My boobs haven't grown - no milk?

[Alibongo37]

Hi
I'm 39 weeks pregnant and my boobs have really not grown.... they did in the first few weeks of pregnancy but soon deflated.
I'm now worried I'm not producing any milk. Is this actually possible?
As hard as I tried with my first daughter, she was never interested in attaching, and I was also pumping very little.... so soon had very little choice but to go on formula.
I really wanted things to be different second time around.

Mine never grew, they barely grew when my milk came in but I'm regularly expressing and producing milk. Don't worry.
X
Congratulations

Think yourself lucky, only one of mine grew! The right one is huge and I think it’s my fault for feeding on that side more often now. I look ridiculous.

Mine didn't grow until after I had given birth.

Mine didn't either before or after birth I tried to bf but didn't ever establish bf fully with either of my dcs but I understand there is not necessarily a correlation

The size difference between breasts is entirely down to stored fat. It doesn’t mean you have any less glandular tissue to produce milk.
I think you should just be relaxed about it - you will either produce enough or you won’t. It’s not a big deal - formula milk is perfectly safe in the U.K. with a clean water supply and good facilities for sterilising bottles. I never produced more than an ounce at a time and both my dd’s were bottle fed. They’re now healthy intelligent adults with normal body weights, never suffered allergies/eczema/asthma etc and graduated from good uni’s.
Their exclusively breast fed cousins all have asthma and one had severe allergies as a child! As a doctor myself, I accept that breast feeding is good when it works, but people really make far too much fuss about it. It really is not essential and you’re not a failed mother if you don’t manage!

No relationship at all between boob size and milk, don’t worry!

I'm a 34A and I only got a little bigger when the milk came in. I had plenty of milk and baby fed wuth no problems.

Think yourself lucky, only one of mine grew! The right one is huge and I think it’s my fault for feeding on that side more often now. I look ridiculous.
I think I know where you live..

There once was a girl from Devizes
with breasts of different sizes.
One was so small
it was no use at all,
but the other won several prizes!

Mine didn’t get big and full of milk until after my daughter was born, don’t worry! Once I started feeding her it was fine. But when I was pregnant I felt like that too, I still had quite small boobs and I was thinking how am I going to breast feed?! X

kellymom.com/bf/got-milk/perceived-insufficient-milk/

That website is really worth a good read around breastfeeding as it is factual and evidence based.

I’m really disappointed by a Dr up the thread saying things like “you will either produce enough or you won’t. It’s not a big deal.” and also saying she didn’t produce more than an ounce. I mean THIS is exactly why so many women are failed by HCPs in getting support and advice in breastfeeding. And it’s the women being failed- not them failing!

So. If you’ve time OP please try to find a local breastfeeding group and go BEFORE baby arrives. That way you are familiar with some of the people and you will also get a phone number or contact details for a breastfeeding support worker. Breastfeeding CAN be hard work to establish and as a society we have lost the knowledge that previously would have been passed around the families and we would have seen normal breastfeeding in action as kids ourselves. But now we have the more “normal” thing of 4 hourly feeds and rushing to get a full nights sleep and this isn’t really compatible with breastfeeding in the early days.
The best advice is to get professional support and to read up so you know your body can and will provide all the milk your baby needs and what things you can do to help it. Boob size is rarely a factor (sometimes bigger isn’t better either!) and unless you’re advised to pump to increase supply, I wouldn’t worry about how much you produce. Or even pump at all if you don’t want to.
I fed four children for over ten years in total and never managed to pump more than an ounce or two. But I was clearly producing far more when feeding a baby.

Women with tiny boobs can feed just as well and make just as much milk as those with big boobs, it’s a supply and demand thing. Don’t worry.

@AutumnalTed ha! With my first I fed more with my right boob due to night time feeds and being comfier doing that, and it was always the milkier boob after that, second time my right boob knew what it was doing, nipple was perfect for feeding compared to the other and it was slightly bigger. Third pregnancy now and again my right one is slightly bigger and nipple is again a perfect shape for latching already. Bizarre! All because of those original night time feeds

Sorry if I'm telling you things you already know OP, but you won't be producing any milk yet anyway. That comes in around three days after birth, before that you'll just be producing colostrum.

I'm a 34AA and my boobs didn't get any bigger during pregnancy, but I'm still EBF my 9.5 month old :)

Thank you everyone - really, really helpful.
Thanks @Isadora2007 but I did so many things with my First .... attended several groups and enlisted private BF help. Nothing worked. In the end, I went to formula. I didn't beat myself up about it.

The article on Kelly's is also really useful, but I do also think @Babdoc has a really valid point.

I would say as others have said that size doesnt equate to amount of milk, and neither does the amount you can express as it is the amount the baby can drink that matters. some women just cant express well.

You measure how well your baby is feeding by amount of wet and dirty nappys and weight gain.

Your body doesnt produce milk until it comes in post birth in 2-6 ish days unril then its just colostrum which will be a small amount and very hard to express.

Just wanted to say from the other side, my boobs were enormous which was a real obstacle to breastfeeding. Had 2 midwives holding it in position while I tried and failed to latch a baby on.
So you might actually be at an advantage!
I tried and failed to breast feed my 1st and 2nd for many reasons but managed my 3rd till 16 months so just because you didn't manage before doesn't mean you won't this time. Good luck

Sorry that someone was “disappointed” by my view as a doctor that breast feeding is not the holy grail! I’ve seen too many women suffer guilt and depression over failure to bf, made worse by bf zealots, at a time (especially for first time mothers) when they are tired and emotionally vulnerable. The only thing that matters is that your baby gets an adequate milk intake - 20 years later, nobody will know or care whether you achieved that via breast or bottle! There are advantages to both methods. Don’t give yourself a tough time over such a minor thing- just enjoy your new baby and concentrate on surviving the sleep deprivation etc!

@Babdoc I tend to agree.
I mean, I'll try my hardest and it'll be great if it works but surely there are so many other factors involved. I don't actually understand the absolute obsession over it.....maybe I'm looking for confirmation bias, but I've met a lot of children/adults who weren't breast fed, and they're total pictures of health!
Anyhow...

Thanks @statetrooperstacey. Interesting!! I always associated big boobs with huge quantities of milk!

Mine never grew at all (thankfully, they were big enough already).
You don’t produce milk until about 3 days after birth.

Bobs pretty much don't change until day 3is post birth KABLOWEE Pammy Anderson boobies! But of course that doesn't last and after a couple of weeks of engorgement when your LO is due a feed or you are about to pump your bobs won't be so spectacularly going up and down in size.

Congrats OP!

I was also pumping very little

Both mine were EBF and carried on until their third birthdays. In all of that time I was never able to express more than an ounce at a time and that was only possible first thing in the morning while the baby fed on the other boob at the same time to trigger the let-down.

Not saying you should or shouldn't BF. Just don't set too much store by how much you can express.

I’m on the other side too, was a nice little B cup before, went up to an F in pregnancy and I’ve now settled 1 year down the line after giving birth at DD (still bf but only producing enough to feed baby, no more leaking after an hour) and I would give anything to have my Bs back.

Breast size doesn’t equal quantity of milk, it’s jusy where you store fat I believe (aside from slight swelling when ready to feed/milk initially coming in) my friend who had her baby the same week as me is also still breastfeeding and wears A/B

Good luck, and as you’ve said in other words a fed baby is best.

Oh and I BF both mine to over a year and could never express more than a dribble! DD2 put on 5lbs in the first 6 weeks of her life (EBF) so there was obviously plenty of milk there...