Breastfeeding - Saint Augustine,FL

Boobies work on supply and demand and just because your breasts feel empty, doesn't mean they are. Make sure you don't have blocked ducts either (they will feel like marbles under your armpits or a hard lump somewhere on your breast). That can slow your milk.

I would say to make sure you nurse on demand and frequently. Many mother's who are great milk producers can't pump well, but that doesn't mean they don't have plenty of milk. Their bodies just are not fooled so easily.

Any many, many babies go through spurts around 2 months (and 4 and 6) where they seem to nurse non stop. It does not mean you do not have enough milk, it just means your child is instinctively nursing a lot to increase your supply. The Fenugreek can help, but it can also flavor your milk, so don't over use.

And never forget - wet nurses of Europe were allowed to nurse SEVEN children at once. We only doubt ourselves because of savvy formula marketing and many, many myths. Doubting yourself and worrying can actually effect your milk supply by making it harder for your milk to come down. Just say to yourself, "I have plenty and it is a growth spurt". Relax and enjoy her and I bet your milk will flow faster.

If you are really worried, you can usually rent a baby scale. Weight her after EVERY feeding (since no one feeding is a good judge of how much she is getting). See what she averages (but make sure you are relaxed and confident when you nurse). My guess is that she IS in fact getting plenty. And when you think you are "out of milk", squeeze just behind your nipple and see if you get milk coming out (a drip or a squirt). If you are, she is also!

PS - beware of binkies - they can reduce your milk supply.

:)

HI M.,

Breastfeeding is supply and demand, meaning that your body will make enough milk to meet the demands of your baby. Your little one may be going through a growth spurt and by allowing her to suckle more, your body will make more milk. Try not to use pumping as an indicator of how much milk you are making. Pumping isn't as effective as the suckling your daughter does. Are you giving your daughter bottles of EBM? If so, try to only have her suckle at your breast for feedings. By allowing her to drain one breast before offering the other may also help to increase your supply.

Mother's milk tea and oatmeal are also great for milk production. Relax, continue drinking fluids, nurse your daughter on demand, pump between feedings and have faith in your body. I've exclusively breastfed all 3 of mine up to a year and then introduced solids and allowed them to self wean. I'm exclusively nursing my 4th child now and continue to be amazed at how remarkable our bodies are.

http://www.kellymom.com is an excellent site for breastfeeding information/support.

La Leche League also has great information and local support/meetings that you might find helpful.

Peace & Light,
J.

Do you have any other symptoms? I was low on breast milk and rather irritable (though this is not uincommon due to lack of sleep!) and it turns out I had an underactive thyroid. Easily diagnosed with a blood test and treated with a benign medication and my breast milk supply was in much better shape once things evened out. In the mean time, keep up the pumping, etc. as you need to do all you can to keep you milk supply going until you find out what is wrong. You can always supplement with formula if necessary. I know that is something you probably were never planning to do, but until you can figure out what is going on with your supply, it may give you and your daughter a break.

Hope this helps!

P.S. Whatever you do, do NOT supplement with cereal at this age. Your daughter's digestive system is not developed enough for cereal!

I drank Mother's Milk tea and it definitely helped. Although, I will say that several times I was super paranoid I wasn't making enough milk, but it wasn't actually a supply issue. At times my son would want to nurse more and really it was for comfort (during ear infections, separation anxiety phases, busy times like the holidays when his schedule was off). I didn't supplement.

What makes you think your daughter isn't getting enough milk?

Hey M.,

Oh my gosh you're EXACTLY where I was with my oldest son. I drank and drank and drank water - I took fenugreek, drank an herbal tea that should stimulate lactation and even took a tablespoon of this awful tonic everyday to stimulate my glands to open more... and I still only got 1-2 oz. from one side and 2 from the other... And I have big babies so that wasn't nearly enough for my two lummoxes of baby boys!

I was so disappointed because I had wanted to nurse exclusively. But my baby wasn't getting enough. I gave him formula with my milk as well and he immediately became more content, less fussy and slept much better. The more guy was starving more of the time!

If you have friends like some of mine, they will tell you "not to cave in!" and "formula is SO bad for her!" or "formula will make her fat!" or to "just try a little longer".... but only you can know what's best, and if you know you're not making enough, for whatever reasons, then its your job to find a way to get something in her.

Mine did just fine. Nobody got fat. Nobody is less intelligent. Nobody is sickly. Nobody developed slowly.

IT was the best decision I ever made because I finally felt like a good mom. There for a while I felt so guilty, and so frustrated because I "couldn't give him what he needed"... when that wasn't true all along.

