Ok maybe one ofyou guys can help me out....I am having a horriable time getting my milk supply built up. I have taken the fenugreek and blessed thistle, oatmeal every morning for breakfast, 200 oz of water a day, pumping or nursing every two hours, I am even on my second dose of reglan that is supposed to boost your supply and..........NOTHING. I feel as if i have tried it all and it is not working. My son is 5 1/2 weeks old and I have been havig to supplement. All I can get is about 2 oz of breast milk at at time and that does not fill him up so i do 2 oz of breast milk and 2 oz formula. If you have any other ideas on antything i can try PLEASE let me know. I am not wanting to give up just yet. Thanks in advance
Dont give up, i was the same way just didnt have reglan... i drank mothers milk ate oatmeal(make sure its not instant) and did the pills also i also nursed every 2 hours and i pumped if u have a pump try pumping i also used to nurse 10 on one and 10 on the other then i tried 5 min at a time so 5 on one 5 on the other if there still hungry repeat that helped tons! If you need anymore help or if i can help you let me know [email protected]
PS: supplamenting with formula is not a bad thing just think positive at least babys still gettin some! :) try not to stress stress can lower ur supply
Get in touch with a breastfeeding consulatant they will be able to help you better.They are located at the hospitals,clinics if you are on WIC or the LLL League.Don't give up he is only a little over 5 weeks old some it takes a little longer but if I were you I wouldn't supplement becasue the more baby is on the breast the more your milk is getting stimulated even if he's on for over 30 min at a time.My baby is 6 months old and is always on the breast everyday from the day she was born.I plan to continue till she is walking and then wein her.Good Luck
Hi Shelly,
I can sympathize with you- I have a 10 week old and stopped breastfeeding at 4 weeks because of the same problem...I was dead set on breastfeeding but no matter what I tried nothing worked- my body just did not want to do it anymore. My advice is just to make sure your baby is gaining weight with you still trying to breastfeed. I was only getting 2 oz a day in from both breasts and my baby actually started losing weight and then stopped gaining completely. I went to supplementing and then full formula (he then had problems latching on anyway-bottle nipples are so much easier) and kept pumping with no avail and only getting .5 oz a day- not even enough to feed him one bottle. After I gave it up (which did not make me happy- but it made me more unhappy to watch my son suffer from hunger and no growth)...he gained and growed like a weed and put on 3 lbs in 2 weeks! Now instead of being under his percantile for his age he is at 50%- so for me even though I hated the idea- formula worked- we used Enfamil Premium Lipil which is pretty close to breast milk with the proteins and DHA and all that. Just know that you tried your hardest and that at least your baby has gotten some immunity from you in such a short time if you have to give it up. Good luck- I know it is hard! Christie
It sounds to me like you are doing all of the right things...the only thing I would say would be do NOT supplement...as you know, breastfeeding is a supply and demand thing...if you are supplementing you are cutting down on his "demand". Are you in touch with a lactation consultant or your local Le Leche League?? I am sure they would be an invaluable source of information and encouragement for you.
Best of luck to you
Ruth Ann
Ok Shelly, this advice will have women all over screaming about how someone can be so stupid, but my mom did it with 5 kids and it worked. I also have a friend that did it and it worked. A can of beer a day or a small glass of wine. The beer is suppose to work the best, I think that it's the yeast in it. Plus it will help you to relax and the milk let down better (I think I just hear seveal women shreik!). My Great Grandmother was a midwife (back when they were pretty much your baby doctor). She told my mom to do it and I heard other older women say the same thing. I know one women that said that the hospital that she had her kids in (40+ years ago) gave the moms a beer to help boost supply. And I'm not talking going hog wild and getting sauced each day, just one can (and regular 12 ounce not the 40 ounce) or a SMALL glass of wine. Good luck!!
If you can, let your baby nurse on you, don't pump! He can get much more out than a pump and that will stimulate you to create more! Also, try a lactation consultant--they are usually at evey hospital and they are FREE! Good luck!
Shelly I feel your pain. My son was in the NICU for 7 weeks and I had to pump to get him milk since they were tube feeding him. I tried all the same routes, and many more disgusting foods! The thing that worked very well is domperidone. It is not approved in the US for milk production, but is for digestion issues. It just has the cool side effect of milk production. If you can get your doc to prescribe it, it worked wonders for me. It is not chesp though. If you get it here in the US it is about $100 a month. I ordered from Canada and saved a lot of money, you just need the script. Let me know if you have any questions.
Kristen
Years ago, when I belonged to La Leche League they said that drinking a beer would help with milk supply. I've never tried it myself. Here's their website http://www.llli.org/
maybe you can find some other suggestions?
