Low Milk Supply and Poor Latch

Healthy nursing tea was the great help to me when my supply suddenly vanished due to excessive bleeding and admitted in the hospital.

don't know where you live but if you are anywhere near glenside the breastfeeding resource center is a great support system and the have support groups that may help you. www.breastfeedingresourcecenter.org good luck

Hi C.! i had problems with my baby latching too...I had 5 different people helping me all with different suggestions...the good thing was that I got so many good ideas to try. She eventually started latching better with the Medela Contact Nipple Shield (http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2901997) once she got the hang of it i weaned her off of it and now she's a latching pro...now i'm having problems getting her to take a bottle =( . Don't know if that helped...you can always check with your LC...here's another resource (A doula). She was helpful for me with issues with breastfeeding, getting baby to sleep, getting some sanity, etc. Her name is Margee: ____@____.com

My best advice is to get into a group. There is one that meets at Pennsylvania Hospital on Mondays at 1230. It is run by a lactation consultant from the hospital and it helps to see that you are not alone in this fight to figure things out. Breastfeeding is natural, but it does not come naturally! It has to be learned by both you and your baby! The best way to do that is to be with other moms and watch, learn, and talk about what is going on, what works, and what does not. If you need more info about where the group meets, feel free to contact me!

Dear C.,

I am so sorry that you are having such a hard time with this. I understand completely. I want you to know that you are not alone and that I am going through the same thing right now.

I gave birth on May 16th, my daughter was 10 days "early". She lost weight (as all breastfed babies do at first) and then she wasn't gaining fast enough for the hospital staff, even tho she didn't lose more than 10%. She was also struggling with being jaundiced and they insisted I supplement with formula because she wasn't getting enough breastmilk from me. My milk came in on the third or fourth day, but my daughter was a very sleepy baby because of the medicines from the Cesarean and recovery from the Cesarean (I had hoped for a natural birth).

Anyway... my daughter had the same problems where she wouldn't open her mouth wide enough and would only get anywhere from .3 - 2.3 ounces from me per feeding (we rented a baby weigh scale so that we wouldn't have to keep visited CHOP every two days).

I have met with LC after LC who all told me the latch was wonderful and that I was a pro (but he latch was terrible!) - it has really made me question the quality of LCs at most places.

FIRST - I highly, HIGHLY recommend visiting this site:

http://www.thebirthden.com/Newman.html

Read the text file titled "When Latching" - it helped me A LOT. Also, the videos show what a good latch is supposed to look like, and how to achieve it. Definitely read the articles and watch the videos. They helped me to fix my daughter's latch, and helped me to know that she had a poor latch in the first place (contrary to what all the LCs said).

SECOND - Take a "nursing vacation". It is called a nursing vacation because you have to have someone who can help you by doing your housework and stuff while you lay in bed for 2-3 days doing nothing but breastfeeding your child.

Lay in bed with her, naked, getting all the skin-to-skin contact that you can. Sleep with her, nurse her in bed, hold her in bed. EVERY TIME SHE CRIES, FEED HER (after you change her, that is). Feed her on demand. Put away and/or hide all pumps, bottles, formula, nipples, supplementers, etc. Hide anything that reminds you of pumping and not being able to breastfeed and enjoy your child for the entire time. This works to up your supply and help you concentrate on fixing her latch without any distractions. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP in upping your supply and re-establishing your nursing relationship with your child.

THIRD: Try the "sandwich hold". Squeeze your areola so that the nipple fits in her mouth more easily.

FOURTH: Might I suggest buying a "My Brest Friend"? It is wonderful, and will allow you to have both your hands free to work on her latch, instead of having to worry about balancing issues that occur with using your lap or a boppy.

FIFTH: DEFINITELY join a LLL group, or some sort of lactation-mommy group. If nothing else, it just helps to have people to talk to and for support, rather than fighting this on your own, like I have. I dealt with a lot of depression because of not being able to exclusively breastfeed my daughter as I wanted to.

I'm still working on it, and as of now, am (like you) going on four months of pumping, feeding, and supplementing.

I hope this all helps! Good luck, mama! *hugs*

My sister in law had very similiar issues and she just ended up pumping her milk. My nephew wasn't able to latch on so instead of frustrating herself and him, she opted to just pump. Don't get frustrated you are trying your best and that's all you can do. Hang in there you will do the right thing!! It's a very emotional thing you are experiencing, just be patient and don't get frustrated, just trust your instincts!

