Decreasing Milk Supply. Help!

I would echo the recommendation of Fenugreek, but only if there is no chance of you being pregnant, as it can be harmful to the fetus. Lots of rest, good diet, feeding on demand, less pumping, etc. just like everyone said.

I love homeopathic solutions but I do know that some of them do not work well together and a very good friend of mine almost died from a poorly prescribed combination of herbs. Honestly, if he did not need a surgery for something else they would not have discovered his deadly internal problems caused by the combination and he would not be with us today. So first and foremost be careful when supplementing your body with anything.

As far as nursing and all of the supplements you are testing out, I would stop all of it. Stick to the pre-natals and focus on a perfect diet. Lots of fruits and veggies, low on salt, some high-fat foods that are good for you, like Avacados, cheeses, etc. and up your protein. Also be sure to keep your fluids up, preferably good ol' water. One thing I learned from nursing all three of my kids is the better I ate the better I produced for them.

Although I am very big on herbal and homeopathic solutions and such, I also proceed with caution. These things have been practiced for thousands of years but there is still very little scientific research behind them as far as how they relate to pregnant and nursing women. I finally figured that my body was made to feed my babies without all the extras so I should just let it do what it was made to do on its own.

Good luck to you and don't worry, stress and worry can also drop your supply. Crazy huh?

Give the more milk 2 a couple days- that helped me tremendously!!

i would contact LLL about most of what was prescribed I know I have to take magnesium and that has never affected my supply so I wouldn't worry about that but it doesn't hurt to double check.

as far as supply most of what you are taking to increase never really helped me. I just glued myself to the pump for a few days to get the supply back up. Best of luck and sorry you have to be going through this.

Now also to note she might not be waking up at night becasue she is hungry it could just be a phase she is in. Babies sleep schedules are constatnly changing depending on what they do during the day and whether they are teathing, or sick.

Don't knocked yourself down too much you are doing your best.

Healthy Nursing Tea by secrets of tea works..

I am not a lactation expert, but I am a mom with 7 years of experience breastfeeding. I don't know about the herbs, but I do know that milk production is stimulated by demand. If you feed her on a schedule (and are willing to break out of it - there may be reasons why you can't) drop the schedule and pop a breast into her mouth any time she's hungry 'round the clock. This could help increase supply. Or you could pump frequently to try to get supply back up. If your little one will drink from a bottle, you could then freeze and use the milk as needed.

Also, could you be pregnant? That can cause supply to drop off. In that case, I'm not sure on-demand feeding would help.

Do you have a breast pump? If not, I'd suggest you get one and add a few pumpings into your schedule. The more you nurse and the more you pump the more milk you have. Also you need to make sure none of those supplements are ones with dehydration as a side effect and drink tons of water. I took fenugreek for months and it did help, but what helped the most was pumping more in between feedings and getting my son to nurse more often.

I'd contact a lactation nurse, perhaps the La Leche League with your questions. I don't know anything about the supplements you are taking, but it sounds to me like you've made lots of changes in the recent weeks, so it is hard to tell what is causing/affecting what. Personally, I'd stop everything, nurse on demand, perhaps pumping in between, in a 'natural' effort to stimulate milk production. I am no expert, by any means, so these are just my thoughts... I'd contact a lactation specialist for more valid info...

Best wishes.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Reglan. It is a prescription drug (i.e. regulated by the FDA!) and your Doctor can prescribe it over the phone. I think the herbs were a good start for you, but obviously they are not working for you. So, I would stop taking them. Be cautious about over-doing it on them, as one woman mentioned, it could be dangerous. There could be many factors involved, like your diet, the schedule thing like someone mentioned, etc. Or, maybe you just have low milk supply and that's ok. The Reglan was the only thing that allowed me to get a half-supply (from nothing). I tried the herbal remedies, the schedule thing, pumping, more water, drinking a beer, lots of milk products, etc. etc. So sometimes this just happens. Check out the Reglan, buy some formula, and do what you can with the pumping and bfing. Good luck.

You may feel like drinking an abundance of water will help, but this isn't true.

While nursing you only want to drink to thirst, because when you are over-hydrated your body starts dumping all the water rather hastily. Which will deplete your supply.

So, only drink enough to not be thirsty. Including teas, I'd think.

Eating a meal w/ proteins is supposed to help. And, oatmeal is supposed to be helpful, too.

I would really take it easy on the herbal supplements for a little while longer. Hydration is key! Make sure you are drinking lots of water. And skin contact. Get as much skin-to-skin contact as you can while nursing. Also, if possible, pump while holding (and smelling) your baby. When I was building up my milk supply with my firstborn, I would nurse him on one side while I pumped from the other. Then I would switch sides. I wound up with a stockpile of milk (just in case) that I never had to use.

Keep taking your prenatals as well. Good luck.

The thing that helped me the most if I noticed my milk supply dropping off was to eat a cheeseburger. No joke. Sometimes your body just NEEDS some fat and protein to be able to make milk. A pizza with extra cheese would work in a pinch, too.

Personally, unless there's some reason you absolutely must be on all these supplements, I'd stop taking any of them. Vitamins and supplements are not regulated by the FDA, and while I'm sure most of them are safe, some of them really aren't. (Like a few years ago with that "holistic" cold medicine that made people lose their sense of smell permanently...)

Make sure that you are breastfeeding or pumping enough. Even overnight. I have really bad low milk supply. My LC told me to try an herbal tea called Breastea. After the first day I went from pumping 1/2 ounce to 3 ounces. I'm now up to 5 ounces a pumping. You have to order it from their website at breastea.com but boy has it made a big difference. Just make sure you are breastfeeding or pumping alot.

I have just been through this with my daughter and her baby. What we heard from several moms at a support we attended was that it is not uncommon for you and your baby to make an adjustment in milk supply at 5 months. As your body goes through the adjustment, it will take a while for your supply to regulate. However, two things we did that were really successful was consciously (in a measured container) increasing water intake and eating regularly with snacks - good healthy stuff. Then I took her other two children and sent her to bed for the day with the infant - skin to skin, happy times together, no pressure to cook, talk on the phone, housework, nothing....My daughter had to learn to nurse laying down but it was worth it for the relaxation both she and the baby experienced. Just the stimulation and nursing on demand pretty much bounced her milk supply back in 24 hours. Good luck to you.. Your baby needs you to persevere.

I've struggled with low supply and I just take Fenugreek capsules (2 pills, 2X a day) and it does seem to work for me. I've also tried the teas, they don't work as well as just the straight Fenugreek caps.. Some days I may not even take the full dose... Maybe stop all the other herbs and just try those, cheap & easy & seems to work for me.

Hi--
I do everything naturally so I am familiar with everything you've said here. The Evening primrose oil will support your production of progesterone and could be altering your hormones. The B vitamins should actually help your supply. Don't know anything about maca?? The probiotics and magnesium wouldn't effect anything. You might want to try chaste tree berry (also known as vitex)--it will balance your hormones at the pituitary level and helped me when nothing else worked with my supply. You might also try acupunture. And of course, all the other suggestions about water, demand feeding, etc.
Good luck,
J.

How do you know your supply has dropped by half? Are you exclusively pumping? Some women just don't respond to a pump as well, it doesn't empty the breast as effectively and thus the milk supply doesn't match the actual demands of the baby. I would want you to spend a couple days just resting with your baby skin to skin, nursing on demand and drinking a lot of water (and if possibly eating barley soup, or drinking barley 'tea'). If you are pumping and can't put baby to breast it might be time to investigate a different pump. Those are my $.02 - good luck!