Why cant some women breastfeed?

[MantaRay]

Interesting question Kelly. I wonder the same thing. We are told that 95% of women are able to bf, yet I have heard so many stories of women saying they didn't have enough milk. IRL many of my friends are in this group, and of course there are heaps here on BB too.

A bit off topic, but I saw a GP the other day who I hadn't seen before, and the topic came up about Jack's tongue-tie and how he couldn't attach until it was snipped. The GP told me that he was no expert in bfing, but that he had been told by LCs that a tongue-tie did not prevent attachment. My experience says otherwise, and I'm sure it depends on the degree of the tongue-tie. But if the LCs don't know, what hope is there for everyone else.

[Mikenzees mum]

Interesting question Kelly. I wonder the same thing. We are told that 95% of women are able to bf, yet I have heard so many stories of women saying they didn't have enough milk. IRL many of my friends are in this group, and of course there are heaps here on BB too.

A bit off topic, but I saw a GP the other day who I hadn't seen before, and the topic came up about Jack's tongue-tie and how he couldn't attach until it was snipped. The GP told me that he was no expert in bfing, but that he had been told by LCs that a tongue-tie did not prevent attachment. My experience says otherwise, and I'm sure it depends on the degree of the tongue-tie. But if the LCs don't know, what hope is there for everyone else.

With the tingue ie i completly agree at does depend on the severity of the tongue tie kenzees was really tight she actulay looked like she had no tongue it didnt lift up at all and she couldnt suck on breat or botle

[MelH]

Melanie, just wanted to say that it sounds like I had much the same experience as you. DS had tongue-tie. Pead and midwives said it wouldn't effect breast feeding and the pead wouldn't snip it either. It isn't the done thing now (2003) as it isn't required - according to him. I believed them and perservered with breast feeding for 6 weeks. DS seemed to latch on ok and would feed for an hour and come off screaming for more. I hired a private lactation consultant since my hospital couldn't see me for two weeks to help. She confirmed I was doing everything correctly and gave me tips to build my milk supply. I started feeding 2 hourly and expressing inbetween. My milk did seem to increase somewhat but DS just didn't seem to be able to get it. This lead to mastitis and having to massage out lumps after every feed. I also tried the ABA - who I think I had bad luck with. I got someone on the phone who was incredibly rude and nasty to me and basically told me I was being a bad mother. I ended up just hanging up in tears and didn't try them again.

DS started losing weight and was very unhappy and had a very unhappy Mummy. At no point was I encouraged to give formula (quite the opposite) but I truely believe the tongue-tie impacted the feeding and therefore my supply of milk. I also had nipple blanching which when I rang the ABA they had never heard of and my private LC had also never heard of. I was in constant pain between the feeds due to this and dreaded the next feed knowing it would start again. Maybe this was due to DS not attaching properly due to tongue-tie. I never really found out. The LC also measured DS before and after a feed to try and determine if he was getting milk - and he wasn't.

After six weeks I made the decision to give formula feeds. It was a decision I did not take lightly and I cried for days. I still breast fed twice a day until DS stopped at 5 months. I always hoped he got something from those feeds. At 3 months we found a pead who snipped the tongue tie for us. I guess I will never know the exact problem and neither did any of the many people I went to for help. I have since had comments such as "you didn't try hard enough", etc. Maybe not. I did everything I could do at the time and chose my sanity and a happy baby instead. Had there been signs of improvement I might have also perservered but something just wasn't right and no-one could help. It has taken me 3 years to come to peace with my decision but looking back seeing what a happy thriving baby I got once he wasn't hungry I think I made the best decision for us and I would do the same again.

In a couple of weeks time I will try my best to feed this next baby and see what happens. I think there is definately a lack of support and lots of contradicting information given to new Mums. I couldn't get any free support at all after leaving the hospital. Luckily we could afford a private LC which was not cheap (we were living on Sydney's lower north shore at the time). Even then she was not able to answer many of my questions and her advice was much the same as I had been able to find on the Internet myself. Anyway, that is my story and I have my fingers crossed I don't have a repeat of it. I will seek help again next time if I have problems and I will try for a period of time. I won't let it take over my life though and impact on me being able to enjoy my baby and have time with DS.

[bon]

I wasn't offended - sorry I came on a bit strong. I was just trying to make the point that, with me, there was the physical side of it (milk not coming in - as confirmed by LC) and also the emotional side. I didn't mean to come across as defensive, but I guess I did!