Anyone Else Experience Having Nearly No Milk After Having Baby?

I had a very similar situation. I never felt engorged, my son had a good latch at the hospital and at my lactation appt on day 3 or 4. He lost almost 10% of his body weight by day 5, so I had to supplement. I have friends who breastfed for a year, and I was prepared to do the same. When I gave him his first bottle I cried so hard. I felt like I was giving my baby poison! There is so much information about how wonderful breastfeeding is for your baby, but no one really talks about when it doesn’t work. I met with a LC 2 or 3 times after going home from the hospital. I tried everything, from the tea, fenugreek capsules, a supplemental nursing system (allows the baby to have formula while also sucking at the breast, something I didn’t know was even possible!), and pumping after feedings to try to increase supply. My LC said that it’s possible that I don’t have enough glandular tissue to make enough milk. So I would breastfeed and then follow up with a bottle. During the night my husband gives a bottle and I pump. I’ve been back to work for a month and I pump twice while there, even though I never get more than 2 oz. I think my baby is getting about 20% breastmilk. I struggle daily with trying to decide if I should stop, but I enjoy the bonding when I am at home. Is it worth the time and hassle for such little milk?

I’d say definitely give it a try with your future children. As long as you are aware of what might happen, it doesn’t hurt to try. Good luck! You’re not alone.

Hi J.,

Same thing happened to me when my son was born. Actually my breast milk didn't come in until a few days after he was born, so we had no choice but to bottle feed him.

It happens to the best of us.

Thank goodness for formula.

It happened with my daughter as well. And by the time my milk came in both were adjusted to the bottle. So, needless to say I didn't get to experience that joy.

Many blessings,

J.

Oh J., You are NOT alone. I had no supply with my son and he was so dehydrated too. I pumped or breastfed every 2 hours for months, spent several hundred dollars on supplements, teas and such to boost my supply, and went twice to a lactation specialist. It's not a clear cut supply and demand issue no matter what people say.
It may be any number of things that hinder your supply. I don't think overweight would play a part and labor was probably not an issue. I had an extremely traumatic labor with my first and thought that was the cause of my lack of milk but my second labor was a breeze and I still did not produce enough milk. I supplemented formula from 7 days and on with my son, cried every time I gave him a bottle. I had to do the same with my daughter and this time tried not to feel like a failure. You are NOT a failure for not being able to breastfeed! You are doing a good job!
In answer to your question about trying with the next child I say YES it's always worth trying. Give it your best shot and go from there.
I hope that people will be gentle and understanding of you. We mom's put enough pressure on ourselves without other people condemning us for trying to do the right thing for our babies.
Be blessed!

some women aren't as lucky as others and we just don't produce enough milk for our babies. with each one of my children i have dried up sooner than the one before to the point i told my hubby that i just want to start this one im pregnant with now on formula. with my first one he wouldn't latch on right even after seeing someone to show me how to do it and i just pumped and fed him with a bottle. after 4 months i wasn't producing enough for him. with my second and third babies i was able to do it for 2 months then they did't seem to be getting enough and had to pump and after one month dried up. and with my last one i would feed him for an hour and he would still want more and i would have nothing so he had to use formula. when i would pump i could only get an ounce or so total out of one side and nothing out of the other side and was completely dried up after only one month. i wish i could have done it longer but my body just couldn't do it. i don't think (but im not sure ) if weight has an issue with it, i was also slightly over weight after having my first 2, really over weight after my 3rd and when i had my 4th one i was actually back to my normal (healthy) weight one month after having him and still had to same results (actually worse as u read).

hopefully somebody else had different results and you can successfully do it with the next one, this was just my experience.

It could be a medical problem as to why, but it could be stress too. I myself have had 4 babies and each one was different when it came to breast feeding. My first feed wonderfully, my second couldnt latch on to save my life (including the bottle!), my third I lost my supply on, and my fourth I gave up trying on and just bottlefed (mind you, it was a lactation consultant that made up my mind on not trying! lol she made me mad!) Anyways, there is no answer to what will happen with your next baby, but the important part is dont let anyone get to you over your decision. Dont let them say it was bad or dumb to stop (you couldnt help it, you lost your supply, so its silly to say anything else, that is what the consultant said to me). When I lost my supply with my third baby, I became depressed and thought I was a bad mom, which many people reinforced in my mind. Thankfully I have a great doctor who helped me thru it and I couldnt decide if I should try with my fourth, since I had such a time with my last two. To be told it was stupid to not try because of fear of depression made me so mad, I almost picked up that gal and threw her from my room, because the thing I have learn is our health, phyiscally AND mentally is very important. I told my husband right in front of that woman I wasnt going to bother to try. I hope it works out for you the next time, but IF it doesnt, you are still a wonderful mom for trying to give your baby the best you possibly could. Life isnt perfect, and neither is breast feeding.

