Breastfeeding Vs Formula Feeding - Please Help

[yoshiesque]

Hi everyone,

my sister recently gave birth to a baby girl. Now she has told me that she cannot breastfeed much so they have used a formula feed instead. Apparently its common and many mothers do this now.

The nutrient profile in breast milk is like 100x greater than the formula feed. Is there a way to increase breast milk production? A friend was saying how he learnt in university that its due to hormonal inbalances and fixing that up can correct it. But he cant remember much of that.

Any help would be great, I am worried about the babys health. I mean it seems like people are doing this with no problems, but theres just so much nutrients that the baby misses out on so I dont know for sure. thank you!

 

[sweetpeat]

Congratulations on you new little niece! Sorry to hear about your sister's troubles though.

I recently learned that having trouble with breastfeeding is a classic sign of hypothyroidism. I had this issue myself, but didn't know what caused it at the time. Apparently, many women develop hypothyroidism after giving birth due to the hormonal upheaval. And breastfeeding requires a lot of energy.

Here is an article about the issue from La Leche League:
http://www.llli.org/ba/feb06.html

If you have any influence with her, it would be good to encourage her to eat more Peaty to increase metabolism. Maybe get her thyroid status evaluated to see how bad it is and if supplementing thyroid would help (if she's open to that). If there is a local chapter of La Leche League nearby, they can show her how to supplement with formula while continuing to breastfeed in a way that won't dry up her milk production. It's a lot of work though. It will help to have a supportive family. You are a good brother to care so much!

 

[dd99]

Is it a lack of milk issue or a latching issue? Often, they can be related. As I understand it, the more demand there is for milk, the more the mother will generate. If the baby has a bad latch (extremely common now that breast feeding isn't as supported or encouraged as it should be anymore), she could get a breast feeding expert to help.

Our son had a bad latch from tongue tie. As recently as thirty years ago, midwives would swipe with their nails under a baby's tongue immediately after birth to free up the tongue for feeding. The prevalence of speech impediments these days is apparently because this is now predominantly untreated. We went through a couple of months of bad feeding and my wife almost gave up several times. We saw a breast feeding expert who said he had tongue tie. We went for a procedure that took 10 seconds and overnight - I kid you not! -ehe fed perfectly. My wife started making even more milk to keep up with demand and happily breast fed him for a year.

Hope it helps. Good luck to your sister and her daughter.

 

[ampersand]

Mammary hypoplasia could also potentially be an issue, if this is her first child or she has never been able to breastfeed before...
http://www.llli.org/llleaderweb/lv/lviss2-3-2009p4.html

There is at least one case where supplementation of progesterone possibly enabled a woman to overcome hypoplasia and grow breast glandular tissue so that she was able to breastfeed her second child, however I don't think progesterone is recommended DURING breastfeeding because it suppresses lactation.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10776184

 

[tara]

Congratulations!
I agree that breastfeeding is better, but most formula-fed babies do pretty well too, so its not the end of the world is she can't.

I like what dd99 said.

I'm not an expert, but depending on what the problem is that is limiting milk production, there may be things that would help.

Normally, more sucking causes more milk production. But this takes spending a lot of time allowing the sucking - it can't be rushed in short feeds. Can she get help from a lactation support person to help with latching etc? If latching is the problem, there are devices that can make it easier for baby.

Making sure mum is getting well nourished and well rested can help.
Is she eating over 3000 cals a day?
Maybe you could take baby out for a walk, or help with housework, or bring the odd meal now and then to reduce the load/let her rest more etc?
If it is pain, then lanolin can be very effective for healing and protecting nipples.

Good luck to them. :)

 

[dd99]

From Functional Performance Systems via Emma Kakos' website (http://www.thenutritioncoach.com.au):

Pregnancy and nursing increase all nutritional requirements, with the possible exception of vitamin D, copper and iron. Calorie intake should increase slightly in pregnancy, and considerably in nursing. Zinc, folic acid, B12, and probably B6, and vitamin E, requirements are increased more by pregnancy than by nursing, while protein, other B vitamins, calcium, iodine, and probably magnesium, vitamin A, and possibly fats, are needed in larger amounts for nursing.

 

[marsaday]

We have just had this problem. She fed for the first two weeks fine, but then couldn't get enough milk and cried so very hard. We had to go over to bottle.

Personally i don't think it is a big problem. My daughter is very active at 16 months and is developing normally.

 

[MommaBear]

I know this is an old post but wanted to chime in a bit.
Mums never produce enough milk when babies go thru their growth spurts which is why they nurse more and seem hungry until they nurse enough to stimulate more production. Many stop nursing believing they don't make enough milk (it took me a few times to finally figure this one out) and give up easily especially with the stress of life and convenience of formula. I found pumps decreased my production too.