Low Breastmilk Supply

My baby was born prem
Emergency c-section.
with the shock of that and then to find out my milk supply was practically nil, it was very devastating!!
My baby latched beautifully,on both sides and i found it heartbreaking to see him sucking for all he was worth,but to no avail.
All his hard work practically tired him out! The nurses had to put a tube up his nose to feed him, because i was so unsuccessful.
Not being able to give birth naturally and then fail at breastfeeding...well u can imagine how i felt.
You go thru life assuming that you will be able to do these two most natural things.
What a shock to the system!!
Even when i tried to express i would only end up with 5mls off each breast. These days i am lucky if i can get 10ml off each breast.
So my boy still gets breast milk..small amount though it is and he is on formula. He has just started on solids. He is now a healthy chubby happy bubby.
At the hospital i was the only mum in NICU with this prob. I felt very alone.now i realise this happens to others and im not a freak.

Hello,
My experience has sort of been the same as yours, although i had a natural birth and i started out with a very good milk supply, all of a sudden it seemed to just run out and i didnt know why. I still breastfeed but am mainly formula feeding my daughter and i felt depressed at first because i have a few friends that are breastfeeding their babies at 5 months up.
I am glad that i came on this forum and found out that i am not the only one with this problem it helped me alot.
If you ever want to chat, my email is leanne_williams_1983@hotmail.com, i am also on msn with the same address

i was exactly the same as you emergency c but my daughter would not feed. i felt like a failure. then my milk dried up. dont be sad at least your son got a little of what he needs from you.

Hi Glitter Girl,
You are not a freak. I too had a prem baby 11 weeks early by emergency c section and my milk supply was NEVER a good one. it is not a failure to be unable to breastfeed. My God - you tried and continue to try. In my mind that makes you the most successful mother ever. Lots of mums in our NICU had milk probs, and, when you think about it the stress of what you go through, whos body could produce enough milk?
Your little boy only knows that his mummy loves him and would do anything for him and thats ALL that matters.
I hope that you are both well

Hey glitter girl. Don't feel like a freak. If your baby is healthy then it doesn't matter. I had prem twins and although I had milk I couldn't breast feed them as they couldn't suck. I expressed and they still had breast milk but they learnt to suck via a bottle. My milk supply dwindled because of the lack of stimulation. The lactation consultants at the hospital were horrible and wouldn't even look at me once I decided to bottle feed my girls even though they still had breat milk and even though it was on the advice of the paediatrician. They were on formula before we left the hospital and have been healthy as.

Hey there glitter girl

I had a forceps delivery due to bubs being in the posterior position. Then my milk supply was in no way enough for him so i cried and cried got really depressed felt like a complete failure . First I couldnt push my baby out myself and had to have the forceps and then I couldnt feed my baby?? What kind of a mum was I???

My baby was placed on formula and I can honestly say he has thrived ever since and only got his first cold/sniffles a couple of weeks ago. He is 9 mths old today! smile

I would have been so happy to breatsfeed my baby and I will try again with the next one but if it doesnt happen again I know now that I am not a freak either smile

Time has flown by! My wee man is now 10 months old. Eventually my b/milk dried up and i completely switched to formula.
Other than the odd sniffle,My boy is fit and very healthy.And happy : )
Thankyou to the other mums for sharing their stories.
For any future readers, i hope our post's have helped.
Big hug to you and yours, from us : )

my 1st son was an em csection & i did not have much milk so he wnt ont formula at 3 days , he was a happy healthy baby and still is now at 4ys of age. sometimes thing happen that u dont have any control over dont worry. you can only do what you can do