Pumping Enough Milk

drink a ton of liquids...water is the best. Pump more often even if it is not that much. Just keep emptying those bad boys!! good luck

My trick to increase my supply for pumping was to first drink lots more water during the day then, pump after your baby goes to bed for the night. My son goes down around 7:30, so I pump at 9pm. We made it to 11 months with just breast milk from be or a bottle with the nanny. Good luck!

Hi L.. I would either increase your water intake by a lot or start supplementing with formula. I had the same problem. In the end, I ended up just giving her some formula in a bottle after my breastfeeding session. I was able to keep this up until 9 months - when my daughter finally weaned me off. It was a sad day :(. Hope that helps.
-A.

Hello L.,

Try uping your protein intake. It's worth a try. Some say dark beer works for them. I tried it and it just made my baby poo Green but others swear by it.

I used to drink 6-8 bottles of water every day. I believe that helped me keep my milk going until my daughter was a year old. Try to stay away from caffenated drinks, which will dehydrate you. If that doesn't work, you may want to start supplementing with formula or even try to see if she's mature enough to start with baby cereal.

Keep pumping!! Supplementing with formula will only lessen your supply further. Fenugreek does help (you can buy it in GNC or any health food store), drink lots of water, and try to relax (I know it's hard to relax while pumping at work). How often are you pumping? I agree with the advice to try to sneak in a session in the AM or PM at home. If possible, when you get home, feed your baby on one side, then pump the other (she will still get enough). Maybe sneak in a couple of sessions on the weekend as well. A great book is Nursing Mother, Working Mother by Gale Pryor, talks a lot about pumping schedules and common problems. Good luck to you. I have a 7 month old and am pumping, he is my third baby and I pumped up to a year with the first two, planning on doing that again. It is rough some days and frustrating, but you are doing a great job. Nannies don't always know, by the way. My baby takes 15-20 oz a day at most. My husband is a SAHD and there is always plenty of milk for the baby. HOWEVER on the days that he has to leave the baby with a sitter, the sitter ALWAYS says there ISN'T enough milk. I wonder why that is... strange... anyway... good luck again to you. Let us know how it goes.

spend at least a few (3-5) straight days pumping more often (every 2-3 hours), and pumping each time after you get to nurse. eat well and get a lot of sleep during this time. ps you ;should drink lots of liquids but don't go crazy. more than 10-12 glasses of water a day can actually hurt your milk supply according to a number of breastfeeding books that I read.

Hi L. I experienced the same problem with my daughter now 5............try massaging your breast when you notice that your filling up........also if you are not already doing this only let other people give her the bottle......when you are home nurse and try to pump when your at work.......so whatever you pump during the feedings you miss while at work she can have the next day.........in the mean time you are still producing as much milk as she wants.......Hope this helps.....it worked for me.

Hi L., I read your article on breast milk.....My advice to you in the mornings you eat a warm bowl of oats,and drink a warm glass of chocolate milk at evening time.That had worked for me, a mother of three who breast feed them pass the age of two years old.

Well, usually it's the law of supply and demand. The more you breastfeed and pump the more supply you are going to have. If you can up the times of breastfeeding and pumping that should help increase your supply. I was also told about certain herbal teas that could possibly help with lactation, when I was breastfeeding/pumping, which I tried. I'm not sure if it helped or not, but I was only pumping twice a day and I was able to pump out 6 to 7 oz per pump. Here is link to the tea my friend suggested I try:
http://www.amazon.com/Yogi-Healing-Formula-Nursing-16-Cou...
Good luck!

Hi L.~

I have run into the same issues while going back to work. It can be stressful trying to figure out how much your baby consumes at each feeding/how much you can produce/overfeeding/underfeeding/etc. etc. The best advice I have gotten is from the Nursing Mother's Companion by Kathelin Huggins. Lots of good information. On her recommendation, I have started taking fenugreek capsules 3 times a day to increase my milk production. Though I think that producing 4 to 4.5 per pumping is completely in the right ball park. That is about what my almost 6 month old girl drinks. Some say babies that are feeding through bottles will eat more at one sitting b/c the milk comes out easier for them through the nipples and hence will over eat a bit. I've also used this milk calculator to see if the amount of milk she is drinking each day is enough for her weight.
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkcalc.html#calculator
or
http://www.fourfriends.com/cgi-bin/milk.pl?lbs=14&oz=...=

This can help you know for sure how much she should be getting at each feeding. My doctor always says if she is gaining weight alright, she is fine and to trust that your body is linked up with her needs quite accurately.

Working and pumping is definitely a procedure but such a good thing for them, no? Hope this is helpful. Been dealing with this a lot myself lately!!

I had breastfed all my 3 children, I had to pump my breast at work and store in the fridge. We manufacture milk according to the supply and demand of individual child. When you are home, you need to only breastfeed, so that you can increase your milk supply. Also, make sure you eat a proper diet with adequate amount of calcium and take your vitamins. My mother-in-law is Chinese and she made me rice soups daily to help with the milk production.
If your daughter is already five months, her milk consumption will be greater, and she should also be starting to eat cereal. Best regards, don't give up, try to breastfeed as long as you can.
R.

Try a lactation consultant. I have an amazing woman whose known as the "breastfeeding guru" Her name is Bev Solow. www.bevsolow.com.

Hi L., your baby should be drinking at least 6 to 7 ozs per feed and if you are giving breast milk it should be 7 to 8 ozs so may be you will want to include some formula. You can also try the tea but at this stage not sure how well it will work. I am a mother of 2 boys ages 2 and 5 and a baby nurse.

