Preventing Low Milk Supply

Some women are just that way. Try Fenu-Greek & Blessed Thistle. You may smell like Syrup but it does work. Good luck.

Congratulations!!! I was in the same boat as you, but my second was able to breastfeed exclusively until I started some cereal at 6 mos. The only differences I know of is that I have drank a LOT more water this time and started pumping in the second week. Good luck!!!

Hi! I just went thru the same thing where I felt like I was always empty and never was able to pump any extra out for later use. I tried Mother's Milk tea but my daughter (she's 10wks) didn't like it and it made her spit up. I am now taking fenugreek and blessed thistle which are both suppose to help. Also, instead of reglan there is another prescription med that is only available at like 2 pharmacies called DOMPERIDONE which has worked WONDERS for me! Ask your doctor about it but it has really been what made the big difference with me. I am able to exclusively bf my daughter without worries of not having enough. Good luck and feel free to ask me if you need a location on where to get the medicine!

I too was unable to fully breastfeed my daughter and went through exactly what you did the first time. Now with my second baby we are able to fully breastfeed. Now it wasn’t all peachy at first. He had hurt my nipples that I had to use Mr. Newman’s cream that your doc has to prescribe and its made at the pharmacy (only $20). It really helped. He wasn’t gaining the weight at first obviously b/c we weren’t getting the latching down. After the second week the doc wanted me to give him formula as well as breast. This really broke my heart b/c I really wanted to strictly breastfeed. After a week on formula and gaining the weight I took him off formula and went to breast. By that time we had the latching down for the most part. I found that the football hold was the best b/c I have large areola’s. He did well without the formula. Now the lactationists did say its supply and demand. I would pump on one side and nurse on the other. I did that for a while but it started to become difficult b/c I was also trying to keep a sleeping baby away while multitasking. I did become proactive and started on Fenugreek Seed. Make sure it’s the seed. The directions say 2-3 pills 2 to 3 times a day but the only way to tell its working is if you start smelling maple. I take 5 three times a day. They also say to make sure you get the pills at a store in which the product is not sitting on the floor long b/c it can loose potency. During the time I went off formula I was taking him to the hospital at the breastfeeding center to weigh him, which was free,. I could also call the lactationists at anytime for free help over the phone. They really came in handy!! I had my son at Harris downtown and that is where the breastfeeding center is. There are a few other things you can take for the supply such as Reglan which has to be prescribed by you doc if you have a low supply which really helps women. If you have a history of depression I would not recommend you taking Reglan but of course you can discuss that with your doctor. I also suggest you going to kellymom.com and they have so much information its unbelievable. My son just turned 4 months and I am still on Fenugreek. I don’t want to get off in case my supply could go low. Also I eat Oatmeal which helps too. With my first baby I did order a medicine called Domperidone which also helped with my low supply but by that time I still couldn’t fully b-feed. Domperidone is not FDA approved anymore b/c it can cause heart problems when taken in high doses like by iv. But again you can discuss that with a lactationist or online. I received some excellent information by the lactationists at Harris downtown. If my supply goes down we may try It again but at this time I won’t. Now remember there are meds and foods that can lower your supply so make sure you look up that as well. Sorry to be so lengthy but if you have any questions please feel free to contact me. ____@____.com or ###-###-####. Just make sure at the beginning you are feeding or pumping every 2 to 3 hours. It’s supply and demand so the more you empty or stimulate the better. The number to the b-feeding center at Harris downtown is ###-###-####.

Hi C. -

I had the same situation. I couldn't produce enough milk for my first baby so I got everything ready for the 2nd certain it was going to work this time...I even took the Fenu Greek I produced a little more milk this time but not enough to fully nourish my daughter. I hung in there for a month and then called it quits. While I understand that breast milk is best there a lot of great formulas and having a rested, not stressed out Mommy is worth a lot too. If it doesn't work out again don't beat yourslef up. Switch to formuala and let it go. It's easier said then done but once you get past that first week or so life is so much better without the hassles of trying to nurse, pump, bottle feed then start again you'll feel so much better :-) Good luck and don't let anyone make you feel bad if it doesn't work out the way you want it to!

~G.

Drink like a crazy person - you want to be SUPER hydrated.

Look into a Supplemental Nursing System - it's a bottle that goes upside down between your breasts, with tubing that comes off and tapes to your nipple. The baby gets formula and breastmilk at the same time, and your body gets the ultimate in milk producing stimulation - a hungry baby. At the same time, the formula ensures that he gets sustenance. No pumping, no switching, and MUCH! easier to clean.

S.

