Breasts not changing during pregnancy...no milk?

[Bells3032]

I am currently 32 weeks with my second. With my first I gave birth at 34 weeks, during my pregnancy I had no changes to my breasts - they stayed the same and I got no real colostrum or milk despite weeks or preserving with nursing and pumping and hand expressing. After 4 weeks the most I ever got from a sitting was 1ml and a starving baby.

Now having my second and wondering if it's even worth trying. Boobs still feel the same. I'm still in normal bras as they fit fine.

Chances same thing again??

Omg OP I’m pregnant with my first 34+4 today and same here! Boobs haven’t changed one bit apart from absolutely huge nipples. Not sore or tender, no bigger and not leaking. I’m seeing my midwife this week but I’m panicking I’m not going to produce colostrum or milk and I really wanted to give my baby what I can. It’s getting me down. So sorry you are going through this 😔 xx

@AimeeLou84 I didn't have any changes (at least ones that I noticed) during my pregnancy. I never leaked, and my attempts at expressing colostrum were a complete failure, there was just nothing in there.

I breastfed my baby an hour after birth and we've been successfully breastfeeding ever since (he's now four months, exclusively breastfed and growing rapidly!). It's very common not to produce milk until after birth, it bears no relation to how successful you will be at breastfeeding. The best thing you can do is not to worry, and make sure you know where to find your local feeding support group got when baby comes as the advice you can get there is invaluable.

A note of hope. My boobs didn't change before birth at all. They did afterwards and I did feel my milk come in. I
was kept in hospital for complications for a week so had access to industrial sized breast pumps and managed to express enough during that first week but only by sitting there for an hour, stopping for a break and drink and then heading back again. B'feeding was a real challenge - it took a good month and lots of support for a month, with nipple shells, hand pumping and lots of tears! We got there in the end, so it is possible, though I would say if I knew how hard it could be I might be happier feeding if I did it all again.

Hoping it works out for you. Trust your body to deliver, get all the help you can, but don't feel guilty if it doesn't work out. When they are teens no-no's will honestly know the difference or care.

No-no's will know . . .

Did you put baby on the breast or just try to pump?

Hi,

My kids are teenagers now and this is true!

I'm.not sure I remember any changes going on in pregnancy or any sign of milk coming in until a few days after birth. This was after expressing every 2 hours for 20 minutes (and getting nothing at all for the first day or so). My baby was premature and I remember the first expressing was just 0.4 of a ml in a 1ml syringe, which they gladly fed to him. It took two days to get to the point of 'drips' in a pump, and 3 days before they leaked through clothes while I was in a lift going to see him. I ended up feeding him 100% pumped milk for the first 6 months.

Just to give you hope that you don't necessarily have to show signs of lactating in pregnancy. Important thing is to keep feeding the baby every couple of hours (even if it's tiny amounts) to make your milk come in. And try and get professional help (the midwives on the ward are often lacking in time and don't have the expertise to help IME).

While I did have a lot of breast changes as I have stupidly big boobs anyway. I have never been able to express milk and have very successfully fully breastfed 2 babies.

How your boobs look/feel and weather they leakage or not generally is no indication on your ability to breastfeed. I believe there is one rare condition where you can have a lack of brest tissue (I don't believe this isn't related to size of breasts by the way) which you may want to look into but other then that it all due to supply and demand. Ie baby demands to be fed milk is produced on tap.

My boobs stayed the same throughout pregnancy, no size difference at all. It hasn't affected my milk, I put baby to breast very soon after birth and fed pretty much every hour or two for the first few days until the milk came in. However this is my first so don't have a similar experience to yours. Do whatever you feel comfortable with. Maybe try breastfeeding at first and give it a few days to come in, and if you're not happy switch to bottle. I wouldn't stress about being able to pump loads initially, they told me wait six weeks before pumping to establish supply.