I attended a breastfeeding conference recently that showed that breast massage followed by hand expression can help boost milk supply. Here was the recommended video to show the proper technique for hand expression:
http://newborns.stanford.edu Click on breastfeeding, then hand expression. This method of milk production was reported by the speaker, Dr. Christine Smilie as being as good as the galactagogue domperidone.
Good luck
You have gotten a lot of great advice, and it seems that you are doing all you possibly can. I just want to remind you that supplementing with formula does not negate the health benefits your baby is getting from your breast milk. Some is always better than none. You are doing just great!
Our pediatrician told us once that "how long" can matter more than "how much", and to just keep trying to give some breast milk for as long as possible. Keep up the good work!
Good luck!
Have you worked with the breast feeding consultants at your hospital? I went to see them when I had the same problem. It was a little depressing because they told me I was supplementing too much but they helped me with strategies to help. I ended up supplementing for the twins the entire time I nursed (7 months) and I don't recall but I'm sure I supplemented some for the third child.
You are doing your best. You love your child. Don't beat yourself up or let others make you feel guilty if you can't produced 100% of the milk your child needs!
I was nervous to write this, but I see that you've already had the same advice from two others. Drink a beer! And no, you don't have to pump and dump. You can just feed your baby. The beer really helps.
My husband was concerned about my milk supply, so as I was breastfeeding our oldest, he gave me a beer. So there I was, nursing a child and nursing a beer. He said that by the time the baby was done, I would be, too, and it would give my body time to metabolize the beer before nursing again. It really worked for us! Plus, as mentioned before, the relaxation benefits were pretty cool. Just one beer, but it really worked.
Call your OB and ask him to put you on reglan... worked every time for me!
You've gotten a lot of good advice. It sounds like you're doing everything right. I would suggest NOT supplementing with formula though and nursing as often as possible instead of pumping. Babies are more efficient at getting the milk, and better at triggering the hormones that make milk. Milk is made by supply and demand, sooo... the more you supplement with formula the less you will produce. If you absolutely must supplement with formula, then yes, go ahead and pump. But try nursing every 1 hour - 1.5 hours first and see if that helps.
Drink plenty of water, eat lots of oatmeal, continue your script, etc. Definitely contact a lactation consultant!
As far as the beer goes, I'm pretty sure it's the dark beer (like Guinness) that works. With only 1 beer, you shouldn't have to pump & dump. Target and Babies R Us has those test strips you can buy to test the alcohol level in your breastmilk, if you're concerned.
If all else fails, then don't feel badly about having to use formula. Sometimes breastfeeding just doesn't work. Just be proud that you've tried everything you possibly can. You're a good mama.
Shelly,
I am going to say one thing that I did not see as I scanned your advice and that is RELAX. Being stressed and worrying about you milk supply can actually inhibiting your bodies ability to let your milk come in. Don't mix formula, just nurse for a while and you'll find that your milk supply is built up. You may have to nurse a lot more often for a little while, but it will be worth it!
The beer suggestions is good, as it helps with the milk supply and helps you relax. If you are still having problems contact the LaLeche League and they are great about helping with problems that mom's are having!
Hopefully things will work out for you!
Linda
This may sound really weird but I had that problem with my last son and my sister in law told me to drink lots of iced tea and it worked for me. Otherwise, just keep supplementing as the baby needs what you can give him. Renting an electric pump from a pharmacy also really helps too.
Hope this helps. BD
I had trouble getting my milk supply up for twins and I know it's hard not to supplement because you don't want your baby to lose weight. I still supplemented with formula but as the days passed the supplements got fewer and fewer to now I only breastfeed. My boys are 4 1/2 months now.
What I did was pump more in between. A nursing consultant told me even if it's 10 minutes after breastfeeding, go ahead and pump what you can. Your body will start to realize that you need more and then start to produce more. Also, I had to make sure they were empyting me out. A lot of times they would leave about a half ounce in my breasts and I thought I was done since they nursed for 40 minutes but I still had some left and so the next time I wouldn't produce as much if I didn't empty them out.
After about 3 months old they started sleeping 6 to 7 hours at night and so I'd pump in the middle of the night and freeze those bottles. So now if I have to supplement, I can use frozen breastmilk.
Good luck!
Yep, drink a dark beer every evening! Also, you can up the fenugreek to taking it three times a day plus drinking Mother's Milk tea. I made batches of it and drank it like water all day long. This really helped my milk.
Just keep at it. After he nurses from you, pump pump pump. If you really want this, you will need to nurse and pump constantly! Even if mothing comes out with the pump the first few times, it will get there. Of course, nursing is the best. I would recommend after you nurse, to pump right afterwards and try to nurse often.
Good luck, I know its not easy!
I've been drinking 1 beer a day to keep my supply up for my 8 month old. They say it's the hops in beer that helps.