Breast milk in DS patients

Out of curiosity, have you posted this on the post-op pregnancy messageboard???
http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/postop_pregnancy/



-Jamie

I would only try to get my breastmilk tested if my baby had a hard time gaining.  I was worried about this before my son was born in December.  At the time, I was 26 months out from surgery.  I worried for no good reason.  He is fine and thriving at 3.5 months now.  He has just about doubled his weight and plumped up beautifully, although he's not as chubby as his sister (my pre-DS) was at this age.  He does not have an excessive need to nurse and in fact nurses less often than his sister, who I think had some silent reflux and needed to soothe it.

My son is more of a long/lean guy in comparison to his sister (he was 80something percentile for height and 50something for weight at 2 months), but I don't think it's due to poorer breastmilk quality.  I suspect it's because he has a different metabolism than his sister and because he is just not as high needs and doesn't try to nurse every time he's in my lap like his sis did.  He sleeps well and hits all his milestones. 

I would not worry about this much in advance.  If your baby has a hard time gaining or you feel there is a problem, you can get help, or combo feed or whatever works for you.

As for supplementing the baby, I give my son one Carlson's 400 IU Vitamin D drop a day.  I will ask the pedi at his 4 month appointment if she recommends iron, because I am pretty low in ferritin, but I didn't want to give him iron before then unless he had obvious issues, because it's pretty hard on baby's tummy. 

Wow I never knew this forum was so pro breastfeeding!  How wonderful.  Everyone is so right on with their comments. 

The only thing I would add is that having a good milk flow is as much mental as physical.  If you are tense or worried the milk won't flow as well and that can lead to frustration for both of you.  See the cycle starting? 

Once you make it past the first 3 months it gets easier and you will love the freedom of not packing around, storing and washing bottles.  

Best wishes to you and your little one!
Dana

 I am also pleasantly surprised that so many people are pro-breastfeeding! I did not nurse my first three children, and I absolutely love the nursing relationship I had with my fourth, and the one I now have with my fifth. I'm in love!

Also, I completely agree about the mental aspect. When I get a chance to sit down and nurse -- without my older kids running around -- I do positive affirmations about my milk and my supply and the amount of nutrients in it.

What a great thread!
I LOVED breastfeeding my children (except the first 3 tortuous weeks) but after that...heaven. And even though my son had to feed every couple hours and it was a PITA a lot of the time. I was on maternity leave the 8 months I breastfed him so it didn't bother me. It was my job and I loved it.

Take your cues from your body and your baby. We all absorb and metabolize so differently, that is why some of us struggle with labs chronically and others never have any problem. What was a concern for me (and others) may not be an issue for you!

For me, I never had any problems with my labs until post-pregnancy. Since then it has been an on-going battle to get it right.

If your baby is growing and thriving and sleeping well, you are good.

Supplementing with formula IMHO is better than having deficient milk nutrients though. Any breastfeeding is better than none...definitely! Do both if need be. But if you can do any breastfeeding at all...that is best.

Both my kids were breastfed (one for 4-5 months, the other for 7-8 months) and both were occasionally supplemented with formula (maybe 1 feed/day).  Both my kids are EXTREMELY healthy, smart (10 year old is straight A and very talented, delightful little girl) and neither one has EVER been on antibiotics or ever had anything worse than an occasional cold or mild flue.

Formula is not the devil. Your kids will be marvelous and wonderful no matter what you do so don't stress about it...just feed your kids and love on them.

Incidentally (NOT ADVOCATING THIS!!!) back in the day when so little was know about infant nutrition...my mom (dirt poor and didn't know any better) formula fed by brother (now 40 years old****il he was 3 months old and then switched him to SKIM milk (I know the HORROR!). Guess what. He is an awesome guy that holds a graduate degree, married with 3 beautiful children. Bottom line...our babies are so resilient and in most cases will turn out just fine as long as they are given adequate nutrition and love.

Don't stress, be pruden****chful and informed but most of all...just enjoy. You are going to do AWESOME!

I this thread!

I also this thread. I'm excited to see so many breastfeeding supporters!
When I was researching, I couldn't find much information at all about breastfeeding post-ds (particularly not research-based information). I did read that even malnourished mothers can make adequate milk for their children. As a previous poster said, it will just take more from our vitamin stores. So, I've drawn my own personal conclusion that if it works for them, it can work for us since we're malabsorptive and not even necessarily malnourished if we supplement adequately.

I managed to feed twins with my expressed breast milk after their birth. Their mother and I truly believe it made the difference between how soon they could come home from the NICU because I was able to do so.

As an aside, I had crappy milk production with my two pre-DS surgeries. I had crappy milk production post-DS with the boys. Your milk ducts are your milk ducts and they aren't affected by the surgery. I mean, you would have to have them removed/disconnected as part of a reduction or disrupted by implants for it to make a difference. Any why on earth would you think it was "not as good?" Your body will rob you of nutrients to put it into breast milk, just like it will rob you of nutrients for the baby.