Not breast feeding, 8 wks postpartum, and my breasts are still trying to make milk, please help?

The Postpartum stage is the period of time just after delivery. The absence of breast milk for a few days after delivery is not uncommon. While you can provide your baby with alternate forms of nutrition, you will need to talk to your doctor to find out all your options. Breastfeeding is the first stage of postpartum and this milk is said to be healthiest for your child. In certain circumstances, you are not able to breastfeed because of no milk but in such a situation there are two important questions that you need to answer that is if you have no milk at all or if you are not having enough milk to feed your baby. It is important that you understand how the body produces milk. It is based on the theory of demand and supply where in your body will produce more milk only if your baby is demanding enough milk. If you are not breastfeeding your child all the time, the body will begin to accept that there is no milk required and thus, will gradually stop producing milk. It is therefore, essential that you feed your baby every 2 to 3 hours initially and even wake up your child to breastfeed  if sleeping as the body needs to keep up to the supply of milk. Another cause for insufficient milk production is if the baby is not able to suck in an effective way that is suck milk out the right way. If you have had a cesarean, the milk will take some time to come which might make you apprehensive and you might start with supplementing. This then results in less supply of milk when the milk actually comes in because the baby is not able to nurse well.

A remote possibility is that you fall in the very rare category of women who are not able to breastfeed because they cannot produce milk. But before drawing to this conclusion, it is best you consult a lactation consultant who can address all your queries. Try and massage your breasts well to ensure that milk comes out well and breastfeed your child constantly every 2 hours till both of you’ll get used to it. Follow this on a regular basis and see if it helps. It is also recommended that you try to use breast pumps as it may help in resolving the problem. Also make sure that you do not have any illness or suffering from an underlying medical condition that is preventing milk production. Stress, anxiety, and postpartum depression can also hamper the production of milk and so it is important that you stay calm and focused.

Submitted by P T on March 24, 2010 at 12:18

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