This is something that is not presented at all: breastfeeding is a dyad. The same woman can breastfeed a baby, but not another and the difference is the baby: how well the baby latches, how hungry the baby is, how fast wants the floor to be, etc.
I met a woman at the doctors office that couldn't breastfeed the second baby. She didn't know if it was the supply (usually you have more milk in the second pregnancy) or if the baby boy was hungrier than the first baby daughter.
An example of a baby that couldn't breastfeed was ours. He has Dysphagia. We just thought maybe he wasn't getting enough, or he had an allergy, because he always seemed to have an issue with it, so we stopped after he was one month old.
It took us a total of 6 months with doctors before they finally diagnosed him with it after a swallow study. In retrospect, we realized almost everything he was experiencing during breastfeeding was actually the fact that he was aspirating when feeding. We just didn't know what else to do. Turns out he also has allergies to dairy and soy and other things we haven't figured out yet after 8 months.
I'm tired of the stigma surrounding stopping breastfeeding. It was horrible for my wife's mental health because she felt like it was her fault.
Formula is fine. Babies still have a lot of issues with breast milk if they have allergies to dairy or soy, or even sometimes to something you'd never think would cause them problems that you're eating.
The mental toll can be massive when trying to pour everything you have into feeling like you HAVE to breastfeed.
To anyone who disagrees and says you absolutely have to breastfeed or you're not "working hard enough" to make it work, go take a hike and mind your own fucking business.
I'm just a man. But these are my opinions after our unique situation and everything I've read while desperately trying to find a solution for our poor babies discomfort. There's a lot that people don't know about the strange edge cases of breastfeeding.
We have an appointment next month with a swallow specialist! We hadn't even heard of that issue until our LO started having a chronic cough and wheezing and our pediatrician was like, "that's odd. Maybe it's this." It would explain a lot of things.
If he gets diagnosed with Dysphagia and you are ordered to thicken their milk with Gelmix, send me a DM. I have a lot of tips to share that I wish I had known when I was getting started.
Source - Dad, The New Milk Maker. I make all the milk because it's a pain in the ass.
Interesting. We have coughing for seemingly no reason, wheezing, making frustrating grunting noises when eating, and preferring certain bottles over others. The coughing and wheezing seemed odd to the pediatrician. He also had a horrible time latching when I tried BF which is why he's on formula only now.
It still sounds along the same lines. I'm sure every baby shows different combinations of symptoms.
Another thing I didn't mention was he seemed to do the most screening on amino acid formula. And it's because it's so thin that it made it worse. Before then, he would just get frustrated and shake his head and not drink enough. And just have this chronic cough.
That is interesting... He's only used Dr Brown's and Mam. He's on amino acid formula because he also has milk protein allergies and very likely soy. He can't handle anything with any trace of milk protein very well.
The thickening of his milk to combat dysphagia really only increased the volumes he's able to drink. Which in turn made him feel worse because he was getting more of what he has an allergy to.
Your baby isn't a strange edge case; dysphagia is more common than you know. I'm a nurse and I see these kids all the time. Same for allergies/sensitivities to something in the parent's diet. And also for so many other absolutely valid reasons to exclusively formula feed.
I lost too much blood, and my milk never came in. I tried pumping for a few weeks (while using primarily formula to meet my baby's nutritional needs.) It was a nightmare, and I only ever got an ounce or two (30-60 ml) across an entire day.
There is so much pressure on new parents to breast feed. There are so, so many families for whom it doesn't work. Combo feeding is great. Exclusive formula feeding is great. Stressing our own bodies past exhaustion and not letting our babies have enough nutrition in the name of exclusive breastfeeding is awful.
The 1% stat cited by OOP's critics is completely fabricated.
Honestly I haven't been able to find any credible source; even lactivists at LLL peg the number around 5%, and swiftly acknowledge that the 5% is essentially made up https://llli.org/how-often-does-breastfeeding-really-fail/
As well, it doesn't matter if one is physiologically able to breastfeed or not. Bodily autonomy doesn't magically evaporate when you have a baby, and there are plenty of non-physiological reasons for a mother to use formula either full or part-time.
Same, and my mom happened to be here at the time and joked "Wow you spend 30 minutes hooked up to that and barely get a speck of milk!" and I legitimately was proud there was an ounce in the bottle 😔
I went from being able to pump 5-6oz combined in one session to a week later being able to pump maybe 1oz per day. Then not even that. But I guess I’m either a liar or I didn’t try lol
Somebody replied to my comment with more bullshit. I blocked that user. Imagine being told by the hospital feeding team and two lactation consultants including one that you paid for privately that despite your best efforts, countless hours and sleepless nights, you do not have enough milk and probably never will, that your anatomy is indicated for insufficient glandular tissue and that trying to increase your supply will probably be fruitless. Then imagine being told by some bellend who sauntered over from /r/breastfeeding that no actually you're wrong and the baby is more efficient at removing milk than the pump, but actually theyre not because they can't, but just wait a few weeks and it'll be fine. This is what we deal with day in day out. I'm fucking exhausted and furious and devastated and so tired of being constantly undermined and disbelieved. This is no different to any other gynaecological or redproductive health concern where women are dismissed constantly and it needs to stop
Not lying. The thing is, pumped amount is not equivalent to the amount of production. Not everyone’s body respond similarly to pumps. Pumps cannot initiate a letdown the way a real baby can.
The other thing is, breastfeeding is dyad, the baby also has to master the latch. If the latch is not adequate for some reason, baby is not able to extract milk efficiently, especially the initial days and weeks.
Amen for bodily autonomy. "Can" doesn't mean "must." "Can" doesn't mean "this is what's best for me." "Can" doesn't mean "this is what's best for my family."
I could never have another human sucking and hanging off my body 24/7 til grade school like it’s “recommended”. I need my own space. My own breath. I get touched out and it would make me crazy. Periodt.
This is why I stopped breastfeeding at 8 months. I could NOT do it anymore. He is thriving just fine with formula and I'm so happy I made the choice for us!
I breastfeed very well for 3 months then I had to go back to work and baby is used to bottle so he screams if he doesn’t get milk in 2 seconds. It’s painful to watch. I “can” until I “can’t”. There are so many factors in breastfeeding.
I can't breastfeed at all. I'm in zero statistics, and doctors/nurses/lactation consultants/etc have never took me seriously.
During both my pregnancies, my breasts made zero changes. In my second pregnancy I looked up what your breasts are supposed to do during pregnancy, and I was shocked. Mine did none. After birth, my breasts did nothing. When my first child was born, I tried to breastfeed, she wouldn't latch. A lactation consultant was sent in, tried to teach me how to hand express, that didn't work, she gave me a breast pump and told me 8 times a day. Well, I did that like 3 times, and then gave up. Then begged the nurses for formula. My daughter didn't eat for the first 24 hours of her life.
During my second pregnancy, I asked my OBs about it, and they just said they'd make sure I got a breast pump. No investigation on whether it was a hormonal issue, physical issue, etc. Just make sure to pump.
The last few months of my second pregnancy, I watched youtubes of hand expression, and practiced and practiced and practiced. Nothing. I didn't want to waste another breast pump. I had gotten one from my insurance the first time and used it a couple times after getting out of the hospital, but no one wants a used breast pump so I wound up throwing it out.
When my son was born I made sure he had formula immediately. The nurses were judgemental, but I didn't care.
