Diminishing Supply

Hi S., just wanted to mention that I always found a little extra rest really helped my milk supply. Granted, it can be very hard to find the time, but I'd tell myself, "invest in rest," even if just ten minutes here and another fifteen or so there, and it would soon make a noticeable difference. Good luck! E.

Commercial pumps lose their effectiveness after about 6 months of use. Maybe you could try renting a hospital grade pump even for just a month to see if this makes a difference. Good luck!

There is a tea called Mother's Milk made by Traditional Medicinals. (website traditionalmedicinals.com) I don't know where in Omaha you can buy it because someone gave it to me, but she swears by it.

S. - Not too long ago I was experiencing the same problem. With advice from the lactation consultant at my son's pediatric office, I purchased an herb called "Fenugreek" which has helped me quite a bit. My supply came back up to 4 oz each side. I take 4 pills, 3 times/day with the recommendation from the lactation consultant. The herb is fairly inexpensive - I paid $12.99 for 200 pills. You might want to give it a try. The only side effect is that it makes you smell a bit sweet, like maple syrup! Hang in there!
T.

As well as fenugreek, I've read that fennel (in a tea I think) is helpful.

It is all about supply and demand, the more you nurse the more your body will respond. It might take a while (like a day or so). But it will happen if you are just patient. I also did co-sleeping for a couple of nights to keep the baby latched on all night. You can try the teas too, that others have suggested. I did that for a while & they did work for me. Also I read at Whole Foods that seeds (sunflower, pumpkin & ones like that also help). I just went to Whole Foods & got a seed mix in the bulk grain section. I know someone already said this but I also would drink like a half beer whenever it got low. The hops (sp?) help to increase the milk somehow. Just wait a couple of hours before you nurse again. I hope that these suggestion help you. Try not to stress!! I nursed twins for 10 months so these things will work if you just keep on pressing on!! Good luck!!

I had that problem when I returned to work. You need to make sure that you are drinking tons of water as well as a good balanced diet. I talked with my doctor and he put me on Reglan to help increase my milk supple. It might have helped some but not tons. I guess I didn't really care because the cost was $7 for the script to be filled and I was willing to try whatever. It can be frustrating and some people just can't keep up. Just remember your baby got the best from you already and if you have to supplement it is okay. You are not a failure!!! Good luck

Hi S.,

First of all, congratulations for trying to continue to breastfeed! It is good for you and your baby. It is also a challenge sometimes, as I know from experience (I have 3 kids, ages 8, 5, qnd 7 mos). I had difficulty producing enough milk with the first 2 and this time insisted on talking with a lactation consultant in the hospital. She suggested I try More Milk Plus, an herbal supplement that made all the difference. I found the cheapest place to get it online is at LuckyVitamin.com. It may also be available at local health food stores. In the past I have tried fenugreek without success. This is much better.

I agree with the people who have suggested drinking more waterr, using a hospital grade pump, continuing to pump for at least 10 minutes on each side (regardless of whether you get anything). You may want to consider pumping for 10 minutes on each side after your baby nurses. This may not show much benefit initially, but it will shortly as the milk production is linked to the sucking.

You may want to contact your local LaLeche League or a lactation consultant if this advice does not get you the results you are hoping for.

Blessings to you!

You have gotten some really great advice here! I have one other thing to offer. I have a hard time with keeping up milk supply, so this time (5th time around) I bought the supplement called More Milk Plus. I bought this at my local Health Food Store. Here is a link to information about it on the web also. It has most of the herbs recommended here to you already put in tincture or capsules. It has worked wonders for me, and many other moms that I know!!! I hope you are able to keep up your supply!! http://www.motherlove.com/products_extracts.php

Drink to thirst, pump as usual, and nurse on the weekends and when you are with your baby. Nursing on the weekends will keep your milk supply up, and on Monday morning you will respond to the pump better, but by Friday you will notice a decrease. The pump cannot extract like your baby, so if you nurse normally on the weekends and in the morning/night when you are together, you will keep your milk supply, but it will decrease a bit by the end of the work week.

Drink to thirst, add a bowl of oatmeal to your diet. One bowl of oatmeal a day will increase your milk supply. Also drink to thirst, but don't over do it. you need water in your body to make milk of course, but too much can have an adverse affect, so drink to thirst. Mothers milk tea can help too, and fenugreek, however adding the oatmeal, pumping like you are, nursing when you are together/on the weekends, drinking to htirst, and adding the mothers milk tea if you desire will help significantly.

And remember taht the pump cannot get out as much as your baby, so though you may only pump 4oz, your baby is able to get out much more. So your supply isn't dropping, its just matching whta your baby takes in, and if your pumping its going to produce a bit less, but if you nurse on the weekends, it'll jump start your body for the work week.

