Lynette writes:

>I saw this dyad again today, which is Day 12 postpartum, and the 
>baby has gained well on mostly formula over the last week -- she 
>went from 4 lb 15 oz to 5 lb 6 oz in the last 8 days (birthweight 
>was 5 lb 4 oz).  Mom has been breastfeeding first, with breast 
>compressions, and then bottle-feeding about 1.5-2 oz around the 
>clock every 3 hours.


There's no mystery why this mother is not producing much breastmilk - 
if the formula supplementation has been going on since the beginning, 
her milk supply hasn't had a chance....

This baby is getting  *a lot* of formula....up to 16 ounces a day. 
For a baby of this weight this is a massive amount.....there's no 
room for much breastmilk here!!

If she's been doing this for a week, I would be very surprised if she 
had more than a trickle of breastmilk.

Many mothers do manage to maintain some sort of breastmilk supply 
despite this amount of supplementation, but a good proprtion don't.

With frequent experessing and effective,  frequent feeding (and the 
at-the-breast supplementer you are helping her with) , it may be 
possible to save the breastmilk supply.

This is, IMHO, more important than herbs, though they won't hurt.

I don't understand what a prolactin check would do, sorry; a thyroid 
check might rule out an underlying disorder, but I still think the 
main cause of her lack of milk is plain ol' simple lack of effective 
breastfeeding and those huge amounts of supplementation.

:(

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc, tutor, UK

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