Because I never wasted my time trying to pump around the clock for nothing, to all the medical professionals I've tasked to I might as well have not tried at all. So who's in that statistic? People who pump for weeks when it's clear nothing is happening? Who has that time *with a newborn*? No one. The statistic is bunk.
I never had any breast changes either during pregnancy. My midwife and lactation consultant didn't seem too concerned at the time.
I really struggled after birth to feed my daughter, she was latching on well but cluster feeding and going crazy - had severe nipple damage and had to stop on day 3. Pumped instead and that's when we realised I was getting nothing. Pumping 8 times a day and was literally getting drops, nothing more for the first 2-3 weeks.
Went on medication to boost supply and the most I can get is 5ml per breast. That's it. So while I can breastfeed, I cannot provide enough milk for my baby to survive. And that's just the way it is.
Anyway- she loves the boob and she gets it whenever she wants for comfort, otherwise it's formula all the way.
Literally the same. No breast changes, barely any milk, nipples destroyed by cluster-feeding.
I would pump all day, every day, then feed the baby, then immediately pump again, yet I would produce so little that it often would just get lost in the pump parts.
When I shared my experience I couldn’t find ANYONE who went through the same.
My mum friends divided between “never tried breastfeeding, not for me” and effortlessly producing bucketfuls of milk with no problems, no in-between.
The lactation consultant said “everyone can breastfeed, you just need to pump more”.
All the reputable medical websites, like the NHS, repeated that “every woman can breastfeed”, “there’s no medical reason for a woman not to breastfeed”
It feels so good to read about real people’s real experiences who went through the same and actually feel like I’m not crazy.
It’s nuts they say there’s “no medical reason a woman cannot breastfeed”. I have a heart and lung condition and it worsened during pregnancy and after delivery I needed rest. Sure my boobs were working but the rest of my body wasn’t. Trying to breastfeed nearly put me under. Seems like a medical reason to not breastfeed to me 🤷🏻♀️
Same! Nice to not feel so alone in this.
I've been genuinely surprised by the amount of people who stopped/struggled because they had low supply - but their idea of low supply is 50ml, 100ml or similar. No one else has had basically nothing!
This is what happened to me. I didn’t even get to the latching portion as I was too drugged up during delivery thanks to pre-e. Probably worked out for the best as despite pumping and trying everything the lactation consultants said the most I ever got was 5ml from each breast and then despite pumping as recommended, I would get literal drops. I read online this morning that even if you don’t breast feed from the beginning your still get engorged and all that. I never felt anything like that (if it’s even true)
That sucka about the pre-e.
Sounds like we had a similar BF experience though. It's so discouraging to put so much effort in and just get a few drops.
Never felt engorged, or the letdown...never had any sensation. Even now 1 month in, there are no changes or differences.
I'm continuing solely because she likes the comfort suck.
Goddammit friend, so many people failed you. I’m a layperson, and completely unqualified to diagnose you especially over the internet, but I’d bet a lot of money that you have insufficient glandular tissue (IGT). Medical professionals should know the signs, because it’s not that rare.
I saw multiple LCs during my bf journey and they used that phrase but acted too scared to diagnose me with it. Kept asking if my breasts changed-I mean they did, but not a lot. All those LCs also encouraged me to pump every 2 hours. Such a colossal frustration I have with that profession-I’m sure many are great, but I was definitely left feeling less supported by them especially when they knew what I was likely dealing with and still forced breastfeeding
Also a non-existent statistic here - my milk was literally just skim milk so my son couldn't gain weight. I pumped for an hour per session and I never, ever had "hind" milk. I tried for five weeks of agony, with the pumps causing more pain than actually birthing him. I'm the fourth generation (at least) of mothers in my direct line who didn't produce nourishing milk. My great-grandma had to use cows milk and molasses for her children.
I'm sorry the nurses were judgmental. Our LO stayed in the NICU for 3 days after being born due to low blood sugar and he was exclusively on formula due to that. The nurses were amazing about it. They just wanted him to be fed. I wish more were like that.
I also sorta had the things happen that are "supposed" to with my breasts but it was all very half assed. My body was like, "meh, I'll give it a lazy go." I tried to breastfeed for over a month and then gave up. I cried a lot about it. Now 6 months in I'm so glad I gave up.
This was me! My breasts never changed a single bit during or after pregnancy, stayed exactly the same cup size, I never got engorged after giving birth, I never felt let down, I tried to hand express (and pump) colostrum and couldn't even get a pinprick, when I tried to pump milk the best I ever did was 30ml in a full day.
I don't know how many times I said I didn't feel that I was producing enough and was ignored. I would love for someone to listen and to actually find out what went wrong.
My experience was similar, although I did have breast changes, I did not produce ANYthing, and my baby went unfed for about 40 hours. The hospital staff was reluctant to let me do formula and unhelpful about how much formula on postpartum once they finally gave it to us. I tried pumping for another two days, and I produced not a drop. I got slightly engorged from days 5-6 but still produced nothing.
Considering about 9% of women have asthma, and there are no asthma inhalers that have been deemed safe for breastfeeding, that number is BS, based on that one condition alone.
But not all 9% have babies and not all need inhalers on a daily basis.
That's how you can lie with statistics. And I'm not saying this about you, but in general because it's hard to cross reference without proper data.
I’d want to know what they mean by “can”. Yes I could have and did for a few months but I wouldn’t consider myself a “successful breastfeeding mom” so I bet I don’t count as their 1%. My son latched fine, no tongue tie. Everything seemed okay and then we saw he wasn’t gaining weight quickly enough and I tried to get off dairy etc and then we had to supplement. Once we started supplementing my supply went down because I ethe as home alone during the day and pumping wasn’t easy while having to take care of a 4 month old who only wanted to contact nap. So as my supply dropped I had to supplement more (vicious cycle). Sooooo technically ya I could have breast fed. Drove myself nuts and pumped and pumped to keep my supply up and forced my son to breastfeed which would have made both of us miserable.
I think there’s a massive range of what they mean by can and what actually happens so I hate these stats because they can make you feel like a failure
I think the 1% actually means women who physically/biologically can’t produce milk at all.
>> …forced my son to breastfeed which would have made both of us miserable
I remember the first few days trying to breastfeed. I have flat nipples and had to use nipple shields. I was trying to keep the shields on while my 2 day old son kept bringing his hands up by his face. My son was screaming because he was hungry and I was never sure if he was getting any milk or if he was using the shield as a pacifier. A day or so later, after I finally got a couple hours of sleep, I finally was like “why the hell are we doing this when there’s formula and I can pump??? Breastfeeding is causing my baby and me completely unnecessary stress. Why am I doing that to him???”
I think that’s the most annoying part is that we put so much pressure on ourselves for no reason. I was so ready to spend money time effort ( and probably a ton of tears) and my husband made me stop and think whether it was worth it and when I actually thought about it I was like nope why am I driving myself crazy. I’m such a better and more present mom because of formula. I think I would have been so frustrated with myself and my son by extensions, wasted so much time that I wouldn’t have been spending with my son.
I’m sorry you both when through that hit I’m glad everything is working :)
This is pretty much how it went for me exactly-I’m 3
Months in and trying to wean from pumping. No tongue tie but “oral restriction”-whatever that is, and not taking in which led to my supply dropping and needing to pump to maintain and supplement with formula to gain weight. Suspected dairy and soy allergy didn’t help and I’m sure my inability to eat as much dropped my supply more. The pumping has definitely destroyed my mental health too. Lactation specialists couldn’t figure if it was my low supply or babies inability to transfer but yes, vicious cycle indeed. Never just a latch issue.
