Genuinely curious: when you say your milk didn’t come in, how long did you wait to supplement with formula?

I waited a week with both it never came in. Never came in twonweeks later, either. I just never produced breast milk with either kid. Never had the pain either of milk coming in.

@Carol💗💙 so stressful I’m sorry hon!

I see this often too. Most if not all women have colostrum at birth. Colostrum TRANSITIONS into mature milk between 2-10days PP. But instead of calling it a transition, it’s coined as “milk coming in”. colostrum is 100% milk and nutritious . So I wonder if women know the difference when they say their milk didn’t come in.

@✨Wis 🇭🇹 I know a lot of hospitals push formula. Mine didn’t thankfully and my milk fully came in (not colostrum anymore) day 3 so I was very blessed to not have to wait too long. But I do wonder how many women actually could’ve breastfed if they had someone in their corner telling them that it’s normal

First baby after day 3. Second baby immediately because she had low sugar. I had zero colostrum.

Yess a lot of moms don’t know that colostrum is highly nutritious and baby can survive off of it for 2 weeks. A lot of mom also aren’t told that it’s normal for babies to lose up to 11% of their birth weight and that they can take up to 3weeks to gain it back when breastfed. Often the weight issue is what causes many moms to supplement. They also aren’t told it’s normal for baby to want to nurse all the time, that’s how the baby builds the future supply they need. The issue for moms is a lack of real support and education really.

My milk took about 4 days to come in but I had to supplement on day one because my daughter had a terrible tongue tie and wasn’t getting a good amount. We used formula a couple times a day for the first three days until I could pump to give her breastmilk and get her tongue clipped. Then went on to breastfeed for 16 months. With my second I was getting milk before we left the hospital 24 hours later but I had only been done nursing for 7 months

@✨Wis 🇭🇹 I never even had colostrum I had nothing

@Carol💗💙 yes I saw your comment. It’s seen as rare but it does happen where women don’t have colostrum.

We left it too late and our baby lost 17% of her birth weight in 5 days and she was re admitted to hospital. We were surrounded with toxic positivity about breastfeeding and no one wanted to admit there could be a problem. I was so keen to breastfeed I believed them. We continued to combi feed for a year so it worked out in the end but honestly for us the problem wasn’t being pushed formula, it was being pushed to exclusively breastfeed without properly assessing the risk to our baby.

@✨Wis 🇭🇹 I was told I just didn't try hard enough from family members. My pp was really stressful. I felt like a failure both times. It's rare but like you said possible

I felt like for me, it was almost instant bc of my dumb little sister saying I shouldn't waste my time w breast feeding and just stick to formula bc it was out of convenience. But how I really did not envy her bc of this but instead, I loathed her quite heavily for this. I felt like she robbed me of my first chance to even try to even attempt at becoming the mother I wanted to be to my daughter. I was pushed into an emergency c section and pushed with formula from my hospital, which was Kaiser and if I decide to have another baby in the near future, I am thinking either if I stay w Kaiser, I am going to ask for all the breast feeding help from a lactation consultant bc I didn't even get one. Not that I could even remember. But I was still determined to try. So I ordered my pumping machine, came in the mail and I tried for 3 months without anyone teaching me. I think I was also overwhelmed with all the constant cleaning of the tubing as well and maybe that's why I leaned on formula quite heavily as well.

I wish I stuck w it bc I was actually having a good supply but then I started to develop post partum depression really bad thinking I was not a good enough mama for not being able to produce more at the end of my journey. I had severe OCD too so maybe all this attributed to my struggle. For my next one if there is one, I want to try breast feeding again bc I know I can do it if I just try again.

My baby had a shallow latch when he was born and it was difficult to get him into position. My recovery pp wasn't motivating me to bf either since I was in pain so I pumped often to get my supply in while using formula. I eventually got the hang of getting him to latch days or weeks later

Baby had her first feed as formula as I spiked a fever post birth and wasn’t in any fit shape to try latching. After that I was trying consistently with no formula until the day 5 visit when I was told she’d lost too much weight and to supplement/pump and give additional milk after every feed. Pumping was producing nothing, so we did formula. I reached out to a support team, I had specialists visit to help, I spoke to NCT feeding line and la leche league, but we still had to transition fully to formula after 2 weeks. The HV on the day 5 visit was spectacularly unhelpful. I wasn’t enjoying breastfeeding anyway and wasn’t 100% on doing it, I just thought I’d give it a try as it seemed convenient and cheap (if it worked). I’m glad now that I wasn’t able to as all I see for kids my daughters age are posts on how to stop, why aren’t they eating/sleeping, and linking it all back to breastfeeding, and it just seems more stressful tbh. As long as baby is fed it doesn’t matter how.

I supplemented from day 1. Milk came in full bore day 4 ish. Quit by 7 weeks because I hated it. Even with having some colostrum it wasn't enough for either kid to be content for more than 30 minutes so I fed colostrum rather than have a hungry newborn

My son was 6 weeks early - he wouldnt latch because he was just too small. I supplemented with formula while I waited for my milk to come in and kept trying to get him to latch too. Took 6 weeks to get him to latch and it took such a mental toll. I was so close to giving up on nursing! Some people understandably can't put themselves through that long of a waiting period without feeling like they are failing their child. Even if they "only" wait a day and it doesn't work out, it might just be better for their mental health to stop trying and use formula and there is nothing wrong with that

@Carol💗💙 I’m so sorry that they said that. People are truly ignorant. They should’ve supported you instead of criticizing. I’m sure you’re an awesome mama!

They gave my baby formula while I was still in the hospital after my c section. I was pumping every 2 hours and had the lactation nurse come and try to help. I would get a few drops out of each boob but it wasn’t anywhere near enuf to feed my son so it wasn’t really a choice, baby’s gotta eat.

@Veronica I’m sorry. I had severe post partum OCD too. It’s the closest I’ve ever felt to being legitimately crazy and I don’t wish that on anyone. I’m sorry you dealt with it too

@Charlotte it’s true 😅 my daughter is 19 months and still nurses to sleep. She also started refusing a bottle at 2 months old so i literally didn’t have a break from feeds for like a year