Milk supply- Eweis any advice?

Do you have a pump? Look up power pumping. 10 min on, 10 min off for an hour I think. It's tough work but if you do it a few times a day, it really works! Make sure your getting up at night to feed and/or pump. You've got this mamma! Don't give up! My daughter took two months to exclusively breast feed because I wasn't making enough and she needed formula to supplement.

I don't know much about this but if you have facebook there are lots of groups on there to offer advice. I'm in 'milky mommas' and 'Breast bottles and beyond'.

Nicole I never heard of power pumping! Did you try it? I'm not giving up. No way! He eats every 1.5-2 hours during the day, and 2.5-3.5 hours at night. Right now I nurse him then I pump and add that to his bottle and give him that. He finally gained weight.

If1, the only social media I do is here with you ladies. Ty very much for the group name though- I bet I can google them. And I am physically going to a group Tuesday so we are thinking similarly.

Thank you both!

Pintrest has lots of recipes for lactation cookies and shakes that are suplosed to help build up supply. The fenugreek supplement may make you sick. I took it with my first and i had a constant stomach ache for 2 weeks while i was on it and my daughter had a diaper rash the entire time

A few thoughts- remember pumping often does not truly indicate the oz you are producing with baby latched. But regardless, depending on your pump, settings, and even the pumping accessories you may get diminished amounts. For example, I always produced more pumping from one breast at a time even tho I had a dual pump, and when I got flanges too big for my nipples my output was immediately less even though the suction felt no different.

As far as supply goes most women truly can produce enough if nursing directly from breast with proper latch, as indicated by number of wet diapers and regaining birth weight, & hitting developmental milestones. Breastfed babies (exclusively) often follow a bit of a different growth curve the first year, and finding a pediatrician to help navigate any issues helps tremendously versus one that wants you to immediately supplement. (Unless you want to, which is fine too! Know that choice isnt a "defeat" or "less than" either!) Nursing on demand also is freaking hard work, but do try to latch baby anytime/all the time. My kiddos never adhered to a feeding schedule until they got older, or maybe I didn't, but it seemed to work, they nursed a lot & I produced a lot. As far as food goes, high good fats, nursing protein bars, brewers yeast in baked goods, tons of fluids & no expectations on immediate weight loss. Enjoy a Guiness!

Know even after two extremely successful breastfeeding relationships I still am anxious about nursing the 3rd! You're doing great mama!

Ty Jordan I love Pinterest! Great advice. I knew I could count on you guys ???

Fenugreek and power pumping helped me a lot. We ended up needing to supplement with formula around 4 months, but it kept me going with enough until then. Best of luck! I know how frustrating it can be.

Hi mama!!

First off I wouldn't jump to galactagogues (fenugreek, blessed thistle ect) so quickly for many reasons. You want to first determine if you truly have a low supply issue (which is actually not very common), if nursing behaviors can be altered to assist increasing, a transfer issue with the baby having a lip or a tongue tie FIRST before adding a herb that can in general cause gastro intestinal distress in mama AND baby. And that's the last thing you need in the newborn stage when everything is wonky. Those supplements do best with people who exclusively pump/true diagnosed low supply/adoptive moms attempting relaxtation ect. THE Number one best way to increase is tons of nursing. Next would be power pumping. However, milk doesn't always gush for all mamas day one. It slowly rolls in and increases as the baby's belly grows. (it's barely the size of a marble the first week). If the latch is good, keep encouraging a deep latch every single session and allow as much comfort nursing as possible. Try not to use pacifiers right now at all and any and all nursing needs to be at the breast. If the baby is having a sleepy stretch try pumping or pump one side while the baby nurses the other.

If the baby has a diagnosed lip or tongue tie you can seek a pediatric dental specialist to have it clipped to allow for a better latch which will help milk transfer. The more pulled out the more milk will be made. Milk regulation occurs between weeks 6-12 so you are steadily building this whole time.

That being said, a pump is a wonderful tool but always be aware the output has NOTHING to do with actual supply. A body has to be trained to the pump which can take time. The baby's suckle is the BEST milk remover of them all. I know sometimes you can get differing advice from different LCs, but if need be seek a IBCLC (international board certified lactation consultant) who sometimes has a bit more medical experience with lactation issues than some LCs if you don't feel they are helping you diagnose the problem.