Hi L.,

The more you pump and feed, the more milk you will produce. You can also try eating a bowl of oatmeal every day. Oatmeal increases milk production. My midwife suggested I use Nettles to increase my supply and it really worked well for me. You can buy Nettles Tincture online. I drink one dropperful in water 3 times a day whenever I need an extra boost of milk. Good luck to you!

S.

Hi, I have a friend who uses a manual pump and was able to get lots of milk with that. She seemed to be pumping about every three hours or so at work. I had a harder time keeping up my milk supply because I wasn't willing to pump for 15-20 min every three hours. Make sure you have a comfortable place at work and a pump that really empties your breasts. Nannies, mother-in-laws can be very discouraging when things don't go as planned. I experienced that at least so don't be discouraged if you really want to continue breast milk, and I believe that you should. At this age your pediatrician might think your baby is ready for starting some cereal which can help to decrease the volume of milk that baby needs. I'd be really aggressive with the pumping for two to three days and it should really increase your supply. And of course hydrate and relax, look at a picture of the baby while you pump to help release. Good luck and post your success ok? ps I'm an MD and on the breast feeding committee at my hospital and also teach part of a breast feeding course

I increased my milk supply by following some of the advice of my lactation consultant-taking 3 brewer's yeast tablets a day, and pumping every 2 hours. She also recommended some mother's milk tea.

If your baby is gaining weight well, she/he is getting enough.

It's really not good to start cereal before 6 months according to the latest research. I believe Nanny's want more milk (mine does too) either because it's the easiest way to comfort the baby and/or they need more comfort when away from Mom and Dad.

My pediatrician also said it's OK to give the baby a little water and/or a little chhamomile tea as long as it is after breast milk. My daughter didn't like water unless we mixed in a little breast milk.

Kudos to you working and breast feeding!
Good luck!

Another new Mom-Connie

hi L.; congratulations to you for sticking to breastmilk, as i'm sure you know it is the best thing for your baby. the best way to increase your supply is to pump more often. basically what you are trying to do is create more milk than your body thinks the baby needs based on actual nursing; some pumping advice is to pump for each nursing that she would miss , like, if she nurses 5 times a day and she'll miss 2 while you're at work, pump two times. but that's not always enough because often, the body seems to sense the difference between a nursing and a pumping event. also, the baby's nursing schedule can change so frequently; she may go thru a big growth spurt where she is hungrier and if you were home, she would nurse a lot more.

i would say try something like this; get up a few minutes early and pump first thing, before her first nursing of the day; then give her that first nursing whenever you would usually do so. if at all possible, can you pump again at work? at a coffee break 2 or 3 hours after you start your day there? then, pump or nurse right away when you get home, and then an hour later, do the other; in other words, if you nurse her right when you get home, an hour later, pump again. that's three per day, that should drive your supply way up.

make sure to drink a lot and that you are getting plenty of calcium in green veggies like kale and broccoli rabe, and so on. and drink that water, really.

you might really benefit from checking out a La Leche League meeting as well; look on the web for one in your area.

best,
J.

Hi L.,
My experience is that once you go on pump instead of nursing directly the milk supply will be less (and eventually may cease after a while). You may try to eat papaya if you like it, and pat your breast with a warm towel (to enlarge the milk duct) before you pump. Rest more is also the key (though it may be the hardest one to achieve at this stage). Good luck.

Hi,
Sometimes if your not drinking enough water yourself,I found it can really affect your milk supply.I know for a normal individual 2litres is the recommended amount of water per day,and breast feeding mums are supposed to drink more-I can't remember how much though-sorry.

Try boiling some fenugreek seeds in water then drink the juice with tons of honey!otherwise it tastes ghastly!apparently fenugreek has natural ingredients which increase milk supply.

When you're with your little one after work try to get her to suckle for as long as she's interested,the sucking enhances the milk supply too.

Hope some of that helps-it's hard work,but soooo rewarding.Hope it all goes well!

Mother of 3

Best way I have found to stimulate milk production is pump more...even when you think you can't. At night after the baby is in bed, try pumping one more time and then early in the a.m. (assuming you can deal with the sleep loss). And on the weekends, I'd pump in addition to feeding directly so you can maximize your output. Eventually, when I did this, my milk supply ramped up. Hope that helps!

Hi L.,

I had supply problems after getting my period back. I spoke to a lactation consultant who recommended "power pumping"; pumping evey hour at work, for a few days. Yup, a real hassle! Actually I could not get let down every hour, but 1.5 hours worked well for me. This translateed to 5 times per full working day, spaced closer in the morning when supply is higher, and once my supply came back up, I could drop to 4 times per day, as compared to the 3 times per day I had been doing before. It's more work, but if you really want to avoid formula, it's worth the effort.

Good luck!

C.

My second son was premature and he never learned to actually nurse at my breast so I pumped for eleven months! Yikes! Anyway it was hard to get enough milk from just pumping, especially when he'd hit a growth spurt it would be hard to keep up. This is what worked for me. I would pump 5 or 10 minutes extra first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Also when he was having a growth spurt, I'd pump one extra time a day and I'd take an herbal supplement called funugreek for a week or two and it really increase my supply so I could catch up. I read about it in the Nursing Mother's Companion (great book for guidance) and my doctor said it was OK. Check with your child's pediatrian and maybe it will work for you.

There is a special tea that will increase your supply of milk. I forget the name of the tea, but if you search using those terms (tea to increase breastmilk), you should find it. I bought some a couple of years ago when I was a working/pumping mom (try breastfeedingessentials.com or ebay). It worked, but I did have some mildly undesirable side effect (sorry I can't remember what it was).