Low milk supply and PCOS

ldrosophila

I am pregnant about 15 weeks and just read an article about women with insulin resistance having a low milk supply and unable to breasfeed. Has anyone with PCOS experienced this? Makes me very fearful I wont be able to provide if I have this baby.

Mommylicous

I couldn't breastfeed. I tried for about 2 months. My daughter was losing weight so her dr asked me to pump and see how much she was getting.. So when I would pump I would never get more than 1/2 an oz every 2 hours. I would have to pump all day just to get a good bottle.. and so I had to supplement with formula.

She was very fussy all the time and spit up a lot.. and her pediatrician told me it was because my hind-milk never came in, so she was getting a lot of the sugary fore-milk, and it was making her sick. So she strongly suggested I stop trying to breastfeed.

I was devastated, I still feel like less of a woman for it, but I'm learning with time that it's something a lot of women struggle with.

But my advice to you is to not worry about it yet! You could have so much milk you don't know what to do with it. Our bodies all do different, crazy things.

xbabymama08x

I wasn't able to breastfeed with either of my children... I did manage to get them the colostrum at the beginning which is the most important but the actual milk just never came. Everyone is different and I feel it is good to try just in case you are able but remember it IS difficult, don't panic if there is a dry period... I went almost 2 weeks with both of mine before I gave up and switched to bottles for fear they would starve. I think part of my issue was both were cesarean births (one an emergency, one planned) so the chemicals released during normal birth that trigger the letdown of milk never came but I also suspect PCOS had a part to play as well. There are breastfeeding coaches (many hospitals offer them free during your stay) and hormones they can place you on to raise the likelihood of breast feeding successfully so it's all worth a try, you may very likely be able to breastfeed just fine! Remember, if you can't, you aren't failing your baby... you can't control what your body will and wont do and even back when breastfeeding was the only option many people hired other women to breastfeed for them due to their own inability. Now there are so many state of the art bottles and formulas there is absolutely no reason to feel guilty if you cannot physically breastfeed. You will be a great momma and provide for your baby whether or not you breast or bottle feed so don't stress on this! I wish you the best of luck

Mommylicous

Forgot to add, just like Babymama I also had an emergency C-section. I blamed this for a majority of my milk supply problems.

Nerdybreisawesome

I didn't have enough milk for my son when he was born.

gracetillman

I nursed my first for 8 months. I nursed my second for 12 months. I nursed my third for 26 months. I did not have any supply problems. I did drop a good bit of weight before I got pregnant and then immediately afterward so I wasn't as heavy which tends to make my PCOS symptoms decrease.

I also drank a TON of water -- more than 100 oz per day while I was nursing.

gingabebe

I breastfed both of my boys, one for 12 months and the other nearly 3 years. The 12 month one weaned himself, he has always been very independent! I had both natural (1 came very close to being c-section, but I dilated 5 cm in minutes and had to push in the operating room) so perhaps that helps with the milk production? I am not gonna lie, the first one was pure torture on my boobs, he wanted to nurse all the time and was not latching on properly and it got to be very, very painful. I was extremely lucky in that my insurance paid for an in home consultant nurse who came and showed me the ropes so to speak. So I stress to you proper latching on and the football hold. I am so glad I was able to continue on as so many mommas cannot due to milk production & other reasons. Good luck and here's to hoping your (milk) cup runneth over!

MeepleMuppet

Huh. I had a low milk supply but never equated it to PCOS. I should have figured. My daughter was premature and never really learned to latch on. I pumped constantly to keep any sort of supply and then supplemented with formula. I drank a ton of water and tried photos and sounds of the baby crying, but has the most success with the More Milk Plus tincture. It really did increase my supply considerably. Interesting side note on that: we don't drink (hubby's recovering) and tinctures have a very high alcohol content. MotherLove does have an alcohol free variety but it was noticeably less effective.

Cloudsweeper

It is doable. All my kids had a slow weight gain but it is doable. And I know how stressful it can be. I just had a baby in July and this time around, I took Domperidone, Blessed Thistle, and Fennugreek and it TOTALLY is working....no supplimentation this time. See a lactation consultant -- she saved my nursing journey this time. We were doing switch feeding (each breast 2 times a feed) which allowed for more let down and which helped my 3 week old baby start gaining. She gained 11oz in a week. Check out Jack Newman's article about domeridone.....very informative.

MeepleMuppet

Fenugreek! I forgot about that. I hear it's very effective and an ingredient in lots of the best milk boosters. Avoid if you have thyroid problems though. After giving birth I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and while none of the doctors involved really knew anything about the relationship between fenugreek and the thyroid, they suggested that I just avoided it until the 'ectomy.

KimmeeMee

I experienced it- plus cysts forming in my breasts and compressing my milk ducts- with my first child. I was prepared to do anything I could to make it work if we could ever get pregnant again.

After 5 years TTC, we got our daughter and I promised myself to work through nursing rather than quitting. My daughter is now about to be 11 months old, she is still breastfeeding, and we have had a drop in my supply four times this year. Each time it happened, I just increased my intake of Red Raspberry Leaf (which is good for PCOS anyway, as well as production), I pumped for an extra 15 minutes on each breast after she nursed (so that it would tell my brain "Hey, not enough, make some more!" and I would up the amount of oats in my diet. It always took 3-4 days, but my supply would bump right back up!

YOU CAN DO IT!

ranganayakee

Turns out that some who have PCOS have no problems with milk supply and some have. I happen to be one of those unlucky ones. I am from Canada and I worked with a lactation consultant on improving my milk supply. It is hard work as I had to pump for 15 minutes as soon as I fed my daughter and also be on a dose of Metformin and Domperidone (Motilium) 10 mg * 4 3 times a day. I fed my daughter for the first 8 months and then switched to formula/homo.

Forgot to add that mother's tea, oats etc did not work and it was Motilium Metformin combo that did the trick.