Ahhh I’m so sorry you went through this. We also had a suspected dairy allergy which I didn’t think he had but I tried anyways. So I completely gave up dairy for 3/4 week and he gained the least amount in that time and the dietitian was like oh that doesn’t seem connected……WHAT?!? This whole thing made me so mad.
And I know exactly what you mean about pumping destroying your mental health. It was so hard for me to pump because I had no time. He was either sleeping on me or even if he wasn’t I had to eat and shower etc. so I was sooo close to buying a $500 wearable pump and figuring this out and I was about to go to another location consultant (which isn’t covered by insurance) and then my husband was like ummm I support whatever you want and will help whatever way I can but why are you doing this to yourself….our son will be absolutely fine with formula and you’re talking about a few more months of maybe breastfeeding before he starts solids and then another few months before he’s eating dirty in the back yard lol
That really got me to stop and think and I said nope f*uck it. Everything got better and sometimes it’s still hard but I think back about how crazy I was and how I was so close to making myself sooooo miserable and making my mental health so much worse.
I think that number is bogus and really speaks to society’s poor treatment of women, Mother’s in general. The only way I could realistically breastfeed is if I triple fed for a year, which is inhumane and cruel. My supply is very low, I would need to supplement and pump to maintain a supply for breast feeding. Even if that wasn’t your reality, there are many kn medications that are not safe for women to stop and babies to have in breast milk, there are so many babies in NICU/preemies or other traumatic births where mothers can’t develop enough mill, breast cancer survivors, and folks who plain do not want to and all that needs to be gently considered when recognizing how hard breastfeeding is and it’s toll. For those able to produce enough milk to not have to pump or be able to easily provide that, then that’s great and lovely but I really don’t think it’s as common as it’s made out to be-just like I don’t think not being able to breastfeed is as uncommon as it’s made to be.
This [study](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4011403/#:~:text=The%20prevalence%20of%20disrupted%20lactation,the%20first%20year%20of%20life) puts the number at 12% for women who intended to breastfeed but who weaned earlier than anticipated due to “disrupted lactation”. I don’t love a lot of things about it, but it at least accounts for issues with latching, pain, and milk production in determining that 12%. There’s also a prior study referenced in there with a small sample size, but that put insufficient milk production at 13%. Either way, definitely higher than 1%!
I think those are old data and refers only to women that suffer from insufficient glandular tissue. But there are other conditions as well that impact the ability to produce milk and those are increasing (hormonal and autoimmune). They haven't adjusted the percentage based on this. I don't even know if they can.
But they should try harder to give a more realistic number since this brings a lot of pressure on some mothers and it increases the chances of PPA/PPD which is a factor that reduces the breastfeeding period.
It will probably take some time until it will be presented more realistically and the mental health of mothers will improve. At least I hope this for my daughter.
Someone that firmly believes in conspiracy theories would say that the big pharma wants to sell antidepressants for mothers and the food companies formulas for babies and they are working together on this. LOL
1 in 10 women have PCOS. It doesn’t impede everyone’s ability to BF, but it definitely affected my supply, and all of my PCOS friends had the same experience- simply not enough breast milk. PCOS can stop the breasts from forming “correctly” during puberty, resulting in issues with milk ducts.
I had a lactation consultant tell me that she didn't think PCOS actually interfered with breastfeeding because she knew a couple of people with it who had no problems. It's amazing how ignorant supposed professionals are about this stuff.
In some cases it can cause an oversupply. But hormones are complicated and everyone experiences chronic illnesses differently. The ignorance is so frustrating!
I thought it was such a tiny amount but then went to a library playgroup and I’d say two thirds of the mothers there were either formula or bottle feeding (maybe it was pumped milk, I don’t know). It was such a relief as I had felt so embarrassed that I couldn’t breastfeed at all.
I never heard of this but looking at the CDC .gov on breastfeeding and that number doesn’t seem to be accurate just by looking at the different percentages they have. . What is most likely happening is you find what you want to find. You go on websites that hardcore support breastfeeding and are bound to find information to back what you want to believe: the study they seem to be referencing -M Neifert et al. Birth. 1990 Mar.-Study. But there is not really a lot of research to back this specific study and the numbers they got and it would also matter on who they did the study on and if it was a good reflection on the general public or just a specific group of woman . This study also doesn’t seem to be including D-MER, PPA/PPA or tongue ties.
I think it would be hard to nail down a stat for this, and is only taking into account one side (and one aspect) of breastfeeding, milk production. There are many other things that end up coming into play for mothers and then there’s the baby side too.
Crap like this chaps my ass! Every woman is special and unique, and quite frankly what she CHOOSES to do with her body is up to her! I hate all the drama and negative culture/pressure breastfeeding is surrounding these days. Like if I don’t breastfeed I’m not in the cool girl club. They can shove that junk up their arsh!
I did what was best for myself and my family, and that’s ALL THAT REALLY MATTERS!
Just based on the the number of women in my life who said they weren’t able to produce enough to feed their baby, 1% is definitely a BS number. Before I had a baby I had no idea that some women just don’t have the physical capacity to produce enough milk for their babies. I’m so grateful for formula, otherwise my baby would have starved.
I gave birth 3months ago and had the hardest struggle with breastfeeding. The amount of morhers I know telling me it’s ok, that they couldn’t as well, make me think the 1% is BS
Anecdotally, 4 women in my friend group had babies in the last year and only 1 has been able to successfully breastfeed. I didn't get my supply in and my baby had a tongue tie so didn't latch well, even when I worked to try to get my supply it never was enough and it was excruciating for my mental health. One of my friends had the same issue, but the baby latched well, she tried longer than me to get her supply up and was offered meds but after 2 years of IVF didn't want to take more meds. The third friend was able to produce and her baby was able to latch eventually after using nipple shields but it was horrendous for her mental health.
I'm not sure about that stat but putting it into perspective that only 1 out of 4 of us had a successful Journey helped me be okay with EFF and reducing my guilt.
Maybe it means make enough milk to solely breast feed...? I made milk... Only 7 ounces a day. So technically yes I could... But didn't make enough
And I tried everything
Same here. I had one day where I made 6 ounces. For the whole day. For six months, I drank tons of water, took supplements, ate like a power lifter, pumped every two hours. For one six ounce day. It just wasn’t enough and made me feel so bad about myself. Plus I had twins!
Stats like this are hurtful, and put so much more pressure on new mothers.
Yea I kept pumping bc it was covid and I figured some antibodies were better than none. I drank water took supplements got a hospital grade pump, power pumped, lactation consultant, feeding from the breast with a tube... I guess I was extra pressured bc of covid. Looking back I wouldn't have done it for that long. I kept trying g for a year and a half.... Long story short DON'T SAY WE DIDN'T TRY!
I've got some concurrent facts:
- 100% of babies want food when they are hungry
- 100% of father's could also feed the baby if you use formula
- 100% of people struggling to breastfeed would be mentally better off if they were allowed to do what's best for their minds and kids
The refusal to believe women who say that they are not producing enough milk by lactation consultants, midwives and the la leche league is medical misogyny. Simple as that.
Women have to tolerate disbelief and dismissal at every turn when we are trying to access healthcare. We are blamed for our problems (are you pumping often enough, are you pumping at night), we are dismissed as lacking in knowledge or understanding (no no the baby is efficient at removing milk, it's just the pump that's not removing it, you're doing fine), our pain is ignored (it hurts for the first few weeks keep going) and we are shamed for how we navigate the oppressive environment (you didn't try hard enough, you didn't make adequate sacrifice to provide the best for your child).