C.-

I went through the exact same thing with my children (who are 10, 8 and 4 now!) With my first, also born in August, he wouldn't latch and it took 3 weeks and a lot of pumping and persistence and many lactation consultants for us to finally get it! The thing that worked for me, finally, was to relax, with no one else around and try the side to side position in bed, i.e, you are lying down on your side and the baby is also on her side facing you and your breast is supported by the mattress. The lactation consultant guided me through this and finally my oldest son latched on for like 45 minutes and once he got it, it got easier. Best of luck - keep trying and also realize, if it's stressing you and baby too much, it is OK, to try to bottle feed with breast milk or formula. I also got myself very stressed out over this and I ended up bottle feeding my middle child with formula b/c I didn't want to go through the stress again. Good luck!

C.,

I don't know where you live or who your LCs have been, but I would get an appointment with Debi Ferrarello RN, MS, IBCLC,
Phone: ###-###-####. She is amazing. It took 5 days for my milk supply to come in w/my 1st child. Debi had been highly recommended to me but was out of town, so I used someone else, who was fine. Then I had even more problems with my 2nd child and went right to Debi; it took 9 weeks for my supply to come in adequately. It was a very depressing time for me, as I had enjoyed BFing so much with my 1st. I tried everything with #2, and was about to try hypnosis (!) when my milk finally started to flow. Debi was amazing, SO there for me.

I also highly recommend your local Nursing Moms' association. The organization, and my advisors each time, were terrific and so helpful. http://www.nursingmoms.net/. The website lists the local chapters as: Abington Area (which is where I went), Doylestown Area, Mt. Airy/Chestnut Hill Area, and Warwick/Warminster Area. The site states: Trained counselors from each chapter offer telephone support to breastfeeding moms. If you live in one of the areas that we cover and would like a breastfeeding counselor assigned to you, please contact us." There is a lot of info on the site as well, including a helpline.

Good luck! It sounds like you have been through the mill. BFing is such a wonderful experience, for both you and your child, and I hope it all works out for the two of you. It was a very depressing 9 weeks for me, when I could not get my milk to flow, with child #2. (He then nursed for almost 2 yrs, weaning himself off 3 weeks before his 2nd birthday!)

C. L. My babies are all grown up now but I BF all three. At one point I was feeding two at the same time. You truly have to be relaxed. Have the LC (they may have new ideas to help you) show you how to get her to open her mouth wider to get your whole areola into her mouth. If she is attaching to just your nipple and sucking well, it is just a matter of getting her to open wider. I remember being told to push down on her little chin as she is trying to attach to your breast at the same time pull her in a little so that she latches on good. She needs to latch on so that she can help you keep your supply flowing. I kept the Leleache League book handy for problems that I found when it was too early or late to call just to satify my mind. I wish you lots of luck. Breast feeding your baby is a beautiful thing that is good for her and makes you feel great that you are able to nourish and comfort her. keep trying you will succeed.

C.:
1- Definetely get into a breastfeeding support group. Someone mentioned the one at Pennsylvania Hospital, but there is one inthe Rosemont/Villanova area as well (not sure where you live).You can contact me directly if you want more info. This same group also meets in West philly- both every other wed or thur and it has made a HUGE difference for me. La Leche also has a montly group in Havertown, that is a HUGE resource and help as well.

2- Try using a nipple shield. YOu can get one at almost any place that sells breastfeeding supplies. Babies-r-us has them. If you have not tried, get one today. There have been many many women at the group I go to with the same problem (my 5 month old had the same issue as well). Using the nipple shield gives them something to latch onto.
Good luck. R.

hi C.,
what you're going through sounds familiar!
i have an 11 month old who had a really hard time figuring out the latch and lost a scary 20% of his birth weight too. keeping him awake when he was so lethargic was half the battle. it was hard to identify the problem, and i really think it was a big combination of different things. we had some people recommend formula too, but i managed to get his weight up using a cup and breastmilk and continuing to try to get him to latch.
feels like a full-time job, doesn't it?!
some things that we tried other people have mentioned, but here are a few ideas...
-try gently pulling down on the chin as you bring her mouth to the breast...also trying this while angling the nipple slightly upward, more toward her nose or the roof of her mouth
-try changing the shape of the areola with your hand just before putting it in her mouth, so it goes in farther... try narrowing it, but makes sure your fingers aren't to low close to where she latches or she will feel your fingers and pull off onto just the nipple. that was a problem for us too.
-try switching up the positions used for nursing...something that started us toward really improving was to have him "sit" on my lap facing in and nursing him that way (we only used it a few times at the beginning, but it really helped for some reason). also, nursing with the football hold really helped.
-we never used a nipple shield as i was determined to figure it out without using one, but i've heard that it can really help at the beginning.
-relax relax relax...try spending all day in bed with your little girl... sleeping when she does, bare skin to skin, and offering your breast as often as you can, pumping and cup feeding as often as you need to as well.

please let us know how things are going for you two!