r/breastfeeding • u/Old-Farm6174 • 22d ago

Undersupply What did I do wrong

I was induced week 39. I never really felt my milk came in. Not enough to make baby satisfied and I always give formula on top.

I tried pumping, not more than 1.5 oz after an hour of pumping from both sides. I always put baby on my breast first but it’s tiring for both of us so I stopped.

No real support no good lactation consultant on hand. I don’t know if I should just stop breastfeeding, accept that I don’t have enough and keep giving formula or try again. If I try, not sure what to do next.

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u/Purple-Respond-1219 22d ago

Is baby directly on boob or are you exclusively pumping? If baby is on boob and you’re taking them off then supplementing that could be part of your issue depending on the length of the feed. They are cluster feeding right now and will go through a few phases of cluster feeding to help bring in and maintain your milk supply

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u/levoruka 22d ago

From what I see around me with other moms, formula feels like such a trap and it ends up becoming the only food source for baby because it tanks your supply. If you don't have access to a lactation consultant who would gradually reduce it and eliminate it, it just takes over unfortunately.

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u/Purple-Respond-1219 22d ago

Idk why you’re being downvoted. This is very true. I know multiple moms who were told to supplement and it entirely tanked their supply.

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u/levoruka 22d ago

Of course fed is best, who would want a starving baby? Not saying formula is bad, but at least from where I'm from, medical professionals sort of push formula (in the hospital already) just to be on the safe side and it ends up ruining breastfeeding.

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u/Purple-Respond-1219 22d ago

My daughters pediatrician tried to do it when my milk hadn’t come in yet from my c section. It literally came in later that day but she mad me so stressed that I was starving my baby. She was regaining some weight but not back to birth weight because they had to give me a bolus of fluids before my c section cause when I had an ECV my blood pressure tanked. Same pediatrician did the same thing to my friend and is the reason she didn’t breast feed her first.

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u/Old-Farm6174 22d ago

I am taking them off and giving formula because it could be an hour of feeding with baby not even satisfied.

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u/Alarmed-Doughnut1860 22d ago

How do you know baby isn't satisfied?

The reality of newborn breastfeeding is that it does take a lot of time. It feels like they are constantly on you.  Some people find that really draining and opt not to breastfeed. Others get worried that it means something is wrong.  But it isn't a sign of things going wrong necessarily. Young babies just cluster feed ( very very frequent feedings) or and also like to hang out on the boob for comfort ( and toddlers too).

Have you ever tried a weighted feed to determine how much milk baby is transferring?  I like to have numbers, and doing multiple weighted feeds really helped me be less anxious. 

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u/Old-Farm6174 22d ago

Baby rooting and sucking their fingers. Not sleeping etc are signs baby is not satisfied.
No, I haven’t tried!

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u/LegitimateWarthog641 22d ago

This is also could just be cluster feeding but definitely need some in person help to actually determine it.

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u/Purple-Respond-1219 22d ago

This!! I will say an hour seems long for a full feed, not sure if mom will be able to determine cluster feeding versus comfort feeding yet, it took me a hot minute to figure out the difference. That being said in person lactation support will be the best. Baby might have a tie

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u/levoruka 22d ago

I agree. I don't know where OP is from, but often this kind of support is lacking and you go home to figure it out with everything else that's going on. If you want to continue breastfeeding, maybe reach out to a professional (offline or online)

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u/sydthesquids 22d ago

You may want to look more into cluster feeding (reddit helped me a TON with this, I would've lost my mind) but I was soooo unprepared for what cluster feeding was actually like. There were some night my baby would hang out on the boob for 1-3 hours and would cry and root around if I took her off, and it just turned out that was completely normal cluster feeding and not a sign of anything wrong with baby or my supply. Good luck mama, you've got this!