Try supplementing. Choose a formula with DHA and ARA in it. Keep nursing and pumping. She will ALWAYS benefit from your milk. But when she's hungry (AGAIN!) and you're empty already - mix that baby a bottle and give her something to eat.

ITS OKAY!

Best of luck to you!

Did your lactation specialist tell you that the sucking produces more milk.
Pumping will help. And don't hesitate to supplement with a formula your pediatrician recommends. Your stressing out doesn't help either. But hey, welcome to Mom's Club! You do the best with what you have and enjoy every moment of that baby.
Blessings, S.

I felt like I was running low with my son ( I think he was a little older than your daughter, though). I was working out a lot to try to lose the baby weight, and they said that sometimes that slows down the production. Not sure if that's the case with you, but it might explain it.

I think, unfortunately, some women just don't produce enough for whatever reason. I know pumping right after nursing is supposed to stimulate more, but if that isn't doing it, you may have to start supplementing. I had a friend who just couldn't produce enough, so she would nurse, then give her daughter a small bottle right after nursing to be sure she got everything she wanted.

Good luck.

If you can not produce enough milk it is OK to substitute w/ formula!!!!
Pumping and water worked for me. The question is how do you pump? I fed my son every 3 hours in the beginning, I would let him eat his fill and after EVERY feeding even at 3am I would pump both breast until no more was there. I would drink 1-2 big glasses of water after pumping due to my thirst. I did this for the entire year, of course older my son got his feedings would get spaced out more but I would still pump after each feeding so that I had enough milk for my son for the daycare next day.

Yes, RELAX! Stress severly hindered my ability to produce. Take it easy on yourself, and it will help TONS, I promise :) Also, if your daughter is gaining weight the way she should, chances are you ARE producing enough. I've had a few questions like this... if you click on my name you will see my past questions... I had a lot of great feedback, check it out for more suggestions. Good luck :)

I breast fed my son for 19 months. There were times when production was slow and I was begging my consultant for help. Here's my truth.. she told me the same thing every month... don't buy formula...let your baby suck every time he wants for as long as he wants and even when you know you are empty. There is nothing I could take or drink to make my body give him more milk, rather, his constant sucking was his way of telling my body that he was hungry. HE WAS PLACING AN ORDER. The more often I let him place an order, the more milk he got. I would pump some too. When he started sleeping longer and eating less at night... my milk went low again. So had to pump at night or wake him and feed him just to keep the milk supply at a constant level. It was very hard for me to give up sleep to pump or feed ant night, but I was so afraid that my baby would not get enough and I would have to use formula. I really did not want to use formula. With 1 out of 110 kids getting Autism, and no one knowing why, I didnt want to take any shortcuts or easy roads. God gave us breast milk... and that's what my son ate for 19 months. He had his first teeth at 6 months. he had 8 teeth by 12 months. He was walking and running too. He ate table food with us from the time he was 9 months, and I just ground it up in the blender. he got nothing to drink but breastmilk. He quit at 19 months. he is 28 months old now and doing great...perfectly healthy.

HI! So maybe the answer is to start giving the baby some cereal on top of your milk. I was a milk machine, and all my kids acted like they were starving to death! lol So, each one started eating baby cereal (like rice and bananas) at two weeks old. Worked great! Some pediatricians tell you not to do that, but you know what- if your baby is healthy and happy, and likes your milk and the cereal, I could see no harm whatsoever in doing it. It's your baby. You know what she needs. :) Just listen to that. Oh, and the Mother's Tea you get from the health food store... I had to stop drinking it cause my breasts were huge! lol You may want to try that. ;)

I have that same problem, they tell you to pump extra yet there isn't anything here to pump. I tried fenugreek and it seemed to work a little but I had to stop because it was making my baby girl break out like little pimples on her face. She might just be going through a growth spurt and just needs more. Sometimes breastfeeding is a struggle, so I supplement with a bottle of formula. I had a major guilt trip with my son but came to the realization that sometimes we need a break...a bottle wont hurt them.

I'm a breastfeeding mom and I went back to work full-time when my now 9 1/2 month old son was 6 weeks old. I've had my ups & downs with supply and I've been able to fight through it. When my supply took a major nosedive, I started taking Fenugreek 2 pills 3 times a day, drinking 2 cups of red raspberry leaf tea (both from GNC), and pumping 3-4 times during my 8 hour shift. Yes, that was VERY tough, but I did what I had to do. I had to increase my Fenugreek to 3 pills 3 times a day when my son was about 6 months old and I'm still currently taking that daily dose. I was able to stop drinking the tea, which was good because I'm not a tea fan. (As a tip, don't bother drinking the Mother's Milk Tea if you don't like black licorice because that's what it tastes like) The main thing is try to stop stressing about it, which I know is difficult, but stress has a major impact on your supply. On days at work where I'm more stressed out, my supply that I pump drops. Also, every so often when I'm able to after a stressful week, I take a day off from work so I can have an extra day of my son nursing and this will help bring my supply back up. You should definitely contact your hospital's lactation consultant... I worked at a hospital after I had my son and our LC helped me tremendously! I hope this helps! Good luck!

