Biologically when the placenta is delivered, it’s supposed to trigger hormones that stimulate milk production. Yet so many moms who want to breastfeed end up on formula within a week of birth because “their milk never came in”. While I don’t doubt that this can happen on occasion, why is it happening to so many people?
I have a theory myself but wondering if anyone knows more of the science behind why this is so common.
In: Biology
My milk didn’t come in for a full week because I was in extreme pain after a c-section with no opiates after and being given the wrong type of painkiller (not Tylenol, which I requested instead of opiates, but an NSAID, which is NOT ok to give to someone with Gi disease and it destroyed my insides). After a week with no milk my baby was too sleepy and weak to do the work that BF demands. I was extremely determined and had intense assistance from La Leche League but in the end the only reason it worked was because I set a timer for every 2 hours for more than 3 hours around the clock, woke him up with a very cold washcloth and put him on the breast, pumped to keep production up, put milk on his mouth, into his mouth, did hours of skin to skin and sitting in a warm bath – many women just cannot deal with something like this, especially while in tremendous post-operative pain and without a supportive partner. I think if I hadn’t found out they were giving me an NSAID and stopped it so my pain stopped I might not have gotten any milk to come in at all.
Because I no longer have a colon or rectum I suffer from chronic dehydration pretty much all the time and BF exacerbated that immensely. I had to drink a quart of gatorade every day or I wouldn’t make enough milk.
Finally, a very, very large majority of women are not informed properly about how BF works and how to tell if baby is getting enough, which should ONLY be measured by the number of poopy and wet diapers and regular weight checks at the peds and not because baby is “squirming” or screaming constantly or “seems hungry.” Babies cry freaking CONSTANTLY and their GI systems are brand new, everything that goes into their stomach is upsetting especially depending on what the mother consumes. They also know when to stop as they are full when nursing and not with a bottle so it looks like baby “barely nurses” when on the breast but sucks down a whole bottle of formula so “must be starving” when it’s simply one is quicker, easier, and sweeter to get and the other is hard work so they know if they scream and hold out for it they’ll get the quicker/easier one. FED IS BEST there is nothing wrong with formula, but breastfeeding is very, very difficult for many women with various challenges like the ones I had.
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