Without knowing what you've already tried, the absolute best advice I can give is to check out the recommendations for nutrition on the Weston A Price site http://www.westonaprice.org/children/dietformothers.html I thought I "ate right" last pregnancy etc, but had all kinds of issues. This site helped me understand much of what I did wrong even though I thought I was doing right by "standard" recommendations. http://www.westonaprice.org/basicnutrition/pcnutrition.html

C.,

try breastea it's GREAT!!! you get it online at
www.breastea.com
sounds like you have alot of great advice and i jsut want to add a few things that worked for me. nurse on demand no matter what and in the beginnin be sure to nurse quite frequently at night. i found it best to co-sleep that way i got sleep too! this helps you to establish your supply. i felt like it was best to throw out the "schedule" in the beginning and just nurse frequently and enjoy the whole experience. i also felt like it was best for my daughter to come off my breast instead of releasing her latch with my finger. she seemed to be more satisfied. the whole process took 20-40 minutes it just varied. be sure to drink lots and lots of water too! i hope this helps and congratulations!!!

My milk took its own sweet time in arriving. I was advised to pump for ten minutes after each daytime feeding. Even if I collected only a micro-ounce, it still helped signal increased demand. If you pump only after the nursings, then you're not impeding the establishment of a good latch. For the first couple of weeks I did have to use the SNS, but soon enough it wasn't necessary.

I've nursed for more than 15 months now and I drink Mother's Milk tea about three times a day. I pump twice during my work day to keep up the supply. I would rather not have to, but at least it's down from four times.

Hi C., There are several things you can do to make sure you have enough milk for your child. If you like rolled oats eat this for breakfast, eat lots of leafy green vegies such as spinach or silver beet. Eat losts of lettuce and to help increase the butter fat of the milk eat lucerne sprouts and you can generally get this in your local grocery store. You can use these with a salad you have for lunch or on a sandwich with other salad on it. Cut down on your coffee intake as well as soft drinks and drink plenty of water. Use wholemeal or multigrain bread instead of white as this will give you other grains besides oats and corn is another good thing to eat whether its corn on the cob or tin corn. If you like molases its good in rolled oats or you can have it with bread as a sandwich as this will help you drink more water as it will make you thirsty. All these things will be changes to your diet and I hope they won't be major ones just minor. Other green vegies to eat are brochli, cauliflower, and cabbage. You will have to experiment with some of these to see if it give the baby wind. If you baby has wind give it herbal catnip or catmint or peppermint tea. Put a few tea leaves in and let it steap for a while and put about an ounce of this in a bottle and add an ounce of cooled boiled water and put a little honey in to make it sweet and let the baby drink some and it will bring up the burps a lot easier. If the ounce of tea looks too strong after you have put the ounce of water in it add more water as you only need it weak and see how that works and you may need to adjust the strength of the tea as the baby gets bigger. I hope that this is helpful for you and all the best. As we did all this with our children and it works. Ed

I didnt have enough milk with my first baby either, but i wanted to try again with my second and i have had plenty! I didnt even start pumping really until she was 2 months old. When they eat every hour its just so hard to feed them and then pump right away, it feels like thats all your doing all day long. I didnt do anything to increase my milk with my second baby, I just ended up doing a lot better :)

I never produced enough for my first because he had a weak suck and just didn't remove enough milk from my breasts. I was on the same feeding/pumping schedule as you and it didn't do any good. This time around, I have exclusively BF for 5 1/2 months now. This difference was with the baby, not with me. My youngest is very effective at nursing and was from the start. I did decide, before he was born, that if he had the same issues as his brother, I would just give up and go with formula... it wasn't worth the stress it caused me and I had a 16 month old to chase around! Fortunatly, it has been wonderful this time.
Good luck, and don't stress about it!
A.

I know of a great breastfeeding support group in the Arlington area that meets every Tues. night at 7pm. It is free and led by a professional lactation consultant, Mellanie Shepperd. I have heard her give lots of ideas to moms for increasing milk supply. There was also a mommy that attended last year that had a smaller than normal amount of milk ducts that used a supplemental nursing system. I think Mellanie helped her because she said she had an extremely low milk supply with her other two kiddos and her 3rd (the one she was nursing last year) had done the best. The group is called For BAbies Sake. YOu can joing the yahoo group by that name to get more info or you can message me and I'll give you more info. if you are located nearby and are interested.

Another great resource is www.kellymom.com Mellanie's contact info. is on there under lactation consultants if you'd like to contact her.

Good luck and congratulations on your new little one!

