Lack of B. Milk at 4 Mo.....

I found that eating ice cream helped my milk supply. And I would repeat that you should be drinking plenty of water.

First of all what are your signs that he is not getting enough milk? You say he's fussy but do you mean he is still acting hungry and fussy after a feeding or just in general? How are his wet and poopy diapers? Is he gaining weight? If you are judging it solely on pumping output then you need to reevaluate things. You can not judge how much you are producing by how much you pump. Some women respond well to the pump and other do not. The important thing to know is that babies are much, much better at getting the milk out than a pump is.

If, your son is not gaining weight, not producing enough wet and poopy diapers and is still acting very hungry after a feeding then there are other things you can try. First, you need to contact your local LLL and/or a lactation consultant because talking to a real person can be so much help and they will be better able to help you if there is a problem and reassure if there is not.

Here is a link to an article at kellymom.com that talks about ways to help boost your milk supply. http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/low-supply.html
You may also need to look into a medication called Domperidone if all else fails.

Lastly, there are other options out there to formula. You can get donor breastmilk to feed your child. I have heard great hings about www.milkshare.com . There is also http://www.nationalmilkbank.org/ and http://www.hmbana.org/ .

Well some woman do start to dry up early but around 4 months your milk should be regulating (which means your breast aren't as full as they used to be) and that doesn't mean your not making enough. Most breast fed babies around that age still eat every 2 to 3 hours round the clock so if that is what he is doing that is normal. Also if when he is done eating he is happy and content then yes he got enough milk. The best way to keep your milk supply strong is just nurse him on demand as much as he wants. And for you to drink lots of water and eat high protein. If he is still gaining weight and having plenty of poopy and wet diapers he is just fine. But if not then yes you might be drying up and you can mix breast milk with formula.

You got great advice from Terra D, Janet and Kathy P. STOP formula he's going through a growth spurt mama, he needs to eat often and all the time right now. the 4mo growth spurt is the biggest in the first year, and with my youngest he nursed every hour for 2wks straight, and every 3hours at night! He was HUNGRY all the time for 2wks and once his growth spurt was over, he slowed back to a normal schedule.

The only time you should worry about your supply is if your baby is LOSING weight, and if he's not producing wet diapers. He should be nursing from one breast only at each feeding, do NOT switch breasts, let him nurse one breast only so he gets the fatty hindmilk to satisfy him. His poops should be yellow and seedy.

Don't worry about your milk, stop giving him formula, nurse only and nurse whenever he's hungry! your supply is fine, he's growth spurting and needs to eat all the time until its over. Relax and nurse him, stop formula.

First of all, you shouldn't be supplementing. It is the supplementing with formula that will cause a major reduction in your milk levels.

Breast milk supply increases the more a baby nurses. This is how your body determines how much milk to produce. So instead of giving him a bottle, put him at the breast each and every time and instead of (if you are feeding from only one breast at a single nursing session) feeding from one breast at one sitting, switch him over to the other breast. This alternating breasts during a single feeding should increase your milk production.

Also, it is highly important to keep YOURSELF hydrated. We have had a pretty rough summer this year so it is possible that you are not taking in enough liquids to help with the production of your milk on top of supplementing your child's mild with formula. BTW, the switching back and forth from breast to the bottle WILL start to cause nipple confusion, meaning the child will no longer want to nurse from you and will instead prefer the bottle.

Make certain your child is latching on properly. This accounts for a large percentage of breast feeding problems when it comes to having a fussy baby while nursing. If the baby is not latching on properly, especially now that he is no longer a newborn or 1-2 month infant, you will need to position your body as well as his in such a manner to ensure he can latch on well because as he grows, so does his mouth and jaw areas and you need to compensate the latching on to ensure he is truly latched on well enough to suck adequately enough to 1) get the milk he needs from you and 2) help increase your milk production by allowing him to drink more and in turn allow your body to produce the necessary amounts of milk needed to satisfy your child.

I would highly recommend talking with a lactation counselor at La Leche League. They can give you many pointers to help get you back on track. They did wonders for me when I was going through breast feeding, especially as an inexperienced mother. The web address with their contact form (there is an 800 number on their website somewhere but I didn't have time to hunt it down but you can call to speak with a counselor but here is the help form where you can contact LLL to get support to get more help in increasing your milk production so you can give your child as many antibodies as he will need to remain healthy and to help stave of any problems with obesity as he grows up. I ran across a report some years ago that stated that breast-fed babies have a considerably lower percentage of suffering from obesity than formula-fed babies so please talk with one of LLL professionals so you can give your child the best start in life that you can and that is your milk. Our children are bombarded with dangers everywhere throughout their lives but most especially when it comes to their health and diet particularly here in the USA where the percentages of obese children is the highest in the world.

Please contact LLL via the contact form below or visit their website to find the phone number of a lactation counselor to get the assistance you need and in the meantime, be sure to keep yourself hydrated and eating a properly nutritious diet to better prepare your body to produce the nouruishment for your baby:

http://www.llli.org/help_form

The LLL website itself is located at http://www.llli.org.