Hi
I tried all the other methods mentioned, fenugreek, mother's milk tea, and also blessed thistle (another herb). I couldn't get any of those methods to help, only the baby. I would pump all day and only make 4 oz. Oatmeal is supposed to help increase milk supply too. Traditional oatmeal, not the quick cooking oats may help. I saw more results with just oatmeal than the other things I tried. Your husband is deployed? I know that feeling. Best wishes with your milk challenges! Hope some of the advice helps. K. B.

S.,

What you're experiencing is very typical. You haven't said whether you're having problems keeping up with you baby's demand for milk during the day, but I'm guessing that's part of the reason you're concerned.

You've received a lot of advice, but I would note two things:
1. Increasing demand will increase the milk supply - that might mean pumping more. Four times is excellent during an eight-hour work day, but I'll give you a couple other pointers below.
2. Food and water intake, rest and relaxation are important to milk production. However, women who are malnourished (e.g. in third world countries) can still produce plenty of quality milk for their babies.

That said, I experienced a huge drop in milk supply when I returned to work after my first (i.e. my daughter required 22 ounces of breastmilk at daycare and I typically pumped 10 at work!). Here are some of the things I did that worked:
1. Pump in the morning while nursing baby. This can be tricky at first - use pillows and put baby in the cradle hold. You'll need an electric pump that will allow you to pump one side only. I typically ended up with 6 - 12 ounces just from this morning session.
2. If baby is sleeping through the night, try cosleeping to increase night nursing and/or get up once at night to pump. Going a full night without nursing, in addition to the pumping during the day, can really affect milk supply.
3. On the weekend (or whenever you have a day off), rent or borrow a slew of movies, or grab a good book. Stay in bed or a comfortable chair and nurse baby most of the day. You and baby will both benefit from the close contact.

You didn't mention what kind of pump you use. If you're not already, invest in an electric double pump. I really like my Medela Pump-in-Style. Others prefer the Ameda Purely Yours. The Lactina Select is a hospital-grade pump. There are many others out here - some can be rented from medical supply stores so that you can test them out.

Again, a pump issue - do the flanges (the plastic cups that fit around the breast) allow for good movement of the nipple? If you're large- or small-breasted, you may need to find a different size flange. Some women even switch sizes during a pumping session because they "deflate" so much.

Take heart! You're doing a wonderful thing for you and baby. With perseverance, you will succeed. I did, indeed, get my milk supply up with my daughter and continued pumping until she was 16 months old - a huge commitment, but well worth it.

Best wishes and let me know if I can further help you.

S.,
You are a very dedicated mother. You are doing a great job in trying to provide your baby with breastmilk! Good job! When my daughter was born and before I returned to work, I was so afraid that I wasn't going to have enough milk that I pumped after every night-time feeding! It was a bit crazy, when I think back upon it! But---I think all that pumping increased my milk supply a lot. I filled our freezer and ended up throwing a lot out. If you are able to pump as much as you are at work, I think your supply will go back up. And the amount you are pumping in the AM is great!!! That's a lot of milk!!! If I were you, I'd try to stay away from the supplements if you can---sounds like you are doing a fantastic job already!!! Best wishes!!!

I went back to work when my son was three months old and continued to pump exclusively until he turned one. Now that I'm nursing my second (I'm at home this time around), I do notice I have a lot more milk--I do think that unless you're really lucky, even electric pumping does not keep up milk supply as well as nursing. That said, to get four 6 oz bottles a day for my son, I pumped five times a day. I always made sure to nurse as soon as I picked my son up from daycare (we sat at daycare and nursed) and just before I put him in the car in the morning. I also made sure I religiously pumped on the weekends and any days off, not only to ease up the weekly pumping schedule, but to ensure I kept up my milk supply. It was hard, and I definitely hit a HUGE wall at about 4 months--that was the peak of his milk consumption and I remember crying regularly because I didn't think I'd have enough milk and I didn't want to put him on formula. But it worked, and as hard and frustrating as it was, I'd do it again. It sounds like you're doing things right; work on the relaxing--Oh!!!! That's another thing!!! When I regularly pumped with my first, it was like my boobs got accustomed to letting down with the pump. With this son, I don't get very much at all every time I pump, even though I feel fuller and sometimes have even leaked. Maybe "practice" will help, too? I don't know how long you've been pumping or how much your baby is eating. My milk supply also diminished dramatically (as evidenced by bra size) as soon as I started my boys on solids, even though they didn't get much for solids. I think that's all I can think of--good luck!!