Had had a lot of trouble with milk supply with my first also because he was tongue-tied and couldn't latch on properly. My second was also tongue-tied, but I knew what to look for, and we had his frenulum cut when he was just 2 days old. After that, he was able to latch on and my body received the proper stimulation from him nursing to establish a supply. There are herbs that will help to establish good milk supply that can be purchased in the form of an herbal tea made by Traditional Medicinals called "Organic Mother's Milk." (I prefer it with milk and real maple syrup to sweeten it) You can also take Fenugreek pills until you smell like maple syrup and that will help too.

C., I feel your struggle, personally. I have a 10 week old who was born 5 weeks early thus was given formula as a necessity. I struggled pumping and pumping and pumping. My mom had to move in with my husband and I in order for him to get rest and I had an extra pair of hands. I'd pump the whole time he was given formula at every feeding at night and then I'd bf during the day "toping" him off at each feeding with formula. It was an endless cycle that brought me to my knees. I eventually enlisted a lactation consultant (most amazing, non-granola, non-la leche league woman) who helped me greatly. I also was prescribed domperidome (milk supply med) from my obgyn after I'd tried EVERYTHING. It seemed to help, but the constant pumping was taking away the sheer joy of my newborn miracle. I eventually decided to quit bf (after days of crying). Then my newborn developed colic. The ONLY way I can get him to stop crying was to nurse. I've done away with the pump and it's odd, bc by doing away with the one thing that was emotionally draining my joy of bf I was able restart and it's picking up. Stick with it... find your groove... and find the joy it in. It will come in for you!!

hi, when i had my first baby (erica 20) i could not breast feed do to a breast inf. but when i had my son (leo 15)i did but only for about 3mo i had low milk supply. than with my son (lao 5) i exclusively breast feed for 26 mo. i had moor than i needed. i dont know if i ate better or if it was because it was my third baby. good luck and god bless

Make sure you are VERY WELL hydrated. some allergy meds can also steal your milk. If you are taking anything that "drys you out" overcompensate on the water to make up for it.

I didn't read all the responses, so someone may have already said this, but alfalfa sprouts (which you can get in supplement form) help increase production. In any case bravo to you for trying so hard. What a great Mama!

For some reason some people just don't produce enough milk, and although I know a person wants to nurse, the stress of not having time to enjoy your children by all the pumping etc. you said you had to go through, i would wonder if you don't have enough the first week, if you shouldn't just go to formula and not stress about it?

The very best thing you can do to establish your milk supply is to let the baby nurse frequently during the first two weeks. Baby should get all his sucking done at the breast - no bottles, pacifiers, etc. Even if it means he is attached to you 24-hours a day, if that is what it takes. You could pump if, for example, he takes a long nap, but I wouldn't pump to increase supply if you can get baby to nurse instead. Baby will do a lot better job of increasing supply than a pump will. After two weeks you will have signaled to your body to make lots of milk, and you can start guiding baby into a more "normal" eating and sleeping routine.

Everyone else had good ideas - you can try fenugreek or Mother's Milk tea, oatmeal, even prescription drugs if necessary. Stay hydrated of course, but it is possible that too much water can decrease your milk supply because it dilutes your hormones, so don't overdo it. Trust your body's thirst. Check out www.kellymom.com for some more helpful hints, as I believe a previous poster said. There is also a new book out called "The Breastfeeding Mother’s Guide to Making More Milk." Haven't read it, but it looks good.

With a healthy baby, your colostrum is all they will need for the first few days of life. It will take a week sometimes for milk to come in. It took five days with my first. You will not have a milk supply immediately. It really depends on the nurses and/or lactation consultant at the hospital. I had nurses that were pushing formula right away with my first (they said that it would be good for me to offer her formula in a syringe as a supplement b/c my milk wasn't in yet); however, I refused b/c I wanted to breastfeed exclusively. I had read enough on it to know that my milk would come and did not need a supplement just two days after being born. I got some weird looks; however, I knew that my baby was fine and didn't mind that she was using me as her pacifier. It stimulates the milk production! You don't need to pump -just let her nurse as often as possible. Just make sure you use nipple cream now and as often as possible when your baby is born. Your nipples will get sore. With my second I had a lactation consultant that had a great approach. I had some issues with my first one latching on - she had a tied tongue. I loved her!! If you really want to breastfeed exclusevely,
I would find a lactation consultant that supports your decision and link up with the la leche league in your area. They will give you the best advice regarding breastfeeding. The best thing you can do is get educated. I read a book on breastfeeding before giving birth to my first. Additionally, even if you can't breastfeed b/c of medical reasons or whatever it would be good to link up with a good lactation consultant that will support you with what your ultimate goal might be. Good luck!!

try mothers milk tea is wonderful

If you want to establish your milk supply nurse your baby as long as possible and use natural tea ;Healthy Nursing Tea by secrets of tea.