I have a 9 week old baby and I decided to breast feed. (pump only since I work full time) My milk supply is really low so she is on formula also. The Dr gave me a scrpt about 4 weeks ago and it was for 12 days. It helped why I was taking it now its back to 1-2 ounces on each side. Does anybody have any advice.
Thanks for your help
I bought it at Whole Foods, you can have my bottle if you want it because it was expensive. I think I took it for a week thinking it would help but I just stopped nursing. (I was in major pain with an infection) If you live anywhere near Morton Grove, you can have my bottle if you don't mind an open bottle of capsules.
Hi T.,
I give you a lot of credit. Working FT and pumping was not sucessful for me at all. I've heard the fenugreek can be effective but also make you and/or the baby smell like maple syurp, which someone else mentioned. Also, I read drinking beer is supposed to help. I had a big problem getting a sufficient milk supply in so I gave it a shot. I got the non-alcoholic type and it did help some but I think because he was a c-section baby, my first and also I'm not a big chested girl at all, I just couldn't produce what he needed. Although I've read that the beer thing will make some women's milk come in so much that it hurts.
Best of luck to you. I know it can be tough, just hang in there and keep trying.
S.
I used it with my last baby and it did help.
the only problem is that you may smell like maple syrup.
but it did work.
Good luck
If you pump full time during the day you MUST MUST MUST nurse as much as possible when you are home. The pump is not as efficient as the baby in getting the milk out, so if you are pumping only, you will have an extremely hard time keeping a supply up. Fenugreek is available without a script (not sure if you meant you had taken this with a script or a different script) and available at most health food stores. Here is a page about it and what dosage you should take: http://www.kellymom.com/herbal/milksupply/fenugreek.html
Also drinking lots of water and getting good nutrition help. Also some say that eating oatmeal (not the instant kind) helps as well. Try to give formula as little as possible because that is reducing her demand...and nursing is all supply and demand. 2 oz per side really is not bad...a child that age really shouldn't be taking more than a 4 oz bottle.
Also, you want to pump at least 3x in a 8 hour day. I pumped for my first son for 14 months and I did have to use the fenugreek off and on, but as long as I kept up nursing well when I was home, my supply would always come back up. I think about that age I also fed 3x a day by nursing, once before I left for work, once when I got home and once before bed. There was a feeding or two in the middle of the night as well.
I'm not sure if you meant you only pump while you are at work or not but when you are at home, nurse as much as you can. The weekends will really help to boost your supply for the upcoming week. Good luck.
Unfortantely latching give more milk and the more you supplement the less you'll body will produce. It is so hard to have to pump at work so I give you a lot of credit. How often are you pumping? I would say at 9 weeks it should be every 2-3 hours which obviously can be difficult so when you are home and on the weekends, try doing a marathon session. I took fenugreek pills for a while too. They kinda seemed to help. Mother's Milk Tea is also supposed to help. I did buy some but just couldn't stomach it. Also be sure to drink lots of water and eat well. Congratulations and good luck.
You can buy a supplement at Whole Foods or online called More Milk Plus. It has fenugreek, blessed thistle, and nettle in it to help with milk production and letdown. I took this while I was pumping and it helped my supply a bit. You can also buy a drug called Domperidone off the internet that will also increase your supply. It is not patented in the US, so you have buy it overseas. It works like Reglan, but with much less side effects for mom and baby.
T.:
not sure what script you had.... there are pharmaceuticals to increase milk, herbs , homeopathy/ acupuncture/ acupressure...
additionally there is the issue of pump...are you using a hospital grade pump? are the flanges the correct size?
all of these things can make a huge difference.
P., RLC, IBCLC
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