distraught tried everything milk supply low

[bluepoohrobe]

Hi all, I never in a million years thought I'd find myself in this situation. I can only get about one ounce TOTAL of pumped milk per day.

After years and years of infertility treatments and 8 miscarriages we finally have our miracle little girl. She's four weeks old.

The placenta had grown into my uterus and I had to have an emergency hysterectomy at the time of my csection and was awake for it!! I lost well over half of my blood and almost lost my life. They had the chaplain talk with my husband while they were working on me. They didn't expect me to live.

Here are my problems:
*csection
*hysterectomy
*had a blood transfusion
*have a prolactinoma pituitary tumor
*had gastric bypass surgery a few years ago
*am in my 40's
*past surgery on one breast severed ducts - it won't product
*the "good" breast is flat
*my milk never really came in
*my daughter is only getting about 1 ounce total per day from pumped milk
*I had high blood pressure problems weeks leading up to the delivery & very high afterwards - I'm now on medication
*I'm anemic because of the blood loss/transfusion

My milk supply has been horrible - I've never had to use nursing pads, my drs tried Regland, I'm still taking Funugreek, I rented a pump from the hospital and get a total of about an ounce a day! I've consulted with lactation specialists and they think it is because of the blood transfusion & difficult delivery.

I've even tried the supplemental nursing system along with shields and she just will not latch on. I'm at the point where I'm starting to realize this is isn't going to happen

I'm so upset I've cried my eyes out. I was SO SO SO looking forward to breastfeeding.

How do you deal with not being able to breastfeed after so many years of looking forward to it? The only good thing that will come out of it is that I can go back on my pituitary tumor medicine, pain medication (I have rods in my back and have had 5 surgeries) for my back and I'm sure I'll need some antidepressants.

We had frozen embryos and will obviously have to use a surrogate so I guess I can always try again with the "surrogate" babies...... I guess I need to check out the adoption /nursing forum!

Thanks for letting me vent
Beth

[ima062002]

Oh Beth, I am so sorry to "hear" your pain. You had a lot happening to you and it's a miracle that you are alive. You have tried EVERYTHING to make breastfeeding happen so i hope you can take comfort in that. Since this is important to you, you could try to latch her when she is drowsy, sleepy and invite her to comfort suck and if she'll take to it, try to put her to breast whenever she is upset or to take off the edge while someone gets a bottle ready etc. Try every day, but don't force the issue. It's really hard for newborns to deal with more than one way of being fed and she might just need to feel the security of the one way she got used to early on. Don't think for one second that this is related to your age, or a sign of her refusing you - her birth experience was far from the norm and many, many babies who have been separated from mom for a while after birth have a hard time latching.

Most meds are fine to take while nursing; so if your dd will take to comfort nursing and get some of your milk; if you want to post a list of the meds we'll gladly look them up for you and post about the risks.

[whitnessforhim]

I agree with ima. Your trying your best momma!! Take comfort in that.

I agree too not to push nursing. It took me 4mo. before my DD finally learned to nurse. I pumped most of that time.

I'm sorry you two had such a hard start but I'm so happy to hear you both are here alive and healthy!

[KerryS]

You can still breastfeed! You just will have to supplement part of her nutrition with formula (or you can look into obtaining donor breastmilk - see the link in my sigline). Will your baby latch at all? If so, then you can give her supplementation at the breast with a lactation aid. Here's a link to how to make one (IMO, a homemade aid is much easier than an SNS):

http://www.kellymom.com/newman/05lactation_aid.html

Please work with an IBCLC and don't give up. Even women who adopt children and never make milk on their own can and do breastfeed their babies, and you can too.

It's possible that you have Sheehan's Syndrome, which is when the pituitary shuts down due to extreme blood loss. This will cause delayed lactogenesis.

Keep pumping and keep nursing as much as possible, and your milk will still gradually increase. You may not ever make enough to fully breastfeed, but you can still feed at the breast, no matter what your baby is eating!

[Nipple_nectar]

http://www.breastfeeding.com/forums/images/smilies/welcome.gif

First off, it is very early in the game, there are many things you can try to increase your chances of success:) You are in the right place, we can definitely guide you to the right resources and in the meantime, help you and reassure you, that you can have a BFing relationship with your daughter. I believe you can. You may not ever produce enough to completely nourish your Dear Daughter, DD, but with supplementation, it is possible to nourish her completely at the breast.

OTOH, there are moms here that sustain a nursling, completely from one breast only, so, it depends on how much you can produce on that side. My first piece of advice is find an Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant, IBCLC, to work with, you will need close monitoring, if you have any hopes of being successful. Contact the hospital where you gave birth for more info.

In order to be successful, you must get her to the breast, www.breastfeeding.com/all_about/all_about_confusion.html or nipple confusion may have already set in, creating a number of obstacles. I would highly recommend baby getting all nutrition from www.lact-aid.com in addition to you working at getting her www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/baby/back-to-breast.html : back to breast.

You said your nipple is flat, using a breast shell made by Medela in between feedings will help to get the nipple to protrude. Pumping for five minutes prior to nursing will also prime the nipple, making it pointy and easy to grab onto.

I am glad you have a hospital grade pump, it is exactly what you need: you need to pump a minimum of ten minutes after every attempt to nurse, I would offer the breast every two hours. Every time that baby squeaks, put her to the breast. Do not use a pacifier or any type of artificial nipple until BFing is solidly stable.

You can go to www.fourfriends.com/abrw for a relactation boot camp, it has great tips for increasing supply.

I do not recommend reglan for new moms, it has a very high incidence of causing serious depression and coupled with PPD can be quite serious.

You can get domperidone without an rx at www.inhousepharmacy.com, this is what the leading man in the field of BFing recommends, Dr. Jack Newman, he has a cool web site, check it out: www.drjacknewman.com He will answer e mails, if you want to contact him for more advice.

I also recommend tinctures as opposed to teas, you can find an excellant nursing mothers blend at www.kerrysherbals.com

I know this must be overwhelming but take it one feeding at a time and remember, BFing does not have to be all or nothing, you can do this nursin momma!

Come back as often as you need to, we will be here:)

[Nipple_nectar]

Kerry beat me to it:) I also agree that this may be worth exploring: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/sheehans-syndrome/DS00889/DSECTION=symptoms