Another question from the newbie..

I'm not planning on breastfeeding..at all. So my question is, what happens with the milk in my breast? Does it like..leak? I apologize for my ignorance


also, thanks to everyone who responded to my previous post. You all were extremely helpful.

 

why are you not planning on breastfeeding? do you know that it's the best possible thing for your baby?
As for your milk, you will get really engorged about 3 days after you deliver and that will last about 3 days. They'll be hard as rocks and pretty painful. Then it'll start to subside. You may leak, you may not. Some women do really badily, and others, nothing at all. I'd stock up on some breast pads, regardless.

 

I don't know about the milk, because my baby's not come yet...

but why wouldn't you breastfeed? It's cheaper, makes going places with baby easier, and is the best possible healthy option for your baby. You can even breastfeed while you work.

 

Yes, at leat consider breastfeeding. If you're nervous about it, there are plenty of mamas here who will offer advice and plenty of breastfeeding websites you can checkout.
I'd say get a lot of breast pads regardless.

 

I made a HUGE post, with all the benefits of breastfeeding and the risks of not, and the bug we are having logged me out, right as I was posting.

Little Mama, I am a Board Certified Lactation Consultant and also one of the Moderators on the Parenting forum (as well as the entire board) I would like to get you information on the benefits of breastfeeding as well as the high risks of NOT doing so.

Many of the mamas on this board are or did breastfeed. A few were not able to, due to no fault of their own. One mama had Poly Cyctic Ovarian Syndrome, which in about 30% of patients with this condition causes the breasts to make very little milk (this is rare, but it does happen.) One mama really tried VERY hard, but could not get the proper professional lactaion help she needed. An other mama breastfed her older children, but was not able to breastfeed her adopted child, as he was born after her menopause. But all these mamas WANTED to with all their hearts. And most of these babies at least got some human milk. Even a week or two of breastfeeding is much better than none at all.

Please recosider.

I will later repost the benefits, in detail.

Blessings

 

Maggie, after you have a child, do you constantly produce milk. As you mentioned, if a woman has children of her own then adopts a very young child....she'd be able to breastfeed him/her even after her own children have grown past the breastfeeding age?

 

"INduced Lactation" is the term for causing yourself to make milk when you have not just given birth. A womyn who has had children can induce lactation. A womyn who has never been pregnant can induce lactation. Some people feel that even when you have had children, it may not be easier to induce than a womyn who has never had children, others think womyn who HAVE had children and nursed have a small advantage.

Induced lactation is a rough road. I have seen a few mothers (a few who never even got pregnant themselves and a few who did) have little trouble making milk. I have also seen very seasoned breastfeeders become frustrated as they don't make milk as fast as when they had a baby.

Ususally a regimine of pumping, using a lactogougue (A drug or herb which raises the proleactin levels and helps a lady make soem milk) and putting the baby to the breast is neccesary.

Some adoptive mothers start the meds and pumping a few weeks before the adopted baby is due to arrive. Others wait until the have the baby. Putting the baby to the breast, usually with a Lactation Assistance Device (like an SNS or a LactAid, which is a contianer, with tubes which lead to the breasts, it is fillled with formula or pumped milk and the tubes are taped to the end of the breast, and put into the baby's mouth, so the baby gets the supplemnet along with any milk the mother has) is neccesary.

Even if you have had a baby, induced lactation takes some work. Some moms of adopted babies just can't do it. It is frustrating, especially if they are older (although you still make prolactin and oxytocin after menopause, the fatigue factor may be intense for these mothers)

Few adoptive mothers make a full supply. Even if they already have had children. There is just no substitute for removal of the placenta, to jump Lactogenisis I, where the milk started by the drop in progesterone. Some people use the birth control pill, and take it continuously for months, with no periods (similar to a pregnancy) and then withdraw the pill a few days before the baby comes, to get the progesterone drop. Others feel this is not workable for many womyn.

But, if the womyn feels up to it it can be rewarding, despite the frustration. Some womyn make 85 tp 90% of the baby's needs. Some make 40% some only make a little milk. Almost all need supplementation. We tell the mamas to concentrate on NURSING, not milk production, as that helps them. Very rarely, a mother makes all the milk her baby needs, and that it pretty cool. But most moms make some, not all. Most moms use formula as asuppplemnet, others will use donated milk, from a sister or freind, or from a milk bank. Rarely, the birth mother pumps for the baby. But, this can be emotionally devastating for the birth mother, and I don't recommend it.

