Another story about low milk supply
25 November 2011
I have written blogs before about mothers suffering from low milk supply and I have now been inspired to write another one following an article about gorillas (!) in the Daily Mail on Saturday, 19th November. The heading of this article is "How a British zoo worker adopted a dying baby gorilla and nursed him back to health in her own home". The article describes how a six-month-old gorilla named Okanda became increasingly listless and unwell and tests showed the cause of his problems was that the quality of his mother's milk wasn't good enough. Okanda wasn't getting the nutrients he needed and his keepers said “If we had kept him with his mum he would have died”. He was nursed back to health by a combination of tube-feeding and bottle-feeding, using baby formula milk.
The reason I find this article so interesting is because it shows, yet again, that nature doesn't always get it right. Most mothers are told that their breasts will always supply the amount of milk their baby needs, providing they are eating a healthy diet and feeding on demand, but every week I see mothers who have not found this to be the case. In many cases, their baby has lost more than 10% of his birth-weight and/or is still not back to his birth-weight after several weeks of following the standard advice of endless feeding, skin-to-skin contact etc. These mothers always find it reassuring when I point out to them that they are not a failure and that many other mothers have similar problems...... and so do animals!
Nonetheless, I do worry that they have come to me for breastfeeding advice and sometimes there is nothing I can do to help them other than to explain that they need to supplement with formula for their baby's happiness and well-being. It is therefore very comforting when I hear back from clients saying that they recognise that I was acting in their best interest. Last week I got this lovely letter from one such mother, which I have printed in its entirety to make the point that not only was the mother happy with my advice, but she is also recommending me to her friends and family - even though I didn't sort out her breastfeeding problems. I have changed their names to protect their privacy.
Dear Clare,
I wanted to very belatedly get in touch and thank you for your help and advice when James was born. At the time I found it very hard to accept that I wasn’t able to produce enough milk but your straight forward, honest approach made it much easier to deal with. James is now 12 weeks old and is still happily having an aperitif of breast milk followed by a main course of formula! It has worked, and continues to work, very well for us and he is thriving. I am very grateful to you for making me face reality and encouraging me to do the right thing for James rather than struggling on with exclusively breast feeding. It enabled me to get on with getting to know him and enjoying him rather than endlessly agonising about feeding. You asked me to let you know if I tried Domperidone; I did try it for 8 weeks and it had a small but not particularly significant effect. However, to begin with it helped me psychologically to feel as though I was doing something and hadn’t just given up.
My sister is due to give birth soon and I have been singing your praises to her. I hope it is O.K to have passed on your details and I think she is likely to be in touch once her baby has been born.
Thanks again
With best wishes,
Sarah