Hi S.,

I know one thing that decreases your milk is if you are taking any type of decongestent too. I agree with all the other responses, but I thought I would mention this too and drinking lots of water. I also heard too that drinking a beer a week would increase the production too. My lactation consultant told me that decongestants decrease milk supply and I was on that for allergies and I took and allergy pill without it and my milk supply was better.

Hi,
I had a similar issue and my son's doctor told me to try Fenugreek. It is a dietary supplement (smells like maple syrup b/c it's used to make maple syrup and your body, milk, urine, etc. will smell like it as well). You can purchase it at most nutrition stores for about $10 for 100 capsules. You simply take up to six a day and it increases your production...there are theories out there as to how/why, but nothing is proven. When your supply reaches your desired amount - you stop taking them. I have done this numerous times (illnesses, returning to work, etc.) and it's worked each time for me. Good Luck! :)

I used Fenugreek and it worked very well. I also pumped alot. I went to a lactation consultant and she suggested holding my baby skin on skin. That helped even more. I know how frustrating it can be when your supply is low, but keep up the good work. You are doing a good job.
N.

Our pediatrician said that chamomyle tea helps. I tried it and found no difference. Everyone I talked to said that the only real help is by pumping more often, which means at night. I have a 9 week old little girl and have been working part time(just weekends) for a month. I watched my supply diminish each week and I finally threw in the towel this week. I'm happy with my life now, but wish I had tried a bit harder. I just couldn't keep up and was unwilling to set the alarm every two hours every night. Good Luck!

Hi S.,

I just answered this in another post, so I cut and pasted my response there, here. HOpe this helps...

From: N. S Date: Mon. Apr. 07, 2008
Without delay, you MUST increase your intake of liquids, food, rest, and most especially the number of times you pump or breastfeed throughout the day. You must continue to eat for two if you are breastfeeding. Your body burns tons of calories to produce milk. Without food, no milk. If you're back to work, or on a post-baby work-out, you're probably burning extra calories, and that means no extra fuel to make milk. EAT. Don't worry about gaining weight. Breastfeeding burns alot, I mean alot of calories.

Most important, contrary to an earlier post, water does not decrease milk production. Like food, you need a lot of liquids, including and most especially water, to produce more milk. In some cases, drinking liquids while breastfeeding will help with let down. Drink more. If you prefer juice, drink juice. Your body can not produce milk if any of these above factors are lacking.

If you very serious about continuing breastfeeding, you're going to have to take some well intentioned measures and soon, or risk your body's total shut down of milk production. You need to jump start your body into thinking the baby needs more milk. Your body is a fine tuned machine that will only produce, what the baby needs. Even an artificial baby (pump) So if you only pump a couple of times a day, for just a few minutes a day, you may still produce milk, but eventually your body will stop producing enough to feed a child.

Before things slow down too far, you'll have to get radical and start pumping/feeding like you did shortly after the baby was born. That means, bringing your pump to work, and pumping both sides every two hours for 10 minutes on each side, for about a week to two weeks, until your body's prodction of milk increases significantly. Once you get production up to a level you find acceptible you'll need to maintain that pumping/feeding schedule until you are done breastfeeding for good. You can't stop. If you have a weak, non-hospital grade pump, this could be a factor too. Double cone pumps are the most time efficient. Medela is a good brand if you don't have one. Pricey but insurance covers most pumps, and there's used ones on Ebay. Just be sure to purchase fresh cones and tubing (get it at Target). Handpumps are alot of work, and often can't get the job done well enough to keep production up. You need powerful suction. You need to get those breast empty each time, to boost production.

This is burdensome for some, especially if you are totally depending on the pump to keep milk production up. One effective ways to cut down time on the machine is to breastfeed her at night, throughout the night. Those who exclusively breastfeed know a very important secret about milk production and nightfeeding in this manner. Stress can shut down milk production in a heartbeat. The benefit of nightfeeding is the child is feeding non-stop throughout the night, and at will while you are sleeping/resting. Many moms using this method have discovered their bodies produces some of the best milk, they produce more milk, and have been able to prolong breastfeeding longer.

There are many books and studies on this topic. You can read up on it at the La Leche League's official web site. Through the site you can contact a local consultant who can meet with one on one, or put you in contact with a support group in your area. Most LLL consultants are nurses/doulas and certified specialists that can help you one on one. Go to www.lalecheleague.org.

One last point, one other cause of little to no milk coming from a breast could be due to blocked ducts. If you have pain in that area, be sure to get checked by an OB. Mastitis is not fun, and the direct result of blocked ducts. You can find home remedies on the La Leche site if this is the case. Use these until you can get to your doctor. Good luck. HOpe this helps.