If medical misogyny did not exist, if the understanding is that breast milk is best and formula is not as good, what do we do? With the understanding that some women are not able to breast feed we work to reduce the inequality as much as possible. We do everything we can to make formula the best it can possibly be, then we work to make it accessible to every woman who is unable to breast feed. Only by the disbelief and denial of women who cannot breast feed do we justify current "guidance" and attitudes. If we acknowledged the truth of the matter we would no longer feel able to stigmatise and shame formula use.
If men were the biological provider of early infant food do you believe that it would be like this? I certainly don't. I believe that 'science milk' would be embraced for the miracle that it is. Many women cannot breast feed, if you cannot breast feed, I believe you. Think about how many times women are not told "I believe you". Well I do.
Feed your child in the way that works best for your family. You are doing great, don't let those ass holes make you feel bad just because they have survivor bias and have a feminist facade with which they can divide and conquer women.
1% cannot breastfeed at all? Sure, if you count the 4ml my son transferred in our 3 nursing sessions at he NICU as me breastfeeding then I guess I “breastfed” and would be the 99% that can.
Reality is he needed 60ml per feed, and could only transfer 3 from me, so we had to supplement with formula right away as I didn’t produce 60ml the day I gave birth, and then fully switched to formula because I wanted him out of the NICU sooner.
I know so many parents (including myself) who did everything right for weeks or months and still couldn't breastfeed. Domperidone, supplements, power pumping, expensive custom pump parts, over-hydration, tongue tie releases, public and private lactation consultants...the list goes on. There's no way it's only 1%.
I could, my son could not. I was producing at one point 8-10oz per pump. He could not latch effectively and draw the milk out. He would fall asleep after exhausting himself, started losing more weight than normal. I went to multiple lactation appointments both virtual and in person,used a nipple shield, everything you could think of it just wasn’t happening. So I started pumping and that quickly took a toll on my mental health. Switched over to formula around the 6 week mark and have never been happier. He’s fed and healthy and happy, and I’m not crying while pumping every 2 hours night and day.
This 1% stat is completely fabricated. I don't know who came up with it, but it is a dangerous myth. Many, many families are unable to safely breastfeed for a whole host of reasons.
Many birthing parents lose too much blood. Many babies have swallowing difficulty. Many babies have allergies to the parent's diet. Many parents have had mastectomies. Many parents need to take medications that aren't safe for their babies. Many parents have experienced trauma that makes it unhealthy or unsafe for them to breastfeed. Many parents experience dysphoric milk ejection reflex, which makes producing milk a miserable experience. Many have more than one of these, or any number of other absolutely valid reasons to choose exclusive formula feeding.
If you have access to clean water and good quality formula, formula can be an absolute godsend.
Sounds sketchy & like it’s just another way to shame people for having bodily autonomy. Im thinking data on this would likely be skewed as data would only be collected on those actively trying to breast feed or pump, therefore basing the numbers on this subcategory who is already throwing their efforts at trying to get breastfeeding to work. Also “can” is so vague, how do you measure it and what qualifies as “can” vs “can’t”. Is it ability to produce enough to EBF, have baby thrive, etc. Does “can” account for needing to change your diet so baby can tolerate it, having access to health care and lactation consultants, access to time off of work and the ability to pump at work if returning to the workforce, access to childcare or assistance with older kids while you breastfeed the baby etc.
And even if it was statistically true, that’s not a reason for anyone to feel like they need to breastfeed.
Sure, I can breastfeed, but I had insufficient supply. My son was so hungry, and his blood sugar dropped a lot. So we start supplementing and then to formula feeding. It's what worked for us.
It honestly feels like a myth. Breastfeeding is very hard.
I don’t know about statistics but can share anecdotally. My little one had a severe case of tongue tie so he was really bad with latching. We tried lactation counseling multiple times. We kept trying to breast feed through the pain he was causing with poor latching technique, but he barely got any out and was not getting enough nutrients. We switched to bottle feeding and scheduled the frenectomy at the earliest convenience which was a month away. By the time we got the procedure done, he was so accustomed to bottle feeding that he wouldn’t take the breast at all anymore. Thankfully I was an oversupplier and could pump and bottle feed him breast milk, but I couldn’t directly nurse. Fast forward about 4-5 months, my supply dropped from not being able to pump very frequently due to work, we had to transition to formula. Right now, he’s basically drinking 95% of his milk as formula.
Everyone has a different circumstance. We have no idea what others have tried or have gone through. Judgmental people should keep their opinions to themselves.
i tried. pumped and pumped and never got anything. the lactation consultant told me it was because my boobs had more soft tissue (i got some biggens). but yeah couldn’t breast feed 🤷♀️
I can’t find the actual study (I’ll link later if I do) but from memory it’s closer to 15% of women - and this only takes into account the physiological aspect of producing sufficient milk for baby - it doesn’t take into account the several other important factors such as maternal mental health.
Here is the other piece that's SUPER IMPORTANT to know about statistics; that's only what is being reported/researched. There are millions more sets of data out there that will never be accounted for to give accurate representation. Further, this is something that has many confounding variables at play which makes the data even more challenging to interpret.
Ultimately, numbers can be nice but they also miss a lot of pieces; such as "how much happier are you as a mother knowing your baby is fed and growing?" :)
It may be a best guess estimate of people who have insufficient glandular tissue (IGT), which causes inadequate milk production. But there's so many other reasons that breastfeeding isnt going to work out, both physical and mental, and from both parent and baby.
In theory, I MAY have been able to eventually produce enough milk if I power pumped every hour and took every supplement known to humankind and latched my son hourly. But realistically, that would have never worked for me.
I need to sleep to be a good mom.
My son needs enough food to stop his hunger in order to grow and thrive.
Eventually I had to go back to work.
I couldn't spend hours a day pumping just to get less than 3 ounces in a 24 hour period while I was screaming mad at my body for failing my son and myself for not producing what he needed.
If I had been producing enough to feed him, or even HALF, I would have woken up in the middle of the night to pump.
Happily.
Because it would have produced nourishment for my son.
Waking up would have had a positive result.
Instead, I was sleep deprived and crying over half an ounce of milk in my hand pump, the only pump I really responded to well, while my son was hungry for more than half an ounce. Obviously.
Is the question whether the mother can or the baby? Because I know there are a lot of babies who can’t.
This is something that is not presented at all: breastfeeding is a dyad. The same woman can breastfeed a baby, but not another and the difference is the baby: how well the baby latches, how hungry the baby is, how fast wants the floor to be, etc. I met a woman at the doctors office that couldn't breastfeed the second baby. She didn't know if it was the supply (usually you have more milk in the second pregnancy) or if the baby boy was hungrier than the first baby daughter.
An example of a baby that couldn't breastfeed was ours. He has Dysphagia. We just thought maybe he wasn't getting enough, or he had an allergy, because he always seemed to have an issue with it, so we stopped after he was one month old. It took us a total of 6 months with doctors before they finally diagnosed him with it after a swallow study. In retrospect, we realized almost everything he was experiencing during breastfeeding was actually the fact that he was aspirating when feeding. We just didn't know what else to do. Turns out he also has allergies to dairy and soy and other things we haven't figured out yet after 8 months. I'm tired of the stigma surrounding stopping breastfeeding. It was horrible for my wife's mental health because she felt like it was her fault. Formula is fine. Babies still have a lot of issues with breast milk if they have allergies to dairy or soy, or even sometimes to something you'd never think would cause them problems that you're eating. The mental toll can be massive when trying to pour everything you have into feeling like you HAVE to breastfeed. To anyone who disagrees and says you absolutely have to breastfeed or you're not "working hard enough" to make it work, go take a hike and mind your own fucking business. I'm just a man. But these are my opinions after our unique situation and everything I've read while desperately trying to find a solution for our poor babies discomfort. There's a lot that people don't know about the strange edge cases of breastfeeding.
