increasing breast milk supply

when i was in the hospital my body was under a ton of stress. I was monitored constantly because my heart rate / bp and temp was way high. i think this may have had to do with why my supply was so low. and while i originally planned to breast feed and supplement only if necessary...i realized i definitely needed to give formula. I breast fed first and then gave formula...but when i pump i only get 1 oz or less from both boobs!!! I feel guilty sometimes...like I'm not giving him what he needs to develop as best as possible. I've tried to continue pumping but i can't help but feel like i'm wasting my time when i see less than an ounce of milk

with me only producing less than an ounce at 4 weeks...is this a lost cause?

Re: increasing breast milk supply

Keep pumping, every 3 hours.

Take More Milk Plus-the tincture

Drink lots and lots of water-like a glass an hour. make sure you are eating good nutritious meals

Re: increasing breast milk supply

frequency - even try every 2 hours - overnight is so important early on.

length - wait for a second let down (especially in the morning session)


I don't know if you would want to try this, but what about exclusively pumping for one day to see what you do get.

Re: increasing breast milk supply

where can o get more milk plus?

Re: increasing breast milk supply

pump every 2-3 hrs, take more milk plus, eat oatmeal-- i found the non-instant kind worked best, drink lots of water, and if and as you can, SLEEP!

good luck!

Re: increasing breast milk supply

Keep pumping every 3 hours and also make sure your pumping long enough. I didn't produce a lot in the beginning but eventually produced more. Drink lots of water too and oatmeal.

Also, my lactation consultant told me that a lot of people don't pump as much as when they breastfeed. So, what u pump isn't necessarily what your baby is getting.

HTH!

Re: increasing breast milk supply

I'm in the same boat and was about to post about it. I started out BFing DD but she had jaundice in the hospital and they made me supplement with formula. Then she lost a lot of weight so I had to continue supplementing. She would just fall asleep when I BF her, so I started to exclusively pump. Now she gets all bottles - about 50/50 between BM and formula. I just can't produce enough to keep up with her. I pump every 4 hours, even at night. I tried More Milk Plus and it did nothing. I tried eating oatmeal, drinking tons of water, etc. Nothing has helped. So I've been considering switching to all formula to ease the stress of worrying about how I'm going to pump when I'm by myself with her. I know any amount of BM I can give her is great, but at this point I feel like I'm supplementing the formula with my BM and it's just stressful.

Re: increasing breast milk supply

Re: increasing breast milk supply

I took Fenugreek supplements (can be bought at any vitamin store) and it increased my supply substantially. I took 3 pills 3 times a day. Good luck!!

Re: increasing breast milk supply

Message edited 8/7/2011 7:59:33 PM.

Re: increasing breast milk supply

Re: increasing breast milk supply

I know this one is a hard one but if you can try pumping at night. You're body is very responsive to the night time feedings. Have you considering a lactation consultant. THey are soooo helpful not only for their initial consul but the phone calls afterwards. I struggled for 3 weeks and eventually caught on to exclusively BF.
Hoping it all works out

Re: increasing breast milk supply

More milk plus is available at whole foods.

Let me tell you something though, the more you stress the harder it may be.

Dont think of formula as bad for your child...I FF ds #1 and he is now 3.5yo, hit every milestone early and is incredibly smart, has a great vocab, can tell you all hte planets and facts about them, has taught himself how to write 1/2 the letters in the alphabet...

DS#2 I tried hard to BF and realized I was stressing so much about that, that I wasnt truly enjoying my newborn. I decided whatever happened happend, and my supply went up. I think it was because I relaxed!
I started doing about 50/50 FF/BF and started enjoying my new son so much more.

They grow up too fast, I understand the desire to BF but dont stress about it.

PS even when I was doing great with my feedings, I was pumping only 2oz per side...I just was never a great pumper.

Re: increasing breast milk supply

ITA agree with everything that was posted here, just wanted to add that when I was pumping, it made a huge difference how I was feeling-- if I was stressed, I wouldn't produce a lot, but if I was relaxed I produced a lot more. Need to get the oxytocin going! Try watching a really cheesy TV show while you are pumping.

Re: increasing breast milk supply

I bought my MMPlus on Amazon.com. My pediatrician also recommended really making a relaxation exercise out of the pumping; when you can, hand baby off to someone else and go have a nice cup of something with a magazine for ten minutes. I found *not* paying attention to the process and using it as relaxation time helped.

If you want to forum mail me, I can give you the name of my pediatrician who is also a lactation consultant (and a nursing mom herself)!

Re: increasing breast milk supply

drink a bucketload of water and eat oatmeal. pump often.

Re: increasing breast milk supply

im in the same boat. very rough birth, child in the NICU for 4 weeks = crappy supply. at 12w i now BF every feeding, pump twice a day, and supplement with formula every feeding besides one where she gets all breastmilk. forget a freezer stash, my fridge stash lasts barely 24 hours for ONE bottle. ive never pumped more than 5 oz a session, and on average i get 1.5-2oz. more milk plus helped. i am going to try power pumping tomorrow while DD is at MILs. i was pretty accepting of being able to BF and supplement with formula until she got excessively gassy and now i feel guilty again and that my milk is better for her... sorry i am not much help, good luck!!