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 protein shakes (formula just sounds so unnatural) you can still have that connection with your baby that only a mother can have. If I can do it so can you!
