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Almost every patient with low supply I have seen over the years has reported being brushed off, patronized, or argued with over her concerns about her baby getting enough milk. This is unacceptable, given what we know about the prevalence of delayed and low milk production. After having done test weights on hundreds of babies, I can say with assurance that the scale usually just reaffirms what mothers already know.

Occasionally there is a baby who appears to be getting enough milk (swallowing at breast, seeming satisfied afterwards), but is not; after seeing the numbers and looking at the weight trend, it becomes clear that the baby was swallowing saliva and trickles of milk rather than big mouthfuls, and falling asleep due to being tired from working so hard rather than satisfaction. Other times a baby shows frequent hunger cues when he is actually getting large amounts of milk. This can happen in some cases of oversupply, for reasons such as symptoms of reflux or lactose overload.

Basically what I’m getting at here is that if you think you don’t have enough milk you are not crazy, wrong, or uneducated. You are probably right, and need solutions, not reassurance that your body is definitely working perfectly. Maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t. Either way, you deserve to have your concerns heard and investigated.

Oh, and another thing: don’t let anyone blame you if you have given bottles to make sure your baby is eating enough. Without a thorough assessment, no one knows whether the bottles were the cause or the effect of the low milk production. If you are not producing enough, of course you will feed your baby however you can; in this case the low milk production caused the use of bottles, not the other way around.  In short, anyone else armchair quarterbacking your own lived experience with your baby and your body parts needs to stay in their lane.  [back to blog home]