Problems with breastfeeding

My son is now 4 weeks old.  I am not making enough milk.  I have been seeing a lactation consultant and they seem to think that it was my surgery that is hindering this.  They said that based on their expreience, women who have had gastric bypass either don't make enough milk or the quality of the milk is not good.  (Due to nutritional reasons with the mom)  My son also had jaundice and I was instructed to stop nursing until it was cleared up.  It took about a week.  In that week, I did pump but I still did not get good results.  It seems that I am only producing about a 1/2 oz to an oz every 3 hours.  I have been giving him formula still after being nursed because I just don't have enough for him.  I have been taking Fenugreek for over a week and started Reglan about 3 days ago.  (Reglan is proven to make lactating moms produce more)  I also just got a hospital grade pump and still I am not seeing any improvement.  Can anyone here lend any advice or share their expreinences?  Did anyone out there have the same problem?  Is there any truth to a low milk supply related to the surgery? 

I cannot believe they had you stop nursing when he was jaundice! That alone probably got you off to a bad start, especially if you didn't have a good pump. I was encouraged to nurse often with my son who was jaundice.

This will be my first baby post-surgery, but I don't think that having had gastric bypass should affect your milk. I have seen several women comment that they haven't had a problem with milk production. My sister used Fenugreek and it worked well for her. I think each person is different though.

My only other advice is to nurse on demand and to trust your instincts. That was probably the best advice my mom gave me!

Melanie

The doctor said that breastfeeding can actually cause jaundice so that's why I stopped.  It did work.  In the beginning, I still nursed him and his level kept going up.  I stopped and gave him formula and it went down.  So maybe there is some truth to that.

That is very interesting.  I had never heard of that, so I had to look it up. This is an article that I found: http://www.drgreene.com/21_100.html. Wow!

I had a hard time breastfeeding my son. He was jaundice so it was hard to get him to wake up just to feed him. Plus I had a hard labor and ended up with a c-section so I had IV's in both arms. Then he wouldn't latch correctly. I ended up renting a breast pump from the hospital to get my milk going and that helped quite a bit.

It was really important to me to breastfeed too. I think I had seen so many woman growing up breastfeeding their babies like it was no big deal, that I had no idea it could actually be difficult! It was probably the hardest part of having a baby those first couple of months, but I ended up breastfeeding him for a year. 

Melanie

I had the SAME exact issues...plus I was inverted.  (so they say)  I was so depressed!!!!  I finally stopped after 3 weeks because it was just to hard to juggle nursing, supplimenting, and pumping plus having a 3 year old at the time.  I was only 4 months post-op when I got pregnant though so it could have been my problem that I just didn't have good enough nutrition in myself to produce well for my son.  My surgeon wanted me down to 600 calories a day after I had him!!!  I'm hoping to have better luck this time since I'm eating much more these days.

My son lost a pound in a week and I was starving him so I just stopped.  I cried about it forever but eventually I got over it.  Hope you can get some good results soon!  I've also read that Goat's Rue is good for moms that don't produce enough also/PCOS moms.  I think I'll be trying it!

Sandy

I have been kinda down about this too.  I didn't think it would be so important to me but it is.  I mean, it is my job to do this right?  Only I can provide mother's milk to him but it looks like I can't do that either. It is really hard do all this and this is just my first baby.  I am only giving it this month and if I can't make a go of it, I am done.  I think it was the doctor telling me to stop since he had jaundice that caused my problem.  After all, everything happens with the milk very early on.  Guess we will wait and see.

my cousin had RNY and went on to have 2 more babies AND nurse them each for a year with NO PROBLEMS.   I think it's bull what they told you.   My bariatric doctor said that there isn't that much malabsorption with the RNY (not as much as with the DS) to affect me having a baby or nursing and I should be fine to nurse the baby afterwards with no problems.    When you were instructed to not nurse for that week (and pump) and the baby wasn't physically sucking on you, that might've messed things up.   I'm sorry but I've pumped before and that is a poor comparison to your baby actually nursing off of you.   I think the baby can get a lot more out.   My daughter had jaundice too and I kept nursing her for a week and she eventually got over it.  I just put her on the bed in the sunlight to expose her to the sun (the pediatrician said to do this), which helps a lot with jaundice and helps the baby produce more vitamin D. 

personally, I think that some women just sometimes have a hard time making milk after their baby is born than others.  Some are a milk factory and make way too much, some make just enough, and some need help from outside sources to up their supply.   I don't think it has anything to do with the RNY.  JMO

I doubt that it's from the surgery. Women in 3rd world countries who have pitiful nutrititional intake are able to successfully breastfeed their children for years. Do you have a history of PCOS? If you do, it may be due to that, rather than the surgery. Some women with PCOS do not develop enough milk-producing glands during puberty, and will never produce enough milk even with supplements and medication. That happened to me. I tried for a month to get my milk to come in when my son was born. I had a hospital grade pump, and pumped every 2 hours. Took the tea, fenugreek, and all that jazz. I never produced more than 2 teaspoons total.

Some women just take longer to get production up to speed, I know I had a really hard time at the beginning! Don't give up on it yet. I supplemented with formula whenever he was still hungry after breastfeeding and we gradually needed less and less as my production picked up. You can't really judge how much you're making based on what you pump, some women just don't get much out with a pump but the baby is able to get out a lot more. I thought for sure I would give up after just a few weeks, but now I'm almost always able to feed him 100% breast milk.

I'm really sorry you are struggling to nurse. I don't have any advice but did want to comment that the LC is wrong about breastfeeding after surgery. I have nursed 2 children post op, my daughter for 18 months and I am still nursing my 21 month old son. I eat much healthier as a post op and take my vitamins and feel that my children are much healthier due to nursing then they would have been on formula.

It isn't too late for you since your baby is only 4 weeks old. I think that if I were you I would do a "sit in" if you can. That is where you stay in bed with your baby drinking 120 oz or more a day of water and nurse constantly. NOT a drop of formula but nurse every time he makes a peep. If you do give formula only after a long nursing session and make sure you pump while he is drinking it.

Babies will prefer the bottle and formula because it is so much easier for them to get out. Best of luck to you, I can see that it is important to you. If you never produce enough keep in mind that even a few ounces of breast milk a day will make him happy and will save you money!