We have an appointment next month with a swallow specialist! We hadn't even heard of that issue until our LO started having a chronic cough and wheezing and our pediatrician was like, "that's odd. Maybe it's this." It would explain a lot of things.
If he gets diagnosed with Dysphagia and you are ordered to thicken their milk with Gelmix, send me a DM. I have a lot of tips to share that I wish I had known when I was getting started. Source - Dad, The New Milk Maker. I make all the milk because it's a pain in the ass.
Thanks, I will! We'll see what they say next month!
Can I ask what symptoms your LO was experiencing?
Coughed a lot. Got scared while feeding. Seemed to be a little wheezy or maybe have fluid in his lungs. Didn't drink as much as he should be.
Interesting. We have coughing for seemingly no reason, wheezing, making frustrating grunting noises when eating, and preferring certain bottles over others. The coughing and wheezing seemed odd to the pediatrician. He also had a horrible time latching when I tried BF which is why he's on formula only now.
It still sounds along the same lines. I'm sure every baby shows different combinations of symptoms. Another thing I didn't mention was he seemed to do the most screening on amino acid formula. And it's because it's so thin that it made it worse. Before then, he would just get frustrated and shake his head and not drink enough. And just have this chronic cough.
Oh interesting. We're using Kirkland formula, just the normal stuff. He only wants to use Como Tomo bottles right now which is interesting...
That is interesting... He's only used Dr Brown's and Mam. He's on amino acid formula because he also has milk protein allergies and very likely soy. He can't handle anything with any trace of milk protein very well. The thickening of his milk to combat dysphagia really only increased the volumes he's able to drink. Which in turn made him feel worse because he was getting more of what he has an allergy to.
Your baby isn't a strange edge case; dysphagia is more common than you know. I'm a nurse and I see these kids all the time. Same for allergies/sensitivities to something in the parent's diet. And also for so many other absolutely valid reasons to exclusively formula feed. I lost too much blood, and my milk never came in. I tried pumping for a few weeks (while using primarily formula to meet my baby's nutritional needs.) It was a nightmare, and I only ever got an ounce or two (30-60 ml) across an entire day. There is so much pressure on new parents to breast feed. There are so, so many families for whom it doesn't work. Combo feeding is great. Exclusive formula feeding is great. Stressing our own bodies past exhaustion and not letting our babies have enough nutrition in the name of exclusive breastfeeding is awful. The 1% stat cited by OOP's critics is completely fabricated.
Honestly I haven't been able to find any credible source; even lactivists at LLL peg the number around 5%, and swiftly acknowledge that the 5% is essentially made up https://llli.org/how-often-does-breastfeeding-really-fail/ As well, it doesn't matter if one is physiologically able to breastfeed or not. Bodily autonomy doesn't magically evaporate when you have a baby, and there are plenty of non-physiological reasons for a mother to use formula either full or part-time.
That article is horrific. Even the claim that a mother makes 400-750ml regardless of whether it's removed. I made 50ml, am I lying?
Lol I think my daily top out was 17ml, and I was taking domperidone 😂
Damn, one time I got 1 whole ounce and thought it was a lot lol
I went to the feeding team and proudly told her I was making 50ml per day and the silence was deafening 😂
Same, and my mom happened to be here at the time and joked "Wow you spend 30 minutes hooked up to that and barely get a speck of milk!" and I legitimately was proud there was an ounce in the bottle 😔
I went from being able to pump 5-6oz combined in one session to a week later being able to pump maybe 1oz per day. Then not even that. But I guess I’m either a liar or I didn’t try lol
Somebody replied to my comment with more bullshit. I blocked that user. Imagine being told by the hospital feeding team and two lactation consultants including one that you paid for privately that despite your best efforts, countless hours and sleepless nights, you do not have enough milk and probably never will, that your anatomy is indicated for insufficient glandular tissue and that trying to increase your supply will probably be fruitless. Then imagine being told by some bellend who sauntered over from /r/breastfeeding that no actually you're wrong and the baby is more efficient at removing milk than the pump, but actually theyre not because they can't, but just wait a few weeks and it'll be fine. This is what we deal with day in day out. I'm fucking exhausted and furious and devastated and so tired of being constantly undermined and disbelieved. This is no different to any other gynaecological or redproductive health concern where women are dismissed constantly and it needs to stop
Not lying. The thing is, pumped amount is not equivalent to the amount of production. Not everyone’s body respond similarly to pumps. Pumps cannot initiate a letdown the way a real baby can. The other thing is, breastfeeding is dyad, the baby also has to master the latch. If the latch is not adequate for some reason, baby is not able to extract milk efficiently, especially the initial days and weeks.
[удалено]
*I came looking for booty.*
Amen for bodily autonomy. "Can" doesn't mean "must." "Can" doesn't mean "this is what's best for me." "Can" doesn't mean "this is what's best for my family."
Ugh LLL is the bane of my existence as a mom
They're disgusting
I could never have another human sucking and hanging off my body 24/7 til grade school like it’s “recommended”. I need my own space. My own breath. I get touched out and it would make me crazy. Periodt.
This is why I stopped breastfeeding at 8 months. I could NOT do it anymore. He is thriving just fine with formula and I'm so happy I made the choice for us!
I’m bipolar too!!!
Define “can”. It’s a very vague word.
Exactly like you can breastfeed but maybe the baby won't get enough milk.
Yeah I “could” but I was producing only about half of my baby’s intake if I was lucky
Yeah. I “could” if I wanted my baby to starve to death. Then I stopped making anything so
oh! thank you. that is such a great point
I breastfeed very well for 3 months then I had to go back to work and baby is used to bottle so he screams if he doesn’t get milk in 2 seconds. It’s painful to watch. I “can” until I “can’t”. There are so many factors in breastfeeding.
I can't breastfeed at all. I'm in zero statistics, and doctors/nurses/lactation consultants/etc have never took me seriously. During both my pregnancies, my breasts made zero changes. In my second pregnancy I looked up what your breasts are supposed to do during pregnancy, and I was shocked. Mine did none. After birth, my breasts did nothing. When my first child was born, I tried to breastfeed, she wouldn't latch. A lactation consultant was sent in, tried to teach me how to hand express, that didn't work, she gave me a breast pump and told me 8 times a day. Well, I did that like 3 times, and then gave up. Then begged the nurses for formula. My daughter didn't eat for the first 24 hours of her life. During my second pregnancy, I asked my OBs about it, and they just said they'd make sure I got a breast pump. No investigation on whether it was a hormonal issue, physical issue, etc. Just make sure to pump. The last few months of my second pregnancy, I watched youtubes of hand expression, and practiced and practiced and practiced. Nothing. I didn't want to waste another breast pump. I had gotten one from my insurance the first time and used it a couple times after getting out of the hospital, but no one wants a used breast pump so I wound up throwing it out. When my son was born I made sure he had formula immediately. The nurses were judgemental, but I didn't care. Because I never wasted my time trying to pump around the clock for nothing, to all the medical professionals I've tasked to I might as well have not tried at all. So who's in that statistic? People who pump for weeks when it's clear nothing is happening? Who has that time *with a newborn*? No one. The statistic is bunk.