I didn't notice any changes and I couldn't hand express anything when I was pregnant, breastfed my daughter for 3 years

I think you need to speak to an IBCLC qualified lactation consultant, I would line someone up before the birth and then have a consultation after the birth

Perhaps there is a problem or perhaps you've been mistaken, sometimes people can't express a lot but the baby can get out what they need to. Best way to find out is to speak to a professional.

Do you have any signs of breast hypoplasia? (Google it) I had no breast change and no milk. Nobody diagnosed it even all the midwives that saw my boobs but mumsnet did!

I couldn't get anything expressing. My boobs never leaked or sprayed and they didn't change but I fed both my babies for 2/3 years each and they never had formula etc so there was definitely plenty of milk in there! Don't stress!

I had no breast changes during pregnancy, though I could express tiny amounts of colostrum before birth (I'm talking a drop at a time) - and ended up breastfeeding both my kids for a year each and struggled with oversupply, which surprised me given I have fairly small breasts. I think you won't know until you try. I would say if you really want to breastfeed then it's worth a try, but recognise that it may be hard work to get established. It's an equally valid choice to decide against breastfeeding - there's nothing wrong with formula and if it makes those earlier days easier for you, absolutely go for it.

My boobs didn't change during PG and inly went up one size after. Fed both babies though.

I went to a breastfeeding class last weekend with my NHS trust and she was very clear in saying that there is no correlation between changes in boobs, ability to harvest colostrum and ability to breastfeed. Hope this puts your mind at ease a bit OP!

Unless you have breast hypoplasia, which many HCPs, even midwives and health visitors don't know about! In that case there is a correlation.

Mine didn't change at all, breastfeeding my 6 month old as we speak. Don't worry ☺️

I'd never heard of this but just looked and think I do. My breasts are very wide apart and quite triangular in shape. They're quite large though but not uneven..I have no "clevage" in the middle though as they're so wide apart. What does that mean??

I did try feeding right away and she sucked no problem plus tried to hand expressing colostrum but couldnt even get a drop big enough to suck up in the syringe. But after 10 days she'd lost 11lbs (having only been born at 4lb 11oz) and on day 2 or 3 the hospital gave me a hospital grade pump. I was, at least every three hours, feeding and then pumping. Whilsty husband topped up with formula (at the hospitals suggestion as she was starving). She was still losing weight and after two weeks we moved her to formula and got a lactatjon consultant but after a month of sheer exhaustion we gave up trying to nurse altogether and she thrived on formula so we left it.

It means you might be part of the 2/4% of women who genuinely can't produce enough milk to feed their infant because you don't have enough tissue. I'm not saying you are, but it was a lightbulb moment for me and I wish I'd known before he was born as I nearly drove myself mad trying to breastfeed for 6 weeks following all the guidance while my poor boy failed to grow. If that's what you have you could try taking galactogogues as soon as he's born and see if that helps you produce more. I think you want to be careful with anything that increases oestrogen though like fenugreek as that can be linked to some health issues.

Also, I could barely express a drop with DC1 but he was a plump little thing so I must have been producing something.

Information is your Ally is a good article to read before LO arrives.

If you really want to be prepared you could put the BFing Helpline Numbers in your phone and start to go along to your local BFing Support Group.

A book like BFing for Beginners might be helpful too

I was diagnosed with breast hypoplasia 2 weeks after my first child and experienced exactly what you have described. I did manage to produce about half what my baby needed and combi fed with formula. I used bottles and an at breast supplementer. I had absolutely shit advice until I sought a specialist in London who was amazing, but that was at 6 months! Happy to pass on her details.

I’m currently 34 weeks pregnant and I plan to have an appointment with her at 36 weeks. There’s loads of supplements you can take to increase supply and ways to manage pumping to increase.

there should also be a specialist team at your hospital you can be referred to antenatally to diagnose and support you.

im hoping my next breastfeeding experience will be a different one and I’ll be able to breast feed more and longer with less stress