For many breastfeeding mothers, low milk supply is a constant worry. During my first few months as a nursing mother I dealt with minor supply issues. However, I was so distracted by other breastfeeding issues that I didn’t fully address the problem of low milk supply until my daughters were over 6 months old.
I have twin daughters, Julia and Aria, they were born April 27th, 2011. We had planned on having the twins naturally at home, but they ended up being born by c-section after a long 3 days of labor. Needless to say the birth was traumatic, but my work was far from done. I was DETERMINED to breastfeed. In my mind there was no other option.
I’ll recap the first 7 months for you. It was a seemingly endless test of my determination to breastfeed. I had grown up around women who breastfed their babies and knew it wasn’t always a walk in the park, but I had no idea how hard it would be.
Both girls had clampdown bite reflex. It took Julia 4 months to outgrow this and I was so concentrated on Julia the first months I didn’t realize Aria had the same problem. Because of this, Aria formed a habit of bad latching that will still show up if she’s stressed or overly hungry. I also dealt with thrush, mastitis, post-partum depression and have Raynaud phenomenon.
Raynaud’s is basically a circulation problem. I won’t explain more about it here other than it is intensely painful. Breastfeeding did not let me win without a long hard fight, but I did finally win. I have a wonderful husband, supportive family, a faithful God and a determination inherited from my mother that saw me through those tough months.
Breastfeeding Crisis: Low Milk Supply
When Aria and Julia turned 7 months old my milk supply started to diminish. The girls became very fussy, and I began to use the milk I had stored in the freezer for extra feedings.
I increased my liquid intake, food portions and nursed frequently. In the past that’s all I had to do to resolve low milk supply. But I didn’t see any difference even after weeks of doing this. In fact, my milk supply was watery, and diminishing.
After everything I’d gone through I couldn’t and wouldn’t believe that low milk supply would be my Achilles heel!
My diet during this time was full of pasture raised organic eggs, grass-fed beef, broths, lots of veggies and an occasional smoothie with raw milk. I was healthy, exercised, cooked 99% from scratch… I didn’t know what I was doing wrong!?
I had loaned my copy of Nourishing Traditions to a friend, so I headed to my library to see if they had it. I searched Sally Fallon in the database and found that the library’s copy of the book was checked out, but another book showed up that Sally Fallon had written the forward to: The Untold Story of Milk by Dr. Ron Schmid. I took it home and started reading.
I’d always been a supporter of raw milk, but had never really read up on it. When I saw the book at the library I figured I should research the raw milk issue more thoroughly. As I made my way through the book I was fascinated by the corrupt history of pasteurized milk and the benefits of raw milk. I hated drinking plain milk, but it was obviously very nutritious so I half-heartedly bought a whole gallon of raw milk and intended to increase my smoothie making. It sat in my fridge for several days until I read this about Dr. Francis Pottenger MD:
“Pottenger’s research so convinced him of the importance of raw milk that he recommended one quart of raw milk per day to pregnant and nursing women. According to Pottenger, women who did not have access to raw milk, or who refused to drink it, put the development of their babies in jeopardy and should not breastfeed.”
Ouch!
It was late at night and I had already pumped. But I went into the kitchen and gagged down a huge glass of raw milk. It wasn’t that bad, but I was still grossed out at the thought of drinking a quart a day! I thought, Oh well, that guy was just over the top and it probably wouldn’t even help. I brushed my teeth very thoroughly and went to bed.
Low Milk Supply Resolves After One Large Glass of Raw Milk
Then the miracle happened…I woke up around 5am engorged and leaking everywhere! I pumped almost 6 ounces, and then nursed my girls when they woke up an hour later.
Well, that was the end of me refusing to drink raw milk!
My milk that I had just pumped was thick and my daughters were obviously happier than they had been in days. I was an overnight raw milk advocate!