Induced lactation is a really amazing thing. Animals of all kinds do it, and humans can to. But, not all adoptive mothers are in a condition to do it, and that is understanable, It is much more difficult than breastfeeding after givng birth, and I feel Induced Lactation is a choice, unlike attempting to breastfeed a natural child, which I feel is the child's right.

 

I won't go on and on and repeat the wonderful things that have been said here. But I will say PLEASE consider breastfeeding. Sometimes in the process of pregnancy, birth, and early babyhood we make choices that seem fine at the time, but we later regret them. I have regrets about my birth experience, but none about breastfeeding. Almost all of the moms I know who just didn't breastfeed have regretted it down the line.


You will not doubt think I am crazy, but it is true that formula is not only a subpar "substitute" but can actually be dangerous. Do some research on the number of times formula has been recalled. For reasons like rat hairs, botulism, impurities, and ground bits of glass being in it. And here's the really scary part I noticed recently: In my job, I watch news from all across the country. One night NY had a story about a formula recall because the formula was dangerous. The warning didn't show up on any of my other broadcasts, and out of curiosity I looked in store over the next few days and never saw a notice about it. Formula is also linked to a number of illnesses, as well as lower IQ. Plus there is often an attachment issue because so often people just leave their poor babes in the carseat carrier and stuff a bottle in their mouth and don't hold them close.

Do yourself and your baby (and the world) a favor and do some research about formula and breastfeeding. Keep in mind when you are reading pro formula things that you should find out who they are published by. Usually it is a formula company. All those "breast is best but if you can't you should use this because it have breastmilk components" stuff? Formula companies. No one makes any money off of breastfeeding, so it is not as "shiny, glossy" marketed.

Also, keep in mind that formula companies send out a totally anti woman message, that you can't provide for your baby.....you "don't have enough milk" or are "too busy", etc. If you don't have time to feed your baby it is time to rethink the whole idea of being a parent. Not that I am saying that applies to you, I am commenting on formula advertising.

And don't even get me started onthe formula companies and the 10,000 babies who die EVERY DAY worldwide from not being breastfed. Check out the book Milk, Money, and Madness. When you see photos of baby graves that are adorned with formula cans because it is the most valuable item the family has, nevermind the fact that it was the reason the baby died because of a)lack of clean water or b) dilution of formula to save money....it just breaks your heart. I mean, we think Wal Mart is bad? Nestle is worse.

Oh, I guess I did go on and on.....

 

have you ever read the ingredients list on a can of formula? Do you know how much that stuff costs, and how much of it you are going to need? This is not a subject I can be quiet about, sorry. breastfeeding means too much to me, and to my children. My first child was physically unable to nurse for the first three months of her life, but I managed to keep trying and make it work eventually. It rips my heart to shreds when I hear anyone have no intention of even trying to nurse their baby. Please, do it for your baby, do it for you. www.kellymom.com has more information than anywhere else. Go to a LLL meeting before the baby comes, and start working on having a really good support network to help you through the rough parts. As a mom who had to give bottles of formula, but also managed to breastfeed, I can honestly tell you there is nothing easier about bottle feeding. It's at least 20 times more work, and you'll get even less sleep if you have to get up, get out of bed, mix formula, then heat it up, all the while baby is screaming in hunger. Then you have to feed baby, and rinse the bottle out because if you don't it will stink up your entire house, before you can go back to bed. If you breastfeed and cosleep, all you have to do is latch baby on to your breast and go back to sleep while baby nurses. formula poop smells really bad, breastmilk poop doesn't really stink much at all. Formula spit up is really extremely gross, it stinks, and will permanently stain any fabric it touches. Formula fed babies smell bad, too. Plus, there's the fact that cow milk is made for baby cows, not baby humans, and formula made with it can create lifelong health problems for allergic/sensitive babies.



yes, I believe you will always make milk, but since it becomes a supply and demand process at about four months postpartum, you won't be making much. I have a friend who weaned her baby at one week of age (circumstances out of her control), and her breasts still leak milk three years later every time she hears a baby cry!!

 

I'm a papa not a mama but highly agree with all that has been posted by above. My wife was unable to breastfeed our now 6 y/o daughter due to health concerns. She was medivaced off of the island we were living on two months after birth, didn't get back for a month and had no milk left even had she been strong enough to breast feed. The breast feeding benifits to the baby are the primary concern, but I want to reiterate the sheer cost of formula. It will cost you hundreds of dollars a month and could be the breaking point of an already stressed budget.

 

Wow. I had no idea that a woman who's never given birth or even just given birth could produce milk.

I learn something new everyday.

 

A friend of mine adopted a baby in her early 50's, and managed to fully breastfeed her.


Even MEN can breastfeed, if they try hard enough.