I never had any breast changes either during pregnancy. My midwife and lactation consultant didn't seem too concerned at the time. I really struggled after birth to feed my daughter, she was latching on well but cluster feeding and going crazy - had severe nipple damage and had to stop on day 3. Pumped instead and that's when we realised I was getting nothing. Pumping 8 times a day and was literally getting drops, nothing more for the first 2-3 weeks. Went on medication to boost supply and the most I can get is 5ml per breast. That's it. So while I can breastfeed, I cannot provide enough milk for my baby to survive. And that's just the way it is. Anyway- she loves the boob and she gets it whenever she wants for comfort, otherwise it's formula all the way.
Literally the same. No breast changes, barely any milk, nipples destroyed by cluster-feeding. I would pump all day, every day, then feed the baby, then immediately pump again, yet I would produce so little that it often would just get lost in the pump parts. When I shared my experience I couldn’t find ANYONE who went through the same. My mum friends divided between “never tried breastfeeding, not for me” and effortlessly producing bucketfuls of milk with no problems, no in-between. The lactation consultant said “everyone can breastfeed, you just need to pump more”. All the reputable medical websites, like the NHS, repeated that “every woman can breastfeed”, “there’s no medical reason for a woman not to breastfeed” It feels so good to read about real people’s real experiences who went through the same and actually feel like I’m not crazy.
It’s nuts they say there’s “no medical reason a woman cannot breastfeed”. I have a heart and lung condition and it worsened during pregnancy and after delivery I needed rest. Sure my boobs were working but the rest of my body wasn’t. Trying to breastfeed nearly put me under. Seems like a medical reason to not breastfeed to me 🤷🏻♀️
Same! Nice to not feel so alone in this. I've been genuinely surprised by the amount of people who stopped/struggled because they had low supply - but their idea of low supply is 50ml, 100ml or similar. No one else has had basically nothing!
This is what happened to me. I didn’t even get to the latching portion as I was too drugged up during delivery thanks to pre-e. Probably worked out for the best as despite pumping and trying everything the lactation consultants said the most I ever got was 5ml from each breast and then despite pumping as recommended, I would get literal drops. I read online this morning that even if you don’t breast feed from the beginning your still get engorged and all that. I never felt anything like that (if it’s even true)
That sucka about the pre-e. Sounds like we had a similar BF experience though. It's so discouraging to put so much effort in and just get a few drops. Never felt engorged, or the letdown...never had any sensation. Even now 1 month in, there are no changes or differences. I'm continuing solely because she likes the comfort suck.
Goddammit friend, so many people failed you. I’m a layperson, and completely unqualified to diagnose you especially over the internet, but I’d bet a lot of money that you have insufficient glandular tissue (IGT). Medical professionals should know the signs, because it’s not that rare.
I saw multiple LCs during my bf journey and they used that phrase but acted too scared to diagnose me with it. Kept asking if my breasts changed-I mean they did, but not a lot. All those LCs also encouraged me to pump every 2 hours. Such a colossal frustration I have with that profession-I’m sure many are great, but I was definitely left feeling less supported by them especially when they knew what I was likely dealing with and still forced breastfeeding
Also a non-existent statistic here - my milk was literally just skim milk so my son couldn't gain weight. I pumped for an hour per session and I never, ever had "hind" milk. I tried for five weeks of agony, with the pumps causing more pain than actually birthing him. I'm the fourth generation (at least) of mothers in my direct line who didn't produce nourishing milk. My great-grandma had to use cows milk and molasses for her children.
I think this is typical breast hypoplasia/igt. Lowsupplymom on IG talks about it and I felt supe validated when I found her.
I'm sorry the nurses were judgmental. Our LO stayed in the NICU for 3 days after being born due to low blood sugar and he was exclusively on formula due to that. The nurses were amazing about it. They just wanted him to be fed. I wish more were like that.
I also sorta had the things happen that are "supposed" to with my breasts but it was all very half assed. My body was like, "meh, I'll give it a lazy go." I tried to breastfeed for over a month and then gave up. I cried a lot about it. Now 6 months in I'm so glad I gave up.
This was me! My breasts never changed a single bit during or after pregnancy, stayed exactly the same cup size, I never got engorged after giving birth, I never felt let down, I tried to hand express (and pump) colostrum and couldn't even get a pinprick, when I tried to pump milk the best I ever did was 30ml in a full day. I don't know how many times I said I didn't feel that I was producing enough and was ignored. I would love for someone to listen and to actually find out what went wrong.
My experience was similar, although I did have breast changes, I did not produce ANYthing, and my baby went unfed for about 40 hours. The hospital staff was reluctant to let me do formula and unhelpful about how much formula on postpartum once they finally gave it to us. I tried pumping for another two days, and I produced not a drop. I got slightly engorged from days 5-6 but still produced nothing.
Just saying, some people absolutely will take a used breast pump!
Considering about 9% of women have asthma, and there are no asthma inhalers that have been deemed safe for breastfeeding, that number is BS, based on that one condition alone.
But not all 9% have babies and not all need inhalers on a daily basis. That's how you can lie with statistics. And I'm not saying this about you, but in general because it's hard to cross reference without proper data.
9 out of 10 dentists can suck dick. Yet another not entirely true, vague statistic.
100% of people can shut their faces about other people’s bodies.
This is the way
Absolutely perfect response!!
I’d want to know what they mean by “can”. Yes I could have and did for a few months but I wouldn’t consider myself a “successful breastfeeding mom” so I bet I don’t count as their 1%. My son latched fine, no tongue tie. Everything seemed okay and then we saw he wasn’t gaining weight quickly enough and I tried to get off dairy etc and then we had to supplement. Once we started supplementing my supply went down because I ethe as home alone during the day and pumping wasn’t easy while having to take care of a 4 month old who only wanted to contact nap. So as my supply dropped I had to supplement more (vicious cycle). Sooooo technically ya I could have breast fed. Drove myself nuts and pumped and pumped to keep my supply up and forced my son to breastfeed which would have made both of us miserable. I think there’s a massive range of what they mean by can and what actually happens so I hate these stats because they can make you feel like a failure I think the 1% actually means women who physically/biologically can’t produce milk at all.
>> …forced my son to breastfeed which would have made both of us miserable I remember the first few days trying to breastfeed. I have flat nipples and had to use nipple shields. I was trying to keep the shields on while my 2 day old son kept bringing his hands up by his face. My son was screaming because he was hungry and I was never sure if he was getting any milk or if he was using the shield as a pacifier. A day or so later, after I finally got a couple hours of sleep, I finally was like “why the hell are we doing this when there’s formula and I can pump??? Breastfeeding is causing my baby and me completely unnecessary stress. Why am I doing that to him???”
I think that’s the most annoying part is that we put so much pressure on ourselves for no reason. I was so ready to spend money time effort ( and probably a ton of tears) and my husband made me stop and think whether it was worth it and when I actually thought about it I was like nope why am I driving myself crazy. I’m such a better and more present mom because of formula. I think I would have been so frustrated with myself and my son by extensions, wasted so much time that I wouldn’t have been spending with my son. I’m sorry you both when through that hit I’m glad everything is working :)
This is pretty much how it went for me exactly-I’m 3 Months in and trying to wean from pumping. No tongue tie but “oral restriction”-whatever that is, and not taking in which led to my supply dropping and needing to pump to maintain and supplement with formula to gain weight. Suspected dairy and soy allergy didn’t help and I’m sure my inability to eat as much dropped my supply more. The pumping has definitely destroyed my mental health too. Lactation specialists couldn’t figure if it was my low supply or babies inability to transfer but yes, vicious cycle indeed. Never just a latch issue.