It took me awhile to get used to drinking plain raw milk, and I did cheat… I added carob, homemade chocolate syrup, or made smoothies with it the first month or so, and I didn’t always drink an entire quart… But I now drink 2 large glasses a day, and crave it if I’m tired, hungry or after I exercise. It’s a mother’s dream food because it doesn’t require cooking or prep, just open the fridge and pour a glass.
In March my milk supply was once again put to the test. The girls were 11 months old at this point… So, they had large appetites. Both of the girls got the chicken pox and exclusively nursed for almost a week. Aria had them worse than Julia and so she exclusively nursed for over a week. I was tired, but didn’t have any supply issues. In fact, I was still able to pump extra at the end of each day. After the chicken pox was over I knew I didn’t need to ever worry about low milk supply issues again.
Raw Milk Helps Moms With Low Milk Supply!
Aria and Julia are now 13 months old. They nurse 3-4 times a day each, and are happy healthy little girls. I’m not really thinking of weaning at this point. It took almost 9 months to finally figure out breastfeeding, and the past four months have been awesome. Last month they started tandem nursing again… Being a mom is tiring. If it wasn’t for the pauses of nursing during the day I don’t know if I’d sit down and just enjoy my children. It forces you to sit, think and notice your baby. And when nursing is over they’re so endearing that I end up playing with them and ignoring the dishes and laundry. If I was giving them bottles they would independently feed themselves and I would probably continue on with my chores.
As a mother of twins I feel compelled to share my story. I believe it’s vital to breastfeed multiples because of the bonding time. If you’re pregnant with multiples most doctors will assume that you won’t even try to nurse, or that you’ll automatically supplement, but prove them wrong. The first 6 months is insane and even though it was so painful to nurse I’m glad I did. I was able to really get to know each one individually and I’ve never really felt guilty about ignoring one over the other.
One more note to breastfeeding mothers. I did talk to different lactation consultants during those months, but discovered that the research I did on my own was far more fruitful. The lactation consultants were very nice, but I don’t think any of them expected me to succeed.
In our culture it seems to be instilled in us to “try your best, but not to worry if you fail because no one will blame you.” That attitude is particularly prevalent in the medical world towards breastfeeding. Lactation consultants, nurses and doctors would give me a pat on the back for attempting to breastfeed, give me some useless advice, then proceed to tell me that “no one would blame me if I supplemented with formula. In fact, some women just aren’t able to breastfeed, and it would be less stressful if I just supplemented.”
Those kinds of comments fed the fire beneath me to prove them wrong, and honestly helped me stick to breastfeeding no matter what. I will admit that I was a die-hard and nothing else mattered at times. Was I too hard on myself? I don’t think so. I think we’re just conditioned to think that if something is gut-wrenchingly hard and painful then it might not be worth it. Well, it is worth it. Nursing is our special mother/baby time. Breastfeeding is also VERY important for the mother’s health. It helps to lose weight, forces you to keep yourself nourished and to sleep well.
When a mother has her baby she needs to take things slowly and not jump right back into the fast lane. Sit, contemplate and fully enjoy your beautiful new baby. You spent 9 long months making that child lying in your arms, now enjoy the fruits of your labor!
I have nursed all 7 of my children for over 2 years each some of them 3+ years. I started this journey 31 years ago so my info is not current, but still valid. 3 months after my first child was born we adopted a newborn. I nursed her right along side my son. My milk increased immediately. I was very blessed and was able to nurse both babies with no real problems that I could not over come, including mastitis a few times. I stopped nursing when i became pregnant with my next child.
Back in the day with no blogs, internet, or such things to connect us to gross amount of knowledge and experience we relied on friends and family to help us through. Doctors had their place but really never knew much about breast feeding except “keep doing it it will get better”, and it did.
