Expert: Sally Wendkos Olds - 12/3/2007

Question
Hi, my name is Lorena and i have a 14 months old daughter, before she was born i was getting prepared to breastfeed her, took classes, read books, bought nursing tops, etc. by the time i started having contractions, it took me about 24 hours to really need to go to the hospital, it was long, we tried so many times to have her natural, but she was a big baby, so i ended having a c section, i felt so exhausted, i stayed in a room for a while before i start breastfeeding my baby, i was so excited, thinking i had all the right tools, i tried to breastfeed her and latch really easy, the lactation consultant told me i had woderful nipples to breastfeed, my milk came really late, by the time we left the hospital, i was already tired for sleeping deprivation, trying to breastfeed her every 2 hours, she will cry and cry, the first week we went to c the pediatrician he told us my daughter gain very little, so he worried me so much i needed to try to breastfeed her with the clock and more often, oh my goodness what a week, i felt like a zoombie, i cried too for my sleeping deprivation, for my nipple pain, i felt i wasn't doing a good job as a mom, so stressed, 2nd week she gain a little bit too, so we saw the dr one more time, and she gained again too little, by the 4th week the dr suggested to top it off with formula afer every breastfeeding, so i start doing that i start feeling more relief because my daughter start gaining more weight, but every time i used a bottle i felt like a failure. What happened the entire first month, is that my daughter will latch really good, i never had blisters or anything like that, my daughter will drink a little bit and then fall asleep, so it was a time consuming trying to wake her up so she can drink my milk, then every time i tried to pump i will make just half ounce in 40 minutes! oh my i felt so bad i realize my milk supply was so low all the time, that's why my daughter cried and cried so much the first week all the time even though been breastfed, so after she was 3 months i quit breastfeeding and i felt so much better, now we are TTC and making plans for the future, i am unsure what i want to do for my next baby, i am scared, somtimes i feel i don't even want to try and pass through again all the pain and failure feeling, i feel if i had so little milk supply the first time it will happen to me again, so there is a lot of times i just want to go for the easieast way: supply since the begginning with formula. Then another feeling i have is that lately i have friends they had their first babies and the way it goes with them breastfeeding is sooo easy and they have tons of milk and they were not even prepared or anything, so i just felt so unfair and so jealous. So now i don't know what i want to do in the future with my coming babies. So my question is: if my milk supply was so low the first time i tried to breastfeed my first baby it will be the same with my next one?

Answer
Dear Lorena,

First, congratulations. Despite all your problems with breastfeeding your daughter, you still gave her a wonderful start in life by nursing her. Always remember: some breastfeeding is better than no breastfeeding!

Then, let me reassure you. Your past history does not mean that for your next baby you will not have enough milk. What I suggest is that right after your next baby is born, you breastfeed him/her right in the delivery room, and then contact the lactation consultant in the hospital. Tell her what you went through with your first baby and ask for special help this time around. And see a lactation consultant within the first few days after you go home from the hospital.

However, even if you do find that you don't have enough breast milk with your next baby, you are not a failure! As I write in my book (see below): "A baby raised in a loving home can grow up to be healthy and psychologically secure no matter  how she or he receives nourishment. ... Ultimately, how you feel about your children is more important than how you feed them."

Good luck!

Sally
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Sally Wendkos Olds
Author, THE COMPLETE BOOK OF BREASTFEEDING: Eiger & Olds, 3rd edition 1999, published by Workman Publishing & Bantam Books, and available in most public libraries, bookstores & La Leche League chapters.