Something i dont understand about breastfeeding?

Question

something i dont understand about breastfeeding is:
Is that my pediatrician says that its a feed on demand
process, she said if you feed every 3 hrs or in some cases you
have to pump she said your milk will regulate for your baby.. BUT WHAT I DONT UNDERSTAND is i have asked several of my friends if they breastfeed and they all said their milk dried up past a couple of weeks how is that possible if your milk regulates when u feed??

Answer 1

Milk does not dry up after a couple of weeks. No disrespect to your friends, but they were very uninformed. What happened what they probably started supplementing formula which is the death kiss for breastfeeding. A lot of mothers do not trust their bodies to produce enough milk and start giving formula just to make sure babies have enough to eat- this then signals the body to not produce as much milk and then women do have a problem when there previously was not any problem at all. But milk does just not go away. I have had friends that have never breastfed even one feeding and will still be complaining of leaking some milk for six months post-partum. Our bodies do everything to ensure that we have enough milk to feed our babies, unfortunately some well meaning mothers sabotage their own milk supply. It is extremely rare for a mother to not produce enough milk for their babies, the fact that several of your friends say their milk dried up all by itself should be a clue that there were other factors involved.

Answer 2

The more your baby drinks, the more your body will make. The less your baby drinks, the less your body will make. If you keep on breastfeeding your milk will not dry up. Some people breastfeed for a few years. If your friends milk dried thats because they stopped breastfeeding or maybe something else medically wrong. When you first start breastfeeding your body makes a lot of milk. But, it will calm down once your body figures out how much to make...which is decided by how much you feed.

Answer 3

Breast feeding is a process and you'll need to feed your baby more often when breast feeding than regular adults would eat. About every 2-3 hours or when the baby is hungry and it will take from 15 to 30 minutes or so. You have to make sure you're eatting enough good food and drinking liquids to produce the milk your baby needs. If you do not or cannot feed your baby on schedule, that's when you'll need to pump your breast and collect the milk, otherwise you will swell up and you can get very uncomfortable and sick from it. After about 3-6 weeks, your body will only make enough milk to feed the baby. As the baby grows, the breast will make more and then when you baby starts to eat cereat at 4 months, it will begin to make less.

Answer 4

The milk doesn't regulate how often you feed, the baby does. Its the stimulation of the baby sucking at the nipple that encourages more milk to be produced, because it stimulates the lactating hormones. So the more often the baby feeds (and how much the baby takes) will indicate to the body how much to produce.
That's why there might only be a few ounces ( 30 - 60 mls) when new-born, but can go up to 12 - 14 ozs (375 - 500mls) later on.

Answer 5

I don't want to offend anyone because I"m sure that several women really don't produce enough milk, but sometimes I wonder if that is just an acceptable excuse to stop.

I polled every woman I ran into when I was pregnant and nursing to see if they did and how long and every single one of them that stopped said it was because they didn't produce enough. The only person that didn't say that was my cousin and she just flat out said she didn't like it and it made her miserable.

Unfortunately I think a lot of woman just don't like it, have a hard time with it, find it inconvenient, or painful but none of those excuses are acceptable and woman will criticize those that don't breastfeed and make them feel like they are bad mothers and so that's the excuse used.

That's why I always felt so horrible about wanting to stop because I had an over abundance of milk which made it hard for my daughter to latch and I was in constant pain but I didn't think that was a good enough reason to stop.

I say do whatever works for you and your family, because what works for one woman and her family doesn't always work the same for another.

Answer 6

Some people never have a good milk supply.

If, during the first 6 weeks, you are feeding at least 8x/day, an average of every 3 hours, you have a good shot at having a good supply.

In my case, I had to pump, since my baby never latched.

But it's also possible that your friends gave up too early and/or they introduced formula instead of trying to get a full milk supply established. That is EXTREMELY common!

Answer 7

you have to be consistant. If the baby misses a feeding then you pump. you should never go past 3 hours without pumping or feeding the baby or your supply will drop. It also depends on the mother...not all people are able to breastfeed..their bodies just don't produce enough milk. ME I was a jersey cow. I feed my babies (I have had 4 children) every 2 hours on average until they got older. The longest I breastfeed was 16 months..the shortest 5 months.

Answer 8

they were not taking care of thier nutritional needs and missed feedings.

The whole process is this........

when your child nurses, the baby removes x amt of milk. a mother's body knows how much has been consumed and your body makes sure that the same amount needed by the baby will be there for the next time the baby needs to nurse.

after a bit of time it is like clockwork.

so when a feeding is missed, you may become engourged. (or you may be close to a feeding and a baby in a store cries and you start to leak!)BUT your body, because you have missed nursing, thinks that there is no need for the milk - especially if the mom has missed a couple/few feedings.

this whole process is amazing to me and always will be.

i need to tell you that if you have healthy habits, nursing is a very good thing for you and your baby.

But whatever you put into your body from coca cola to smoking to chocolate to diet pills to broccoli to beer, etc. will effect your milk.

the mother cannot have a couple beers, then skip nursing for the baby's benefit, then nurse again without the baby injesting whatever the mom consumed prior to the missed feeding-it will be in the milk.

the best thing to do is to refrain from unhealthy habits when nursing. the other option is to express your milk and throw it away after a nite on the town or digging into the box of chocolates, etc.

Answer 9

It could well be that your friends supplemented with bottles, and that will dry you up fast. It's rare that a woman doesn't produce enough and just "dries up". Women who supplement with a bottle have serious reduction in milk production.

The more the baby nurses, the more milk your body will manufacture. It's a supply and demand thing. If the baby makes big demands, your body will ramp up the manufacturing process and supply more till it meets the baby's needs. That's just how nature works.

With my first son I went back to work when he was 6-7 weeks old and then at 8 weeks he just refused to nurse. I had expressed my milk at work, but the bottles at the nursery had such large holes, the bottles were MUCH easier to drink from and he got lazy and refused to nurse and I had to dry up in 24 hours in spite of having a good milk flow and milk volume. It was painful.

I nursed my second son 11 1/2 months and enjoyed it greatly.

Answer 10

I have friends who have told me very similar stories and, honestly, I call B.S. I think there are quite a few moms who give breastfeeding a try and then decide that formula is easier because they don't feel tied down to the baby.

If you are feeding your baby on demand and/or nursing/pumping every few hours, your body will receive the cues to produce more milk. It's highly unlikely that your milk will just dry up.