N.W.
answers from
Salt Lake City
on
You could try a warm shower or heating pad...
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Has anyone experienced difficult with getting your milk to let down and if so, what can you do about it? I am nursing my second child who is now 4 months old. She is a wonderful happy baby who eats and sleeps well - I know how lucky I am. A couple of times in the last week when I have gone to feed her, my milk will NOT let down for like 10 minutes (it may not be that long but when there is a hungry baby screaming at your breast it feels like that long.) I remember this happening occasionally with my older daughter too. It is so frustrating. I was feeling like my supply was a little low a few days ago so I started taking fenugreek (which helped with my first girl) and I seem to have a better supply now in general, so I don't think that is the problem. (and the last time I pumped today at work- 4 hours before I fed her again- I had more than I usually do and this difficulty happened tonight as I was putting her down.) I try visualizing, relaxing, stimulating my other nipple, stroking the breast, I don't know what else to do. Now I'm fearful of it happening which I'm sure makes it worse. Any suggestions or info on why this happens would be great. Thanks!
You could try a warm shower or heating pad...
Lactation consultant told me cool packs.
I had a harder time letting down with my second child. It's alot harder to relax and settle down when you have a 2 yr old running around, demanding attention, not to mention all of the other things you need to be doing. It doesn't make it any easier if you are starting to worry about it.
This may not be the most helpful but I started just taking deep relaxing breaths before nursing, really calming myself down, reminding myself that she was only going to be this little once and not letting all of the other things crowd my brain. It worked for me, hopefully it works for you too.
I had difficulties getting a quick letdown for a while. I used a manual pump to "get things going" and then I would nurse on that breast. That seemed to help for me.
I'm not sure how to fix this, but you could pump until you get let down, and then start feeding your daughter so she doesn't get frustrated. This was recommended to me in order to start feeding after let down to help my baby stop choking. I would contact a lactation specialist, or La Leche League's website.