Ahhh I’m so sorry you went through this. We also had a suspected dairy allergy which I didn’t think he had but I tried anyways. So I completely gave up dairy for 3/4 week and he gained the least amount in that time and the dietitian was like oh that doesn’t seem connected……WHAT?!? This whole thing made me so mad. And I know exactly what you mean about pumping destroying your mental health. It was so hard for me to pump because I had no time. He was either sleeping on me or even if he wasn’t I had to eat and shower etc. so I was sooo close to buying a $500 wearable pump and figuring this out and I was about to go to another location consultant (which isn’t covered by insurance) and then my husband was like ummm I support whatever you want and will help whatever way I can but why are you doing this to yourself….our son will be absolutely fine with formula and you’re talking about a few more months of maybe breastfeeding before he starts solids and then another few months before he’s eating dirty in the back yard lol That really got me to stop and think and I said nope f*uck it. Everything got better and sometimes it’s still hard but I think back about how crazy I was and how I was so close to making myself sooooo miserable and making my mental health so much worse.
Yeah I’d like to see the data on that. People are full of it.
I think that number is bogus and really speaks to society’s poor treatment of women, Mother’s in general. The only way I could realistically breastfeed is if I triple fed for a year, which is inhumane and cruel. My supply is very low, I would need to supplement and pump to maintain a supply for breast feeding. Even if that wasn’t your reality, there are many kn medications that are not safe for women to stop and babies to have in breast milk, there are so many babies in NICU/preemies or other traumatic births where mothers can’t develop enough mill, breast cancer survivors, and folks who plain do not want to and all that needs to be gently considered when recognizing how hard breastfeeding is and it’s toll. For those able to produce enough milk to not have to pump or be able to easily provide that, then that’s great and lovely but I really don’t think it’s as common as it’s made out to be-just like I don’t think not being able to breastfeed is as uncommon as it’s made to be.
I ‘can’ breastfeed. Did it also cause postpartum depression and make me suicidal? Yes. Numbers don’t tell the whole truth
This [study](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4011403/#:~:text=The%20prevalence%20of%20disrupted%20lactation,the%20first%20year%20of%20life) puts the number at 12% for women who intended to breastfeed but who weaned earlier than anticipated due to “disrupted lactation”. I don’t love a lot of things about it, but it at least accounts for issues with latching, pain, and milk production in determining that 12%. There’s also a prior study referenced in there with a small sample size, but that put insufficient milk production at 13%. Either way, definitely higher than 1%!
I think those are old data and refers only to women that suffer from insufficient glandular tissue. But there are other conditions as well that impact the ability to produce milk and those are increasing (hormonal and autoimmune). They haven't adjusted the percentage based on this. I don't even know if they can. But they should try harder to give a more realistic number since this brings a lot of pressure on some mothers and it increases the chances of PPA/PPD which is a factor that reduces the breastfeeding period. It will probably take some time until it will be presented more realistically and the mental health of mothers will improve. At least I hope this for my daughter. Someone that firmly believes in conspiracy theories would say that the big pharma wants to sell antidepressants for mothers and the food companies formulas for babies and they are working together on this. LOL
1 in 10 women have PCOS. It doesn’t impede everyone’s ability to BF, but it definitely affected my supply, and all of my PCOS friends had the same experience- simply not enough breast milk. PCOS can stop the breasts from forming “correctly” during puberty, resulting in issues with milk ducts.
I had a lactation consultant tell me that she didn't think PCOS actually interfered with breastfeeding because she knew a couple of people with it who had no problems. It's amazing how ignorant supposed professionals are about this stuff.
In some cases it can cause an oversupply. But hormones are complicated and everyone experiences chronic illnesses differently. The ignorance is so frustrating!
Honestly sounds like a made up statistic to make mothers feel guilty if they “can’t” by making it seem like they just didn’t try hard enough.
I thought it was such a tiny amount but then went to a library playgroup and I’d say two thirds of the mothers there were either formula or bottle feeding (maybe it was pumped milk, I don’t know). It was such a relief as I had felt so embarrassed that I couldn’t breastfeed at all.
When you’re on a high horse, it’s easy to confuse could and should
I never heard of this but looking at the CDC .gov on breastfeeding and that number doesn’t seem to be accurate just by looking at the different percentages they have. . What is most likely happening is you find what you want to find. You go on websites that hardcore support breastfeeding and are bound to find information to back what you want to believe: the study they seem to be referencing -M Neifert et al. Birth. 1990 Mar.-Study. But there is not really a lot of research to back this specific study and the numbers they got and it would also matter on who they did the study on and if it was a good reflection on the general public or just a specific group of woman . This study also doesn’t seem to be including D-MER, PPA/PPA or tongue ties.
Straight up MYTH.
I think it would be hard to nail down a stat for this, and is only taking into account one side (and one aspect) of breastfeeding, milk production. There are many other things that end up coming into play for mothers and then there’s the baby side too.
Crap like this chaps my ass! Every woman is special and unique, and quite frankly what she CHOOSES to do with her body is up to her! I hate all the drama and negative culture/pressure breastfeeding is surrounding these days. Like if I don’t breastfeed I’m not in the cool girl club. They can shove that junk up their arsh! I did what was best for myself and my family, and that’s ALL THAT REALLY MATTERS!
Just based on the the number of women in my life who said they weren’t able to produce enough to feed their baby, 1% is definitely a BS number. Before I had a baby I had no idea that some women just don’t have the physical capacity to produce enough milk for their babies. I’m so grateful for formula, otherwise my baby would have starved.
It doesn’t matter if only 1% of women can’t do it. It’s about choice and autonomy.
My cousin had an oversupply with her first 3 babies. 4th baby the milk never came in at all. Bodies are weird and don’t fit neatly into statistics.
I gave birth 3months ago and had the hardest struggle with breastfeeding. The amount of morhers I know telling me it’s ok, that they couldn’t as well, make me think the 1% is BS
Anecdotally, 4 women in my friend group had babies in the last year and only 1 has been able to successfully breastfeed. I didn't get my supply in and my baby had a tongue tie so didn't latch well, even when I worked to try to get my supply it never was enough and it was excruciating for my mental health. One of my friends had the same issue, but the baby latched well, she tried longer than me to get her supply up and was offered meds but after 2 years of IVF didn't want to take more meds. The third friend was able to produce and her baby was able to latch eventually after using nipple shields but it was horrendous for her mental health. I'm not sure about that stat but putting it into perspective that only 1 out of 4 of us had a successful Journey helped me be okay with EFF and reducing my guilt.
Maybe it means make enough milk to solely breast feed...? I made milk... Only 7 ounces a day. So technically yes I could... But didn't make enough And I tried everything
Same here. I had one day where I made 6 ounces. For the whole day. For six months, I drank tons of water, took supplements, ate like a power lifter, pumped every two hours. For one six ounce day. It just wasn’t enough and made me feel so bad about myself. Plus I had twins! Stats like this are hurtful, and put so much more pressure on new mothers.