Best of luck in getting through these difficult times. I know it's tough but keep with it and don't substitute his breast milk with all those good nutritional antibodies you give him for formula. Breast-feeding share the number one thing you can give your child and that number one thing you can give him is your milk and your love. Both will go far to keep him as healthy as possible and as immune to many infections, viruses, and other bad things that go around when he enters daycare or school.

Just an FYI: I had a problem with my milk itself after I had my first child and I was not able to breast feed her. Sadly enough, there was no program where I could buy donated breast milk in order to give her the antibodies that would help her throughout her life. My oldest stayed so sick as a child and even as a teenager then into her young adult years. However, I was able to breast-fed my youngest daughter and from the time she was born right up until her 5th birthday, she only became sick 1 time a year and that was with ear infections. It always managed to happen around her birthday for some stupid reason that I don't understand but as it turns out, she shares a condition with her father in the fact that her body creates more earwax and the earwax was not draining as it should, just like her dad's problems with his ears and earwax so this was ultimately the cause of the ear infections although, because she was breast-fed, she only got sick 1 time each year right up until she was 5 years old. After learning it was a problem with her body creating too much earwax and obtaining information as to how to control the problem, she has gone as high as 3 & 4 years at a time without getting sick at all! This includes time after she entered school. This past year was the first time she ever caught the flu. The H1N1 was going through the schools and she happened to catch it. Now 2 to 3 years earlier, her dad, oldest sister, and I all came down with the flu and it was so bad off with the flu that we felt like we were going to die before we kicked the virus but we made it and despite the fact she was in the home with us, she NEVER GOT THE FLU THAT YEAR!

Even this past year when she caught the H1N1 flu, it run its course for her much faster than it did for her father, her grandmother (paternal grandmother), and especially me although in my case, I was isolated from them though not soon enough to prevent me from catching the H1N1 flu but it took me approximately 5 months to get over the flu; however, this is attributed to the fact that I have two autoimmune diseases that have hosed my immune system so it always takes forever for me to get over an illness of any sort. I wasn't breast fed nor was my brother and he and I had constant bouts with pneumonia when we were children in addition to constantly catching every cold, virus, and bacterial infection that came down the pipe. Every child I know that was breast-fed as my youngest was, seems to have the same story she does. The mothers all told me their breast-fed children were always healthy and rarely became sick. My oldest was sick all the time. In fact, because she is allergic to penicilin, she had to take Batrium (sp? - too tired to hunt down the correct spelling) and the Batrim/Bactrum (sp?) caused major damage to her teeth. Our youngest has not experienced any of those problems.

There are clear differences in the health of these two children I gave birth to and how one was breast-fed and the other was not. The breast-fed child has always been healthy with no problems yet the oldest who wasn't breast-fed has always been sick and/or more apt to come down with whatever was going around at any given time. I've witnessed how well breast-feeding has served my child well. I don't want to see your child lose out on the benefits my child has had because of the fact she received my milk vs formula and has never had to endure the illnesses, constant illnesses her sister has had to endure.

Hope this helps. I will keep you in my thoughts.

Ask a Lactation Consultant.

Also, direct nurse all the time and feed your baby on-demand, 24/7.
Direct nursing is the best way, to increase milk supply.
Because, it is by supply and demand.
Only pumping, will not be as good as direct nursing.
It does not stimulate the breasts, like direct nursing does.

He may also be 'fussy' due to gas. DO you burp him? Do you give him Mylicon infant gas drops? Try that, too.

I found great success with drinking red raspberry tea with my 4th baby when I was nursing! You can drink it hot or cold. Make sure to drink plenty of water while you are nursing and before you sit down to nurse. Also, make sure you are consuming enough calories yourself or your body won't make enough milk to sustain your baby, too! Be sure to take your multi-vitamin. Don't stress about it or that will make it worse. I also don't think you should pump your life away. Pump for a few minutes a few times a day....your body might be on overload thinking it needs to produce more than it can handle and want to shut down! As long as your baby is growing then don't be too concerned about how much he is getting. He may just be sensing your frustration and can't relax either!

I did not read all responses, but all good advise. Keep drinking LOTS of water.. but Drink 1 dark beer. I do NOT drink, and my mother in law had me drink one. It kicked my body into gear, and I became a milk cow for lack of better words.... And if you did not know, if you are not tipsy, neither is your milk. (I did a LOT of research before I consented to the beer)

The introduction of formula has sabotaged your supply. Since the amount of milk you make is based on the amount your son eats, the more formula he takes, the less milk you make.