I am sorry if this sounded like a rant more then advice, but one comment below kind of got me.

Went through similar situation with both my kids, who both latched well... dehydration, weight loss. I completely dried up by the time they were 2mos old. All 3 LCs I consulted could offer no explanation despite all their research and hard work. Bottle feeding made me so depressed and I felt like a complete failure. Even now, it still hurts seeing ads endorsing breastfeeding because so many "put down" bottle feeding as if ALL women choose to use formula. However, I am very happy that you are ok with your situation. Feeding issue aside, a happy mama makes the most difference. So kudos to you!

In recent years I did find out low flow and no milk affected several women in my mom's fam (my nana, a few cousins, and 2 maternal aunts). I have no further evidence suggesting it could be genetic but I would advise you don't forget your experience so you can discuss it with your daughter when she has children. Also I have made my kids (who have noticed different ways moms feed babies) sensitive to the issue by explaining that some moms can and cannot nurse.

Congrats and God bless :)

After my son was born 2 1/2 years ago, I had many, many problems with supply. I tried pumping, supplements, nursing frequently, etc. I also visited a lactation consultant and he was doing everything right, so it was me. I ended up on domperidone which helped a lot and was able to continue breastfeeding, but after a lot of problems. I had a daughter last year and had a completely different experience nursing her. I had plenty of milk. No problems with supply. Still no engorgement, but she gained weight well. So I hope you have the same with your next child. It makes things so much more relaxed. I think it's worth a try, but know that bottle feeding is always an option if it doesn't work out. We can only do our best. Best of luck to you.

I am so happy to here I am not alone. I had my first child 2 years ago at 38 weeks by C section. I had no milk and never got milk. I am due in October with Baby #2 and really dont want to go through the pain and mental games trying to breastfeed put on me. The Lactation consultant was no help she just keep telling me to pump and that the milk would come. I really dont think I want to even try this time to breastfeed and I am getting a lot of negativity from friends . All of them were able to Brest feed with little to no problems and dont understand what I went through. I had to have her on the bottle before even leaving he hospital because she was getting jaundice. And then she did not want the breast at all because she knew there was nothing there . I found I loved the bottle feeding Dad could help and she was not crying from no food and that is all that is matters to me. And now a days there is great formula on the market .

J.,
I would say try again on breast feeding. The reason I say that is because when I had my first daughter, I tried to breast feed and I was not producing enough and she was constantly hungry. I had my second daughter and well I over produced, but it was because I was pregnant with twins. But the problem was, I dried up in 2 weeks as I did not have 2 babies to feed.

You need the right hormones to produce milk, a stressful labor does mess with your hormones, and I would sooner believe being underweight would be a problem than a little overweight. I'm not clear why you switched to exclusive bottle feeding? The nursing is actually what stimulates the hormones that stimulate your body to produce more milk - unless it gives you pain, you could even now let her nurse and see what happens (I'm assuming it's only been a week or two - longer than that really may be too late this time.) Not suggesting you limit the bottle at all - this would be just for relaxing and bonding. Pumping never does produce or stimulate as much milk as "the real thing."

It's ALWAYS worth trying to breastfeed, but if it just doesn't work for you, don't let anyone make you feel bad about it. If we could always control our bodies, no one would ever get sick!

editing because I want to make it VERY clear: You are in no way a failure if your body doesn't produce "enough" milk! That's not under your control! I guess I am questioning whether you actually got good advice, since they couldn't even seem to explain to you what the cause MIGHT be. I was one of the lucky ones - no problems at all - but even I felt uncomfortable when the kids were older and wanted to continue nursing after I was emptied out. If nursing was giving you discomfort, it's a no-brainer that could be your cause right there, and I would never suggest continuing. But if it's only a matter of how much the baby is getting, there is no reason to be exclusive - breast + bottle works just as well!

Oh, and even when I was engorged to the point of pain, there were times when I couldn't pump much, so I wouldn't take that as "proof" you weren't producing either. YOU get to decide whether it's worth it to you or not, not even the little baby scale trumps your choice.