Only 5% of women suffer from a Physiologically Insufficient Milk Supply — NIH

[Anonymous]

...”Although up to 50% of women report that they perceive their milk supply to be insufficient.”

This is a fascinating statistic, and rather alarming give all the stories of low milk supply. Seems like NIH has found that low milk supply is most often due to psychological reasons, not physiological reasons.

[Anonymous]

How about social reasons? Women are not supported in breastfeeding by a system that provides no paid maternity leave to most women.

I haven’t read the study and know that “psychological” reasons exist as well - I believe I personally struggled with supply while pumping because in addition to the pump being less efficient than the baby, I hated the pump. But I do think that realistically, many women who would otherwise be able to breastfeed are either culturally trained not to want to or are living lives that are not conducive to breastfeeding. I truly don’t care how other women choose to feed their babies, but I do think that lack of meaningful social support for breastfeeding results in a lot of milk supply difficulties.

[Anonymous]

How on earth could they differentiate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How on earth could they differentiate?

I think the only way it could be a physical issue is if there was some kind of breast surgery, right? Anything else?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How on earth could they differentiate?

I think the only way it could be a physical issue is if there was some kind of breast surgery, right? Anything else?

No, that’s a stupid thing to say.

[Anonymous]

Link?

I don’t trust their definition of “physiological.” How are they measuring that? Do they define it allowing a newborn to lose weight and get just to the point of dehydration and FTT? Because yeah, 50% of moms (if not more) are going to accept dehydrating their baby “just a little bit” just to avoid a bottle of formula.

[Anonymous]

So is the purpose of this post just to make women who might already be struggling to breastfeed feel worse? “Oh, this one study suggests that your struggles to feed your child might all be your fault because they’re in your head.”

[Anonymous]

More women should be warned that for SOME women, there IS a difference between your ability to make and let down milk for a baby and your ability to PUMP milk.

I couldn't pump milk to save my life, but had no supply problems when actually feeding a baby. I wasn't working, so I didn't have to pump and had very fat EBF Infants.

But the second I tried to pump, To build a back up supply, I dried up like a raisin. It was totally psychological.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How on earth could they differentiate?

I think the only way it could be a physical issue is if there was some kind of breast surgery, right? Anything else?

So much more. Medications that decrease milk supply, severe anemia (including postpartum hemorrhage), maternal endocrine disorders, premature delivery ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How on earth could they differentiate?

I think the only way it could be a physical issue is if there was some kind of breast surgery, right? Anything else?

So much more. Medications that decrease milk supply, severe anemia (including postpartum hemorrhage), maternal endocrine disorders, premature delivery ...

The hospital lactation consultant declared within 1 minute of meeting me that I may not make milk bc of hypothyroidism and pcos ( I'm currently making enough, it just hadn't come in yet)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How on earth could they differentiate?

I think the only way it could be a physical issue is if there was some kind of breast surgery, right? Anything else?

So much more. Medications that decrease milk supply, severe anemia (including postpartum hemorrhage), maternal endocrine disorders, premature delivery ...

The hospital lactation consultant declared within 1 minute of meeting me that I may not make milk bc of hypothyroidism and pcos ( I'm currently making enough, it just hadn't come in yet)

Did you mean "might not," as in it might be a problem or might not be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More women should be warned that for SOME women, there IS a difference between your ability to make and let down milk for a baby and your ability to PUMP milk.

I couldn't pump milk to save my life, but had no supply problems when actually feeding a baby. I wasn't working, so I didn't have to pump and had very fat EBF Infants.

But the second I tried to pump, To build a back up supply, I dried up like a raisin. It was totally psychological.

NP - why is your conclusion that it’s psychological? The physical experience of breastfeeding is very different than that of pumping. Those changes can absolutely increase milk supply. That doesn’t mean the reasons aren’t real, which is what you seem to be implying.

I’m one of those women who, when she returned to work, couldn’t pump enough to keep up with her infant’s needs. Oh well. Ideally, our country would be humane and offer, I don’t know, six months of paid maternity leave to every mother to use as she sees fit. I would have happily EBF for those six months and then weaned. Pumping is evil.

[Anonymous]

I produced plenty of milk for one baby, but I had twins so it wasn’t enough. I’ll concede that part of the problem may have been psychological, but I made myself crazy, trying to bf exclusively. The doctors let me know that I HAD to supplement with formula for the sake of my babies. They were right and my babies thrived after that. Women should not be told that supply will automatically meet demand. They should just be counseled in ways to increase their supply and reassured that there’s nothing wrong with using formula if they need or want to.

[Anonymous]

Universal paid six month maternity leave seems like a big ask, why not just invent better freaking breast pumps?

[Anonymous]

Interesting
Well, I’m part of the 5%. Only ever transferred one ounce during weighted feeds and only ever pumped one ounce.