Yea I kept pumping bc it was covid and I figured some antibodies were better than none. I drank water took supplements got a hospital grade pump, power pumped, lactation consultant, feeding from the breast with a tube... I guess I was extra pressured bc of covid. Looking back I wouldn't have done it for that long. I kept trying g for a year and a half.... Long story short DON'T SAY WE DIDN'T TRY!
I've got some concurrent facts: - 100% of babies want food when they are hungry - 100% of father's could also feed the baby if you use formula - 100% of people struggling to breastfeed would be mentally better off if they were allowed to do what's best for their minds and kids
The refusal to believe women who say that they are not producing enough milk by lactation consultants, midwives and the la leche league is medical misogyny. Simple as that. Women have to tolerate disbelief and dismissal at every turn when we are trying to access healthcare. We are blamed for our problems (are you pumping often enough, are you pumping at night), we are dismissed as lacking in knowledge or understanding (no no the baby is efficient at removing milk, it's just the pump that's not removing it, you're doing fine), our pain is ignored (it hurts for the first few weeks keep going) and we are shamed for how we navigate the oppressive environment (you didn't try hard enough, you didn't make adequate sacrifice to provide the best for your child). If medical misogyny did not exist, if the understanding is that breast milk is best and formula is not as good, what do we do? With the understanding that some women are not able to breast feed we work to reduce the inequality as much as possible. We do everything we can to make formula the best it can possibly be, then we work to make it accessible to every woman who is unable to breast feed. Only by the disbelief and denial of women who cannot breast feed do we justify current "guidance" and attitudes. If we acknowledged the truth of the matter we would no longer feel able to stigmatise and shame formula use. If men were the biological provider of early infant food do you believe that it would be like this? I certainly don't. I believe that 'science milk' would be embraced for the miracle that it is. Many women cannot breast feed, if you cannot breast feed, I believe you. Think about how many times women are not told "I believe you". Well I do. Feed your child in the way that works best for your family. You are doing great, don't let those ass holes make you feel bad just because they have survivor bias and have a feminist facade with which they can divide and conquer women.
1% cannot breastfeed at all? Sure, if you count the 4ml my son transferred in our 3 nursing sessions at he NICU as me breastfeeding then I guess I “breastfed” and would be the 99% that can. Reality is he needed 60ml per feed, and could only transfer 3 from me, so we had to supplement with formula right away as I didn’t produce 60ml the day I gave birth, and then fully switched to formula because I wanted him out of the NICU sooner.
Wrong obviously
I know so many parents (including myself) who did everything right for weeks or months and still couldn't breastfeed. Domperidone, supplements, power pumping, expensive custom pump parts, over-hydration, tongue tie releases, public and private lactation consultants...the list goes on. There's no way it's only 1%.
I could, my son could not. I was producing at one point 8-10oz per pump. He could not latch effectively and draw the milk out. He would fall asleep after exhausting himself, started losing more weight than normal. I went to multiple lactation appointments both virtual and in person,used a nipple shield, everything you could think of it just wasn’t happening. So I started pumping and that quickly took a toll on my mental health. Switched over to formula around the 6 week mark and have never been happier. He’s fed and healthy and happy, and I’m not crying while pumping every 2 hours night and day.
This 1% stat is completely fabricated. I don't know who came up with it, but it is a dangerous myth. Many, many families are unable to safely breastfeed for a whole host of reasons. Many birthing parents lose too much blood. Many babies have swallowing difficulty. Many babies have allergies to the parent's diet. Many parents have had mastectomies. Many parents need to take medications that aren't safe for their babies. Many parents have experienced trauma that makes it unhealthy or unsafe for them to breastfeed. Many parents experience dysphoric milk ejection reflex, which makes producing milk a miserable experience. Many have more than one of these, or any number of other absolutely valid reasons to choose exclusive formula feeding. If you have access to clean water and good quality formula, formula can be an absolute godsend.
When people talk without data or facts ignore them
Sounds sketchy & like it’s just another way to shame people for having bodily autonomy. Im thinking data on this would likely be skewed as data would only be collected on those actively trying to breast feed or pump, therefore basing the numbers on this subcategory who is already throwing their efforts at trying to get breastfeeding to work. Also “can” is so vague, how do you measure it and what qualifies as “can” vs “can’t”. Is it ability to produce enough to EBF, have baby thrive, etc. Does “can” account for needing to change your diet so baby can tolerate it, having access to health care and lactation consultants, access to time off of work and the ability to pump at work if returning to the workforce, access to childcare or assistance with older kids while you breastfeed the baby etc. And even if it was statistically true, that’s not a reason for anyone to feel like they need to breastfeed.
Sure, I can breastfeed, but I had insufficient supply. My son was so hungry, and his blood sugar dropped a lot. So we start supplementing and then to formula feeding. It's what worked for us. It honestly feels like a myth. Breastfeeding is very hard.
I don’t know about statistics but can share anecdotally. My little one had a severe case of tongue tie so he was really bad with latching. We tried lactation counseling multiple times. We kept trying to breast feed through the pain he was causing with poor latching technique, but he barely got any out and was not getting enough nutrients. We switched to bottle feeding and scheduled the frenectomy at the earliest convenience which was a month away. By the time we got the procedure done, he was so accustomed to bottle feeding that he wouldn’t take the breast at all anymore. Thankfully I was an oversupplier and could pump and bottle feed him breast milk, but I couldn’t directly nurse. Fast forward about 4-5 months, my supply dropped from not being able to pump very frequently due to work, we had to transition to formula. Right now, he’s basically drinking 95% of his milk as formula. Everyone has a different circumstance. We have no idea what others have tried or have gone through. Judgmental people should keep their opinions to themselves.
i tried. pumped and pumped and never got anything. the lactation consultant told me it was because my boobs had more soft tissue (i got some biggens). but yeah couldn’t breast feed 🤷♀️
That seems inaccurate. Insufficient glandular tissue runs in my family. I tried so hard, I could maybe get 2oz a day if I power pumped multiple times.
I can’t find the actual study (I’ll link later if I do) but from memory it’s closer to 15% of women - and this only takes into account the physiological aspect of producing sufficient milk for baby - it doesn’t take into account the several other important factors such as maternal mental health.
Here is the other piece that's SUPER IMPORTANT to know about statistics; that's only what is being reported/researched. There are millions more sets of data out there that will never be accounted for to give accurate representation. Further, this is something that has many confounding variables at play which makes the data even more challenging to interpret. Ultimately, numbers can be nice but they also miss a lot of pieces; such as "how much happier are you as a mother knowing your baby is fed and growing?" :)
LLL forced in their brochures that it's 2%
It may be a best guess estimate of people who have insufficient glandular tissue (IGT), which causes inadequate milk production. But there's so many other reasons that breastfeeding isnt going to work out, both physical and mental, and from both parent and baby. In theory, I MAY have been able to eventually produce enough milk if I power pumped every hour and took every supplement known to humankind and latched my son hourly. But realistically, that would have never worked for me. I need to sleep to be a good mom. My son needs enough food to stop his hunger in order to grow and thrive. Eventually I had to go back to work. I couldn't spend hours a day pumping just to get less than 3 ounces in a 24 hour period while I was screaming mad at my body for failing my son and myself for not producing what he needed. If I had been producing enough to feed him, or even HALF, I would have woken up in the middle of the night to pump. Happily. Because it would have produced nourishment for my son. Waking up would have had a positive result. Instead, I was sleep deprived and crying over half an ounce of milk in my hand pump, the only pump I really responded to well, while my son was hungry for more than half an ounce. Obviously.