I'm with Leigh C. I tried all the supplements and things, but the only thing that worked with any real efficacy was nurse more. Cosleeping/nursing at night when I started getting low helped a lot. I also would nurse from one side and pump from the other nearly every time the baby nursed, especially in the morning. And on weekends, etc. I would nurse as much as possible. This helped me keep a supply decent enough to feed her during the week at daycare.

I have heard drinking a beer every so often will help with the milk supply also. Not sure how true it is. It might work if you are willing to try it.

I had this problem as well when I went back to work. I talked to a nurse who was my neighbor as well. She suggested that I drink a beer. I know everyone says do not drink but it worked and my son is fine. He is now two. I hope this helps.

One more thing I do not know if anybody else said it, but rent a hospital grade pump. I have always been awful at pumping & that was the only pump that really worked for me. Do not pump less either that will just send your body the message to make less milk. How old is your baby & how often is s/he nursing? If your baby is still young you should be pumping & nursing 8-12 x a day. If your baby is over 6 months & eating solids it can be more like 6-8 x a day. No matter what try to keep it up, I know it sucks to pump but it is well worth it!
Brekka

Through taking plenty of water and healthy nursing tea by secrets of tea, I have boosted my nearly dead milk supply.

I have supply issues when breastfeeding and I pump often and take Fenugreek. They have it at GNC. I believe I took 2 capsules 3 times a day.

Breastfeed as much as possible on the weekends and rest as much as you can. I would nurse my son as soon as I got home and pump afterwards and nurse in the morning pump again before work in the am(pumped 3 times during work depending on coverage). Babies get more milk than a pump. It is a commitment worth the effort, please dont get discouraged. D.

I have never had a problem producing, but was told that when you are stressed and anxious, your milk will not let down. I am still nursing and somedays I only get a couple oz too. Water is great! Keep up the liquids. Also, taking a prenatal adds to the production. :) Good luck

Ask your pediatrician or ob for a prescription for Raglan. This is actually for digestve purposes but it can increase your milk supply. I used it and know 2 others who tried it as well; one a mother of twins.

I experienced the same thing. Being a nurse, I was aware of a drug called Reglan, that has a side effect of increasing milk supply. It did work for me, although I also got terrible headaches from it. There are also some herbal supplements you can take that are over the counter. Hope this helps.

Reglan (Rx needed) or Fenugreek (herbal supplement available over the counter). Both worked for me!

try milkmaid tea from EarthMamaAngelBaby.com its a herbal tea that helps with your milk supply. I here that is works well. Also my grandmother used to say drink a beer once a week that it also helps with your supply. Good luck to you. K.

I have not read the other replies, but just from reading your message, I would suggest pumping only twice a day and not four times a day. Four times a day seems like a lot and that may be the reason you are only getting 2 ounces each time. I think if you pump less you will get more. That is just based on my experience.

Hi S.,
This is my first time on here and I thought that I'd try to respond to your question and hope to help:-) I have a 2 1/2 year old daughter and a 3 month old son. I nursed my daughter right up until 1 month and 1/2 before my son was born. I just work two days out of the week out of the home but do have a lot of experience with pumping. It's very good that you drink a lot of water because that should help... Also, it sounds funny but try visualizing your baby crying for milk when you are pumping. It seems that when I do this at work I get more milk. Also, try to relax while you are pumping and drink water or a cold beverage(not soda) not hot beverages(I read that somewhere). Anyway, the more you pump the more your supply should come back... Good luck!

Melissa

I am a first time mom and was breast feeding for the first month. I got mastidis (sp?) 4 times in that month. My boobs were so engourged that I had to pump. By the 3rd week, my son was able to start latching on, everything was going well, but my milk supply was doing exactly as you stated. From 6 oz of pumping to near 3 oz. It only went down from there. I had to start supplimenting with formula for my baby to get enough. We now are full formula, which is against my wishes, but I work full time and couldnt concentrate fully on getting my supply back. The lactation specialist stated my milk supply was diminishing because I was pumping more than he was sucking. The pumping doesnt give the same effect as sucking and your body thinks you dont need it anymore. I would try to have him suck WHENEVER possible and pump frequently. Make sure your body knows that you need more milk supplied. I hope my experience helps you! Good luck!

Rye is the easiest and safest way to increase your breast milk rapidly. Both bread and beer are quite effective. The beer has the added bonus of calming you down. Women all over Europe use beer and rye bread as their first choice for breast milk production. I'd recommend looking for your rye bread at a Jewish deli where they make it themselves. Pumpernickle Rye is also a great choice.

If you don't like these choice and want to take a supplement, Nettles (available in capsules at all food co-ops and health food stores) is also effective.

Good luck ~