How common is this fear? Let’s look at some statistics that Ohio University discovered in a study. In 2002, 69 percent of mothers breastfed at least once before leaving the hospital. However, 53 percent of those mothers gave their babies formula at the one-week mark and 68 percent turned to formula after one month. Only 5 percent of mothers still breastfed after one year.
http://news.research.ohiou.edu/studentresearch/index.php?item=129&page=136
Most common reason given by mothers all over the world for introducing supplementary milk early or even terminating breastfeeding her baby, is the belief that she does not have enough milk for her baby .
Too often, relatives, friends or health workers suggest to the mother that she may not have enough milk. They undermine the mother’s confidence in her ability to meet the baby’s need. They may ask, “is your baby getting enough?” this is enough to worry many mothers so much that their milk production falls off and their babies don’t get enough!
Our goal at GBP is to help mothers deal with the problem of ‘’Not Enough Milk” and we how can help mothers to overcome their problem.
To begin with, new mothers are frequently exhausted. The first night the baby sleeps for an extended period of time, the worn out mom gets her first much needed rest. If the next night the baby sleeps again, new mom does so as well. Next thing you know, it the new mom’s milk production lowers. Her confidence falls. Breastfeeding and breast pumping is not as easy as formula. Family, friends, and other advisors say things that make the new mother feel less confident. Quickly, the new mom fixes the first bottle and the rest is history.
The real problem was giving up those night feedings. Eliminating night-feeding leads to less prolactin production and hence, reduced milk supply. Comments from others that undermine the new mom’s confidence do not help. Lack of confidence added to low prolactin hormone levels will add up to lower milk production.
Once a week, its okay to take the night off. But, maintaining milk supply requires hormones. The hormone prolactin falls off if night feedings are neglected.
The Big Fix:
1. Add two night feedings for several days in a row, you’ll be amazed with the amount of milk you will produce at the first morning feedings.
2. Have the confidence that you can produce enough milk for your baby
3. Get a herbal supplement (a galactagogue) to help increase your milk supply fast.
4. Call us or email at GotBreastPump.com for help, support or just a kind word. We love helping moms feed their babies.
We hope we can help mothers start feeding and continue feeding breastmilk to their babies, for as long as possible.
My name is Wendy, and I began this website as a place to have one central location for breast pumping and feeding babies. I pumped breast milk for my daughter for over a year and during that year looked around on hundreds of websites to get the information that I needed. Since then, the website has grown and there is now tons of information and great products here at GotBreastPump.com. Thanks for stopping by.