What i do know about breast feeding and having adequate supply is the mother needs to eat! I am 1/2 Japanese so vegetables have always been a huge part of my diet, cooked not raw, though i did eat the typical raw veg that everyone did, salad stuff. But I ate huge servings of stirfry, which was a typical meal at our house. Lots of quickly cooked vegetables in great variety along fried up with meat and rice on the side. I was always hungry and ate often! Especially nursing 2 babies! I drank milk but i didn’t know about raw milk in those days, so pasteurized it was! my mom would tell me to drink more milk. Funny for a Japanese who hardly ever drink milk as a cultural thing. I think i only saw my mom drink milk once or twice in her life. I would tell her, mom, cows don’t drink milk to make milk, they eat greens and that is what i did albeit they were cooked with meat and a little fat. She would giggle her cute laugh and say, you are right, eat vegetables!
Now I love raw milk and feed it to my family everyday. I highly recommend it to anyone nursing or no. And if it helped this gal, (loved her story) then that is great! if you are having trouble keeping up your milk supply then try it! What have you got to lose? But also eat food, cook those veggies put raw butter on them, and eat fewer refined carbs but do eat carbs. Get that whole thing in balance with vegetables, carbs, protein and healthy fat! and don’t starve yourself trying to get your figure back, it will come as you keep nursing and eating healthy foods.
At least it worked for me though my sisters had a harder time losing weight after each baby cause they ate way more refined carbs than i did. I find healthy foods fill you up and nourish you better and you have less tendency to over eat and fewer weight issues. I highly recommend nursing and while no one way is the solution for all, I’m sure if i had access to and drank lots of raw milk i would have been successful at nursing on this diet too cause it provides all the nutrients i needed to produce healthy milk in adequate amounts.
I do agree, a glass of raw milk is the perfect fast food!
wow! 3 days of labor! i’m glad everything was ok! your girls are beautiful! great post! thanks for sharing!
Just want to give a shout out to all you nursing moms – good for you.
Science is good but the longer I am immersed in Nourishing
Traditions, the more I find science is backing up their recommendations.
Breast milk changes sometimes hourly to supply the needs of the baby. That’s pretty
much a “recent discovery”, scientifically speaking, of course.
My dad was born in 1925 nursed until he was two. When I had my babies
in the 90’s it was he who so encouraged me to nurse! Mom bottle fed us all
because “science” said it was better. There is value and good sense to tradition; science will catch up even more I suspect, and will tell us all to drink our raw milk.
1. Humans weren’t “designed,” we evolved and are still evolving, – daily according to the latest discoveries in epigentics. 2. SOME humans HAVE adapted the mutation to digest lactose, with evidence pointing as long ago as 40K or as I suspect, even further back; most Europeans, Eurasians and a few sub-Saharan tribes have this gene. The adaption of the use of milk from mammals certainly contributed to the expansion of tribes from the Eurasian Steppes. Most misinformed or worse, uniformed attackers of raw milk consumption frequently use the “cow milk is for cows” argument when the truth is some of us have adapted and some of us have not.
Thanks Brittany for sharing your story! Your an amazing woman for what you did! I got teary remembering how hard breastfeeding was for me. But it wasn’t nearly as hard as what you went through. After seeing multiple lactation specialist, it was my midwife that finally discovered that I had insufficient milk dudes. She said I was lucky that I was able to breast feed at all. I was blessed to have a sister & a best friend to donate breastmilk so I could supplement. Anyone know if there is a way to help my breast develop more milk dudes?
I’ve never heard of insufficient milk ducts, but maybe you have plugged milk ducts? Either way… I would assume from what I’ve read that the “solution” would be to nurse more? Supply and demand! Another theory would be that you may have some sort of hormonal imbalance. If it was myself I would really concentrate on eating whole nourishing foods, cutting out any sort of refined foods, chemicals(shampoo, make-up, cleaners) and make sure you get exercise and fresh air. Homeopathy is a very gentle holistic approach to healing your body as well. Of course, there’s the endless resource of the internet to scour… Although I’m a huge library fan, so if there’s a library near you search for breastfeeding books or something of that sort. I really hope you are able to find a solution and are able to breastfeed easily soon!!