Personally to me, your baby sounds fine. It took me 3.5 weeks to get my first baby back To birth weight with extreme pressure to supplement with formula. It can be a slippery slope. I used a SNS which is a supplemental tether with nursing to add the extra milk I pumped. Keep in mind anytime you supplement you HAVE to pump so it's almost a "triple feed". If you want to keep this pace up I would order an SNS, so you can kill 2 birds with one stone, but I don't know if that's what you really need at this point. Also I don't know how many days old your baby is or how much formula you are supplementing but be careful with too much supplementing bc it will cause the babys belly to grow faster than you can keep up. Should be a very limited amount and I personally feel at this point you should pull back on supplementing to allow your own milk to naturally increase. That's what supply and belly size are supposed to do together. My daughter was in the NICU an lost more than 11% weight. It's very normal for a c section/breastfed baby to lose 10% of their birthweight. You and baby take on a lot of fluid during a section adding weight that may not exist during a vaginal birth so the loss looks tremendous. Keep going. With a partial tie on both the baby CAN get stronger and overcome the partial tie without intervention. Even if you have to enforce a deep latch every time. My daughter had a lip tie and I never had it corrected and she nursed and I pumped till age 2. Please don't stress. That can effect supply. Drink as much water as you can, keep calories increased by at least 300 a day, and nurse nurse nurse. Everyday that goes by your milk will increase. I'm actually impressed the baby regained weight in 2 weeks. That's wonderful. Pedis are very very very behind in lactation education. Also, make sure they are using the WHO (world health organization) growth chart to chart baby's gain. It's for breastfed babies and there is a difference.

Please holler at me if I can do anything to help. Sorry so long winded I hope this makes sense. And Kellymom.com is one of my Go to lactation resources for everything. Here is an article about galactagogues.

http://kellymom.com/bf/can-i-breastfeed/herbs/herbal_galactagogue/

Everything they said and also wear the baby. If you're at home go topless and keep baby in just a diaper and wear baby tummy to tummy as much as you can. Let baby have full access as much as possible, skin to skin contact can really kick your lactation hormones into gear. It doesn't work for everyone but it may be worth a try? Good luck ❤

Yes! I had to power pump because I almost lost my supply. It worked too well though and I ended up with oversupply! Deffinatly worth trying!!! :) You've got this!

Just continue latching, mama. Don't give up.

Ty guys so much- Jude is 18 days old. I say my supply is low bc he was very "hangry" and would take 10-15 mins to latch his first week home, thus burning tons of calories trying to eat. He's still hungry after nursing both sides. He dropped from 5lbs 9oz to 4lbs 15 oz (12%) at his first check up. Dr recommended I continue nursing and pumping and add 10 mL of formula in order to get his weight up. 4 days later he was only up 1 oz. we were in the ER for lethargy and low temp. The next day we went back to the Drs and were encouraged to increase formula to 30-60 mLs. I found a good medium at 45. He always goes to breast first, I also add what I pump to his bottle. The most I've expressed w pumping was 20mL total from both breasts. I'm sure he gets more nursing, but I still don't think it's enough. During his first week he was nursing every 30-45 mins and again taking 10-15 to latch. It was awful. I felt terrible for him. And when the dr initially mentioned formula I cried right then n there. Last night I basically nursed him all night and pumped in between. I will continue. I have a moby wrap I will start wearing around w him in it. Ty for the tips. Eweis can I pm you?

I'd also suggest looking into the La Leche League. They're a great resource and support. They have one for our state and meet locally here. I'm assuming they're all over the country as I'm in Alaska. See if you have one near by. Here is the main link.

http://www.llli.org

I'd say maybe look further into the lip and tongue tie. Since he's working so hard to get milk from you it could be that even though his latch is good. My nephew had this a few weeks ago and since it was corrected he's been fine and gaining faster too.

Ugh I'm sorry your going through this. Breastfeeding is HARD!!!!! No one tells you this and some BF moms make it seem like sunshine and roses and make you feel guilty. Just keep trying. I had so many issues with my son. The bleeding nipples, nursing strikes, food allergy, colic!!! I did nurse what seemed like all night and all day at first. If he fell asleep I would pump his little arm to wake him up. I did power pump too. I also had to drink triple the amount of water. Every single day or else my supply would suffer! Good luck! I hope it works out for you and if not you tried mama and you know what's best for your baby..formula isn't all bad it's just not free! ? I might not even BF this time bc I want to have more time with my toddler. Most days I felt like all I did was pump and BF

Smc I'll look into the league.

If1 we have an appointment tomorrow in the afternoon for a weight check and to discuss his lip n tongue. I agree bc he latches so well then he stops and gets mad and starts all over again. Ugh.

Shell- honestly ty so much, your message made me tear up. I feel like you hit the nail on the head. I guess breast feeding is like anything else baby/pregnancy related difficult and not what I expected. I'm prepared to take it all though I wanted this little boy too much n for too long. You're also right about the formula- dr said to treat it like medicine. And you know what? He's still nursing with me, I'm still pumping, and he's gaining weight. Thank god. Xo

I saw a nutritionist today, she agreed not to touch the supplements. She says it's supply and demand! Keep nursing and that considering all I've been through with his early delivery my supply is ok. It will pick up if I keep up. I'll update you guys after my first support group meeting tomorrow. Thank you all SO MUCH. I love our group! Please don't all give birth and disappear forever!!!

Of course you can PM me. Look into getting an SNS system. You can order them on Amazon too. That way you can supplement WHILE nursing and get the nursing stimulation and baby can receive the 45-60ml at the same time. The baby receives the supplemented milk and stimulates your milk at the same time. That will benefit you BOTH. You got this. It is hard. I don't ever try to paint a rosy picture bc I didn't have a rosy one myself. But it does get better. I promise.

And don't feel bad. Hangry is a good way to

Describe it.