Insufficient milk ducts first time round, will I be able to BF baby this time?

[Monts45]

Hi all,
I had my son 2 years ago, born at 36+5 by EMCS after my waters broke at 36+1 and labour didn’t progress after a failed induction. It was a pretty awful experience!
He had a tongue tie and latching issues, so I had to try and pump but only ever produced very little. After 10 days of pumping every 3 hours I would still only get a max of 10ml in total. I went to see a lactation consultant and she looked at my boobs and said I had insufficient milk glands and would never be able to produce enough milk to feed my son. She advised giving myself a break and switching to exclusively formula feeding, which I reluctantly did. I’m now 5.5 weeks pregnant again, and would really love to be able to feed this baby. I’ve read a lot of info about lack of milk supply, and it seems that there are lots of issues for this. My breasts got bigger, but not huge and it felt like my milk never ‘came in’. Has anyone had this with a previous pregnancy, but managed to feed successfully second time around? I thought about speaking to my midwife when I have my booking in appointment, but my experience last time was that they couldn’t find an issue and put it down to being one of those things. I’m hoping someone has some experience of medication or anything during pregnancy which has encouraged milk duct growth?

[Frazzlerock]

Hi @Monts45 you might have breast hypoplasia (there are images of what this looks like if you google). I have this due to PCOS and was unable to breastfeed my two DS and had to make the heartbreaking decision to switch to formula when they were losing weight rapidly.
This was 11 and 15 years ago and there wasn't the help back then - at least no one suggested anything other than to "feed more" which was impossible as I was already feeding 22/23 hours per day.

I am now 20 weeks pregnant and have been speaking to a lovely La Leche League lactation consultant. She has been super helpful so far and is proving to be an invaluable source who has already recommended several things I can do.
I'd recommend looking up your local LLL lactation consultant. f she's anything like mine, she will put together a BFing plan and make sure the BFing team at your hospital know your history/issues and will be on hand to help you when your baby is born.
She is also going to have domperidone prescribed for me - something I was refused when I had my DS's - and has also suggested natural galactogogues like Fenugreek.

I have a book called 'Making More Milk' by Lisa Marasco and Diana West which she recommended to me. There is lots of information in there.

I hope that is helpful. I'm desperate to feed this baby too so really hoping it is easier this time around.

[Monts45]

@Frazzlerock that is so helpful, thank you!! I’ve suspected for a while that I might have PCOS (though it’s not affected my day to day life or given me issues conceiving, so I’ve just ignored it!). I’ve just googled hypoplasia and that seems to fit the bill. I’ll definitely contact LLL and see what they say.
Will the domperidome give you an increased milk supply?

[Frazzlerock]

@Monts45 I've never tried domperidone soI can't give you my personal experience (yet!). It's actually prescribed for sickness I believe but as a convenient side effect it very often produces more milk and is now recognised as doing so.

I think the most important thing to try and bear in mind is not to beat yourself up if it doesn't work out, which I know is easier said than done. I still have issues around not being able to feed my older boys and I think it will stay with me forever.
My LLL lady quoted something from the book in my BFing plan which made me sob!
‘Many kinds of milk can nurture the body, but only your love can nurture his soul.’