Hi, moms. I have a 2,5 months old baby boy who is exclu.sively breast fed.
The problem is I barely have any milk. I went through 3 mastitis episodes already and had to build up my milk supply after each one of them.I tried everithing from teas to fenugreek in capsules and prescribed meds. It kills me when I think about putting my baby on formula. It feels like my body betrayed me. I keep crying and I know it's not the end of the world if he starts on formula but for some reason it's so hard on me.
Please moms tell me if there are some ways to bring my milk back. One more problem is that my baby doesn;t take bottles, I've tried different kinds but no success.
Any advice will be appreciated.
I posted a similar question, and the mother's milk tea has helped me, and also drinking alot of water. Hope it gets better.. hang in there. And take comfort in knowing there are other mom's going thru the breastfeeding routine too!
Try your best to stay relaxed and not get so worked up about it. Get your rest and make sure you are eating healthy. I remember when my daughter was around that age and I had to get surgery. The doctors told me I could not breastfeed for 24 hours. My daughter did not take a bottle either. I got so upset and I know that was affecting my milk supply. I tried to relax, eat healthy, and get caught up on my sleep and my supply came back and she nursed until almost 20 months. Hope everything turns out great!
E.- one thing you haven't mentioned is what kind of bra you are wearing. If any of your bras have an underwire, get rid of them right away. I wore a DD cup and was used to wearing underwires for the support. When I started nursing I had a mastitis at around 3-4 weeks. I was advised by a Lactation Consultant that the underwire was likely to blame for the mastitis.
I've had a few more infections since then, but I know that the first one was caused by the underwire bra. You CAN succeed at nursing. You just have to be too stubborn to give up. I was able to nurse my DD for 30 months (and work full time) despite a really bad initial latch that tore my nipple open and several bouts of mastitis. Since my daughter is in daycare 8+ hours a day, I was determined to breast feed as long as humanly possible. My reward is a super healthy preschooler who has had only one ear infection in 3 years! You might also consider consulting a lactation consultant for additional tips as well as using a very warm compress or wash cloth on the breast as your baby nurses. When combined with the breast "massage" described by another poster should help empty the breast fully and thereby hopefully prevent a mastitis from recurring. Also make sure your nursing sessions empty the breast. My last piece of advice is try to avoid any unnecessary stress. Easier said than done, but I'm fairly sure that at least one of my bouts with mastitis was caused by stress at work.
Good Luck and take care of yourself and your sweet little boy.
L.
You've recieved a lot of great advice so far. You may also want to try tandem pumping. That is when you pump on one side and feed him on the other side. I did this while breastfeeding and it really helped me keep my milk up, especially when I went back to work part time.
Don't stress out, some moms bodies just stop producing and even trying everything it just stops. Don't beat yourself up about it, you tried your best for your baby and lots of babies do great on formula!
I used the Fenugreek capsules in addition to Mothers Milk Tea. It worked for me. I had trouble getting my daughter to drink from a bottle as well. The one she settled on was the playtex nurser. The nipple seemed to be the softest one out there. Maybe you could try that if you haven't already. Best of luck to you.
Hi, E.! Ouch! I know how the infection feels, and you poor dear! One thing my lactation consultant recommended, and it worked, was to rub the side of my hand toward the center of the breast during feeding time; in a downward motion. This really helped me and my daughter, as she was doing very poorly gaining weight the first 3 weeks of birth. After I started this, she finally gained! I was so happy. And I continued to produce well, too. I hope it works for you and your baby!
I read somewhere when I was nursing my son that eating almonds produces milk, maybe from the omega, but I started eating a handfull of almonds everyday and in cereal or granola bars. I am not sure if thats what did it or my milk supply just increased as my baby got bigger but my son got plenty. He was a little fatty.
