You
CAN still have a beautiful, breastfeeding
relationship
with your baby!
My
name is Tara
and I'm a breastfeeding mother with a low breast milk supply. I'm on a mission to tell people that even if
you have done everything right you still might not produce enough
breast milk for your
baby. However, you CAN have a
beautiful, breastfeeding relationship, so don't give up.
Well
meaning professional breastfeeding
consultants, Laleche Leaders and other
health care
professionals all encouraged me to keep nursing 24-7 after my little
girl was born. It's called the supply and
demand
theory. The more you nurse the more you
make. They convinced me there was enough
milk or that there would be soon. But in
my case, there wasn't enough milk nor would there be without herbal
and pharmacological intervention.
I
wasn't
convinced that I truly had a low milk supply, until I went to a
professional
breastfeeding consultant who weighed my baby after every feeding for an
entire
day. They shared with me that despite
all my efforts of constant nursing, I didn't have enough milk to
sustain my
baby. It broke my heart.
I
see two kinds
of people reading this site. The first
are mothers and laleche members who
haven't had a
problem nursing and are convinced that us low milk supply women have
done
something wrong. They say in their head,
Well, if she would just take the baby to bed for a 48 hour marathon
nursing,
their milk supply would have come in.
Or, Perhaps it's because of a
latching
problem. UGH!!! Truly,
some do have low milk supply even
though the baby latched well, and even though you fought the hospital
and WON, and
even though you nursed and pumped continually. There
are many reasons why women like us, no matter what we do, our
milk is just not enough.
The second kinds
of people are those who are new breastfeeding moms scarred that their
baby
isn't getting enough to eat. I am not a
professional breastfeeding consultant in any way, however, if you have
any
doubt that your baby might not be getting enough to eat breastfeeding,
please see a professional lactation consultant right away. There is
only one
way to be sure if your baby is getting enough milk from you or not. That is to weigh your baby before and after
every breastfeeding. No other method
measures what your baby is getting from you.
Counting diapers is too subjective. I did that. Even
if you pumped and measured your milk production, it may be that
your pump is more effective at getting milk from you than your baby or
vice
versa. A digital baby scale is essential
if there is any concern about the amount of milk your baby is getting.
If you have
discovered that you, also, are a fellow low milk supplier, I'm here to
encourage you that you CAN STILL HAVE A BEAUTIFUL, breastfeeding
relationship
with your child. Even if you have to
break down and supplement with what I call a protein shakes (formula
just sounds so unnatural)
you can still have that connection with your baby that only a mother
can have. This picture up on top is of me and my
little girl breastfeeding successfully at six months and we're still
going strong today so don't give up! If I can do it so can
you!
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