How long has it seemed like you don't have enough. If it is just a few days, your body might just be trying to catch up to an increased demand of hers, and it will regulate after a couple days. She might just be having a growth spurt and you have to catch up still. And you might be producing more than you think, like the others said. Night time is definitely the time you will be at your lowest amount, that is completely normal. Mornings you will have the most.

I had a couple weeks of almost losing my milk supply and was able to get it back. I did have to supplement until things got better and was able to quit supplementing after a couple of weeks of trying very hard to get my supply up. What I did was extra water, herbal supplement- I used More Milk Plus capsules. They have fenugreek and blessed thistle which are both good. The Mothers Tea is supposed to be great too. Oatmeal every morning is another thing to try. And the thing that helped me the most was putting him to each breast twice. I would nurse on one side, let him drain it, then the other side, then back to the first side, then the second side again. You have multiple letdowns, and my son was usually able to get a little bit more from each side the second time. Plus it stimulated them a little more too.

I did still have to supplement for a little while before my milk increased back to where it was. So I won't tell you not to supplement, but it CAN make things worse and drop your supply further. (But I can't see making a baby be hungry for the sake of not wanting to do formula.) IF you have to supplement (assuming this has been a problem for more than a couple days), always do the breast first, and drain them completely. Then only give her as much formula as she needs to be happy, but don't let her get overfull. I always did it in 2 oz increments, but for this age I would start at 1 oz. That way my son wouldn't totally fill up stuffed on formula, but would be satisfied. It increased the amount of times I had to nurse every day, but it helped boost my supply that way. That is all assuming you want to try to keep exclusively breastfeeding.

Cut out any caffeine, dont take allergy meds, get enough sleep, and don't stress too much. It is so much pressure on us to want to do the right thing. But your daughter will not starve, so you just have to do your best. Good luck!

Hi,
Have you tried pumping and giving it to her? I did that for a while and it seemed to satisfy my daughter more than being on the breast. My problem was that I couldn;t keep her awake long enough to eat a full feeding and she would be hungry and hour later!!!!! Also I heard oatmeal works for more milk production. I hope this helps

Are you feeding her on demand or on a schedule? If you're on a schedule, try to put her to the breast more often, like every time she wakes up, every time she fusses. Even if it's just for a minute or two the sucking will stimulate your supply to increase.

As others have said, there's nothing wrong with formula, but if you are wanting to increase your supply, introducing formula is not going to help with that. Supply and demand, baby.

Keep in mind that as your supply regulates you won't necessarily have the engorged feeling that came in the early weeks. Your breasts may be softer and not so full feeling, but that doesn't necessarily indicate a supply problem. The best way to judge is if your daughter is gaining weight and is satiated after a feed. She will also go through numerous growth spurts where she'll nurse more and more, which in turn ups your supply.

More of a general question as I'm originally from Canada, but is Domperidone available down here? It's a drug your doctor can prescribe that will also up your supply, but I have no idea whether it's available in the US. It would be worth a call to the doctor's office though.

Hang in there!

how often is she eating? having breastfed 2 babies i understand the frustration you must feel! i went through periods where i was worried mine were not getting enough! yes, i agree with the the lactation consultant, but if you are feeding frequently AND pumping you may not be giving your body time enough to make the good quality milk. its the milk that comes in at the end of a feeding that is the "hind" milk that is loaded with the fat (the filler!). Times where i felt i was not filling my kids babies up i would nurse both sides then offer a bottle(breastmilk or formula) to make sure they were full. late afternoon and early evening are times that you are most likely not to make as much because you are tired, its the end of the day, etc. Some may tell you NOT to give a bottle, but then you may find yourself in an endless cycle...the baby nurses (not full) then wants to nurse sooner after that feeding (or snack) and she continues not to get a full feeding. Its worth a try to give you a full baby and peace of mind! Breastfeeding is an awesome thing but can also be frustrating too when you feel like you aren't satisfying your little one! good luck!

Good Morning. Sorry to hear you are having problems. When I BF I used a tea from GNC for lactating mothers. And I noticed a big improvement in my quality. I tired the fenugreek but had no success with it. You can get the tea from GNC or your locate health store. I is aboue 5.50 a box for 16 bags and the teas is not a bad taste. Good Luck I hope this helps!