Lauren Sturm …you might find answers to your question reading this article… http://www.realmilk.com/raw.html
Oops, continued …the. store is so denatured by everything they do to it that it really should not even be called milk anymore in my opinion. I would give it a try if I were you! It is also sooo delicious I’m going to go have a glass now then breastfeed my 3 month old boy 🙂
This is so true! I drank about a quart of raw milk a day while I was pregnant and continue to (she is 2 months old). Absolutely no supply issues. If she sleeps a bit later than usual there is definitely some leaking.
Pottenger, after doing his research about raw milk, gave his opinion that a woman that does not drink raw milk will “put the development of their babies in jeopardy and should not breastfeed.” Everything this man learned about raw milk and its benefits is entirely true, however his statement about putting babies in jeopardy is entirely his opinion. I can’t tell you, over the years of having six children, how many people’s opinions, good and bad, I’ve had to sift through. If, however, Brittany, read Pottenger’s statement, tried it, and found it helpful for her particular situation, we should all applauding this for her! After months of working so hard to breastfeed her beautiful daughters, Brittany has found what works for her! I would shout it from the rooftops too!! At every La Leche League meeting I’ve ever led, I state that if a mother finds some information within the meeting that she doesn’t agree with, to take from the meeting what she likes and leave the rest behind. Many women posting here should follow this advice. Rejoice with Bethany, and don’t jeopardize, with your words, the right for other women to hear Brittany’s story and put it to the test for themselves.
Kathy Shearer Wife, Mother of 6, Farm owner, Raw milk advocate, Real food lover, fellow die-hard nursing mother, and 18-year La Leche League Leader
Just to answer some different comments…I’ll try to answer everything(some stuff is “tongue in cheek” so don’t take everything so seriously.
First of all… Thank you to Jennifer for wording your comment politely, and to Kathy(you got it right on)! I agree with you(@Jennifer) that it “seems” to say most women can’t breastfeed twins… But I believe Sarah was writing what many in our culture want us to believe(NOT what I or her believe), and we’re here to prove that wrong. I do know lots of women who have breastfed just fine, but I also know many, many women who have had a rough time of it, or have quit nursing because of what the doctors called “supply issues.”
What I wrote is true. It all happened…and there’s a lot more that I left out. My close family, friends and mostly my husband experienced my pain and trails along with me. I sometimes wish some of it didn’t happen, but it did.
I grew up around breastfeeding mothers and have always believed it is the right and natural thing to do… Through this past year I kept this belief, and that is what drove me to research every aspect of breastfeeding to find out what was wrong. If there’s one thing I want women to take away from this article it’s to find out things for yourself. A mother’s instinct is stronger than we give it credit for and I wish mothers would stop running to everyone else for advice and just trust their gut instinct. With that said, read and really research if you’re having trouble breastfeeding. EVERY MOTHER is different!
Another reason I wrote this is whenever I was struggling I would google “breastfeeding success stories” or something like that… It was the stories I found on LLL, Mothering and blogs like this that kept my head above water. I’m hoping my story encourages moms to keep going.
As for Francis Pottenger… If you’re skeptical read his studies! The Untold Story Of Milk by Ron Schmid is fantastic as well(no, I am not receiving any sort of compensation for any of this).
Sarah, thank you for helping answer comments… I can’t believe how rude some of them were… I’m a slightly emotional nursing mother, but some of them think I don’t exist, so I guess they don’t believe I have feelings:) Thankfully I have a good sense of humor, two adorable babies that enjoy being nursed, a fantastic milk supply and a glass of raw milk in hand… If the milk didn’t help me then maybe the magic milk fairy did?
Anything I missed?
I’ve found for myself that drinking about 20oz of raw milk a day is plenty for me.
Okay, if I don’t respond to anymore comments for while it’s because I’m a busy mom, but I will try to answer all the questions eventually.
@Lauren you should try raw milk and see how it goes. Odds are you allergy developed because regular milk from