Lactation problems due to anemia...

Dear pals,

I have delivered a healthy full term baby month ago. From very first day I'm struggling with breast feeding and every time I feed the baby he seems not satisfied and screams. Pediatricians, lactation consultants don't see any problem and all they advice is to breast feed exclusively. My post pregnancy Hb level dropped from 9 to 8.5. Since baby is not satisfied we stared to supplement him but psychologically I'm very much stressed about the fact that I'm unable to breast feed exclusively. Just thought my anemia got something to do with low milk supply & did couple of googling and landed here http://www.mobimotherhood.org/MM/article-anemia.aspx


Really appreciate your thoughts and anybody went through similar experience and if something improved their milk supply. Although there are many thal carriers in my country... don't get much support from medical practitioners  

Tx

Dear PixieDust,

First of all I would agree with your pediatricians and lactation consultants.  I am a mother of two, had breastfeed my 1st baby till 6 months of age and the 2nd one, I breastfeed from baby until now(she is 5 years old).  I also suffered low hb(8-10) but its the determination that keeps me going.  

Stress would send wrong signal for your body.  You must be confident that you can breastfeed.  I believe you probably had researched for solutions.  The web has a lot of information from the forums that you can benefit from.

I personally believe, to be able to breastfeed, you as the mother must receive enough nutrition to, in another way, feed the baby.  Then keep a note on your fluid intake.  I've mentioned to many people including my friends, to produce milk, make sure you are well hydrated because you are feeding the baby.  If you don't drink enough, how do you expect to produce milk for the little one?

On supplements, I believe, if I don't remember wrongly, the herb feguneek will help to boost the milk supply.  Alternatively, for Chinese, we believe to have abundant supply is to cook green papaya soup with anchovies.  I never actually needed to supplement because

1) I drank a lot of fluid every hourly, i.e. at least 1 glass of hour an hour or two.  
2) I make sure my baby was breastfeed every 2 hours(its awfully tiring after birth but the gap increased when the baby grows).  I think by now your baby should be drinking every 3-4 hourly?
3) After my baby was breastfed, I pumped our the excess milk and store it in the fridge/freezer(you will have to decide when you need to use those).  Afterall, we don't produce every 2-3 hourly at times, then these milk stored in the freezer will come handy.
4) I did supplement, its only 1 tin on the 1st month.  Other months, I still keep the tin handy but her older brother helps to finish up my milk formula most of the time.
5) Even I work, I still find time to express the milk and store in the fridge for the baby.  

I hope the above would give encouragement for you to keep on going.  Don't think being a thal you are not able to do it.  If I can do it, you can do it too.  The most important thing..... you need to be well informed, therefore, look for the web forums.  Some mothers are having same predicament, you can benefit from their sharing.

Good luck.

I asked my wife, who is a former La Leche League leader. Much of what she said was already said by Gracia. This was her reply.

The mom needs to be sure she's well hydrated and getting adequate nutrition. Nursing moms need extra liquids and calories from good, wholesome food. Getting enough rest is important, too. The baby should be nursed on demand, not on a schedule. This automatically adjusts the milk supply to the baby's needs. Massaging the breast gently as she nurses can stimulate milk from deep within the breast to come to the nipple. Applying gentle heat to the breast has a similar effect. If the baby is nursing slowly, she can try "switch nursing," where the baby is switched from one side to the other as soon as the initial letdown subsides. The larger volume of milk encourages the baby to nurse more vigorously. She would be switching back and forth between both breasts several times per feeding using this method. Bottles and pacifiers should not be used - the baby should satisfy all sucking needs at the breast. Breastmilk digests easily, so babies tend to nurse more often. This is normal and nothing to worry about.

One thing that's turned around the situation for a lot of moms having a range of nursing problems is to spend a day or 2 in bed with the baby. There should be lots of snuggling and skin-to-skin contact and the baby should nurse as much as she likes. Not everyone can do this, but it's helped some when nothing else would.

She also mentioned an observation that the women would have after their annual holiday party. They noticed an increase in milk volume a couple days later and attributed it to the rich foods, full of eggs and cheese that they had at the party. You may also want to look for a local La Leche League group in your area, as it is an international support organization, and they can be very helpful with nursing problems.

I don't have much to add here except maybe an experience from my wife who is also thal minor.

When our son was born, her HB dropped to ~9. Her initial milk supply was lower (which I don't think was due to low Hb). We did the following to increase her milk supply:

 - She used to nurse the baby more often. Right after nursing, she used to pump. This gives the indication to the brain that the baby is drinking more milk and hence increases the supply more.
 - She used to eat nutritious and high calorie diet. I don't know the exact numbers of calories but I would say her intake was close to mine and about 1.5x of what she used to eat before pregnancy.
 - She used to drink a ton of water.
 - She never went without nursing or pumping for more than 5 hours at a stretch.
 - She used to rest whenever possible.
 - I'm not sure if this helps but we used to follow our parents advise and feed the mother food which has some cumin seeds. It is supposed to help.
 
At the end of all this, she was producing more then enough milk. We also started freezing milk and used it on days when my wife was sick and after 6 months when her supply went down.

At the end - I don't think milk supply has much to do with Thal minor. Maybe it does have an effect but taking proper steps will help.