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July 2025 Babies
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strawberrymountain
My mom, grandma and great grandma all never breastfed. I'm really really wanting to but I'm so worried I won't be able to. I'm wondering if the lack of breastfeeding access the last three generations could have changed something genetically to where I won't even be able to produce milk.. like natural selection in a way. Does anyone else have similar genetic history that has been able to breastfeed?
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Laur-o-saurus
It shouldn't work that way at all. Breastfeeding evolved over millions of years and the last hundred years of your family history won't make a difference - IF they were ABLE to and just chose not to.
Do you know why the women in your family didn't breastfeed? There are genetic issues that could have been passed down, but if they just didn't want to and suppressed milk after birth, that's not going to have any impact on you. Some issues that prevent breastfeeding are random - I have inverted nipples and none of the other women in my family do - but family culture is strong and your mother may have decided against breastfeeding because HER mother was unable. None of that will impact you at all. Breastfeeding is very difficult and many women like formula as an easier alternative! Definitely try it after birth. If youre able, you'll know within a few weeks! If there is some family gene that causes low milk production, that will be pretty apparent shortly after birth as well.
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noellel85
It if makes you feel better, very few women physically CANNOT breastfeed. Sometimes they choose not to for their mental health, sometimes it is because of a stigma their family unfortunately caused them to feel, sometimes they are on medications, etc. but usually any physical issues can be addressed. It is much more likely than not that you will successfully breastfeed. I am not saying it is easy by any means but sometimes it truly is a lot easier than what people lead you to believe. I got lucky because of the shape of my nipples and my babies being able to latch successfully right away. There are often resources in the community to connect you to lactation consultants-I had one that came right to my house for free that I was connected to through WIC. They tend to also support you more in the hospital now as well. I would ask around to get connected to resources as early as possible so you can get information and not stress yourself unnecessarily.
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katedorocki
I don’t know about my grandma, but my mom didn’t breast feed me at all and I was able to breast feed
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EwST1111
My mum didn’t and I managed to breastfeed just fine. What helped me I think was a relaxed attitude of just see how it goes, if needs be I can always quit which helped me get through each day until 8 weeks when it became much easier/natural
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aarnold287
Doesn’t work that way you just have to put in the effort to breastfeed. The previous generations before us was called the formula push or the formula wave where there was no need for formula. Women always just breast-feed their child and then companies like Similac and Enfamil wanted to come in and push formula so that’s why you will often get a formula Welcome box. Because companies want you to use formula but there’s no real reason for it so yes, you can breast-feed. You just have to put in the work to do it and if you have any specific questions I could help you because I’ve been breast-feeding my 19 month old this entire time and plan to breast-feed again when I gave birth to my son in 2023. My mother-in-law was asking me how does breast-feeding feel stuff like that and I was asking her like didn’t you breast-feed and she said no it wasn’t even an option because the hospital just encouraged the bottle as soon as they came out, so it’s kind of sad, but you have to look at the history on why they did it and it was just for the formula push not because they were unable
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darbyjolene
No that’s not how it works, no need to worry!
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carmicsan
My mom did not breastfeed me and her mother did not breastfeed her. I breastfed my firstborn for 22 months without issue ��
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HLCJNC
No reason you shouldn’t be able to. It’s all supply and demand, baby to breast 24/7 those first few weeks/months while establishing supply. DO NOT offer formula under any circumstance until your supply is established. Do lots of your own research and you should be successful!
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mamacmcg
Agreed there shouldn’t be an issue. My sister and I breastfed more than my mum and her mum. I’d recommend colostrum harvesting a few weeks before due date. Should help the milk come in and toughen up your nipples! Best of luck, loved feeding my babies! Xxx
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daboz37
My mom claims she tried to breastfeed my older sister and my sister tried to breastfeed my nephew the first couple weeks. They both ended up formula feeding. My mom even said she did not produce enough fat in her breast milk so that’s why she quit.
I ended up with twins for the first pregnancy and was able to provide most of their milk as breast milk. One I breastfed and the other I pumped for because he was very impatient to try to breastfeed after a NICU stint. I breastfed and pumped for 13 months successfully. I did fill in a feed a day or so with formula but they were pigs so that’s probably part of it. I don’t think it’s necessarily a genetic thing unless you have certain sicknesses run through your family such as thyroid issues. Some diseases can cause your body to not produce. But it sounds like they didn’t try vs an issue with production.
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