you start trying to set up a system for when you go back to work.
it’s very early days, you have plenty of time to introduce a bottle. Have a google but I think it’s before ten weeks that it’s good to introduce it daily to avoid them rejecting it.

Again, you're less than 2 weeks into it. You need more time. When are you planning to go back to work? If it's not immediately then you've got time to focus on working out a way where you can combi feed effectively. For what it's worth I was never sold on the bf thing either and didn't see it as a "must do" aspect of parenting but I'm glad that I did it, however also glad that I ignored all of the advice to stop using bottles until 6+ weeks as we also needed our baby to not be reliant on me for food and like formula, but for medical reasons.

As your baby ages (and particularly once they start solids) you'll find that their milk intake reduces on its own. I stopped bf at 10 months but had a lot of frozen milk stored to give that in conjunction with formula until he was one, then moved onto cows milk. Like others have said, she could have wind/reflux which makes her cry? And you will eventually start producing enough to match her needs but the early weeks are when your supply settles, can you cut back to 1 formula feed per day and try to increase your supply?

I remember feeling so disheartened at what I managed to pump in the early days, but remember it has nothing to do with how much your baby gets out and also with time you become a pro at pumping as well as breast feeding, and your baby learns too.

Also - newborns cry. They just do. Unless she's absolutely screaming from the rooftop for hours every day please don't overthink or research things. Most babies experience a little gas and or reflux after feeds, this is normal and why they like to be held upright for a while after feeds and why they like to sleep on an incline on our chests. Please see a proper lactation consultant if you can.