The best thing you can do is to ensure that you have proper positioning and that your baby is getting an ideal latch. Check out Breastfeeding with Comfort and Joy [http://breastfeedingwithcomfortandjoy.com] for more information. Basically, though, if the baby has a poor latch and/or is in a poor position, he can't effectively get the milk out of your breast, which leads to poor milk production, frequent feeds, babies fussy at the breast, and hungry babies [not to mention sore, painful, cracked and/or bleeding nipples/breasts for you]. Make sure that he's opening his mouth wide so that he can get a big mouthful of breast; and make sure his body is turned facing you, not just his head. Go to a La Leche League meeting if possible and see if the leader there can help you with positioning and latch.

See if you can get a better pump. I've used a cheap pump and an electric double-pump, and there is simply no comparison, both in comfort and in quantity of milk. There are some women who just don't produce well for pumps, even though their babies are satisfied and very happily nursing, so don't be too discouraged about the amount you're getting.

When I pumped, trying to build my supply, I would nurse my baby, and then pump until I was "empty" (i.e., getting only a drop here and there), and then continue to pump for about 15 minutes more on each side. At first, I was getting just a few ounces, but with the increased "demand" from the pump, I steadily increased my supply, all the while continuing to pump until I was dry and then keeping on "dry-pumping" for at least 15 minutes.

I had the EXACT same problem w/ BOTH of my children!

I gave up with my first born at this time :[ I decided to take matters into my own hands and got a faster flow bottle and added rice cereal...that really screwed things up! Stick to a slow flow bottle if you're pumping & nursing.

Here's what worked for me with my second who's still doing a great job nursing at 8 mo. Nurse or pump every 2 hrs to get your body to start producing more. Do this for just a day or two and your body should make more milk. Then the following day you can cut back to every 3 hrs., just make sure you're getting emptied each time. If the baby doesn't empty you, pump.

AND drink LOTS of water!!!

Goodl luck!

Hi Nikegal4eva,

Congratulations on the birth of your son. You've had great suggestions from previous posters and it's great knowing that you're using fenugreek, letting him nurse as often as you can and pumping.

I agree with the posters that asked is he fussy from gas or because he's still hungry? Weight gain and wet and poopy diapers are an indicator that he's getting enough. Is it possible that your little man is going through a growth spurt? If you are worried about weight gain, when your little man nurses allow for him to drain one breast fully before switching sides. This ensures he receives your hind milk(high fat milk) and not just the fore milk. Once he's drained one side, offer the other. You may find you're a little uneven but for the next feeding offer the fuller breast and allow him to drain it. Once he's drained that side, offer the other side. I often find that women who follow the doctors and allow for 10 minutes per breast and almost always end up supplementing because their baby isn't gaining weight like they expect and their breastfeeding relationship is sabotaged. If you suspect he's fussy because he's gassy, you may want to explore the possibility that he's sensitive to something in your milk. Dairy almost always is a culprit and you may want to look into an elimination or rotation diet to see if you notice a difference.

Breast-milk is supply and demand so your body will produce the milk that your little man needs. By allowing him to suckle as often as you can you are signaling your body to produce the milk he needs. Your baby is far more effective at stimulating milk production than the pump. Are you pumping following nursing sessions? If so, you'll be pumping to drain and your body will know to make more.

I second the suggestion to seek help of a La Leche League Leader or a lactation consultant. La Leche League has monthly meetings and times vary so that their schedule is accommodating for everyone. I've always found the information and support that I received from LLL invaluable and it has attributed to my faith in my body's ability to nourish my babies.

It was already shared below but Kellymom.com is one of my favorite websites for breastfeeding information.

Drinking plenty of water, Mother's Milk Tea by Traditional Medicinals and eating oatmeal are also good ways to keep your supply up or make more. Have faith in your body, it has nourished your baby for 3 months and can continue to do so. I would suggest eliminating the formula supplementation while you work to boost your supply. Any supplementation(formula or solid food) will lower your supply because your baby's demand for breast milk will be less than it had been. If I remember correctly, my children's nursing patterns changed at various times throughout our nursing relationship. As my babies became more aware of their surroundings they were more interested in exploring than nursing but would "make up" for it during their nighttime feeding. By allowing for on demand feeding, when your baby is rooting or seems hungry, you offer the breast. Your body will meet the demand of your baby. Have Faith!

Hang in there, you can do this!
J.

I have been drinking healthy nursing tea to pump more milk. Per session production was less than 2 oz and after this lactation tea, got increased up to 5 oz.

If you are willing, drink 1/2 glass of beer. Also check out La Leche League, google their site, they have tons of info on there. Alleviate any stress asap if you want to keep at it!

See this post:
http://www.mamapedia.com/questions/1773656119978360833

I asked essentially the same question not too long ago. Best of luck!!!

Cyndi

Make sure you are drinking plenty of water and eating healthy. The other thing is stress, if you are under stress when your trying to nurse the baby that will make it harder. Just relax, maybe put some relaxing music on, or whatever you normally do to relax, quiet, lights down low etc... when you nurse along with a large glass of water to drink while the baby is feeding. Good Luck!

Drink lots and lots of water!!