No Longer Getting Enough Breast Milk for My 8 Month Old

T.:

what type of pump are you using? you may need a more effective pump.

you might try to pumping longer at each pumping

P., RLC, IBCLC, CST
Breastfeeding and Parenting Solutions
www.breastfeedingandparentingsolutions.com

The same thing happened to me when my son was 9 months old. I started nursing him before solids and it seemed to increase my supply. I also realized I was not drinking enough liquids myself and didn't get the rest I needed. In addition I took Fenugreek vitamins and for me it did work. The mothers milk tea did nothing.

Good luck.

Oatmeal and lots of water might help. The only thing that ever worked well for me was increasing my nursing and at 8 months, your little one is likely a little less interested. If those things don't work, congratulate yourself on doing so well. A little formula supplementation wont really hurt her. Lots of babies wean themselves around 9 months.

I had the same problem and at the time I couldn't figure out why (and tried the same things you did). In retrospect, I think it's because I restarted the pill for birth control. My OB said it was fine because my baby would gets my hormones through breast milk anyway and the studies do not show any harm. However, estrogen decreases milk supply (she did not tell me this so I'm a little bitter). If you restarted hormonal birth control, that may be the culprit.

How do you know you are not producing enough milk? What makes you think that? What I am reading is you are still nursing fairly successfully. Is your baby fussing or refusing? Are you basing not having enough to how much you see when you pump? Why do you need to increase your supply? These are important questions to ask yourself before you stress out trying to increase your supply with supplements.

Here's one place that has some ideas--hopefully you might find something helpful here....

http://www.llli.org/FAQ/increase.html

http://www.llli.org/FAQ/pumpwork.html

The usual ways to increase milk supply are to eat more, drink more, rest more, and nurse more.

I commend you for your dedication to figuring this out and making it work. I think that the latest recommendations are to breastfeed for at least one to two years.

Best wishes

I recently increased my milk supply by pumping 5 times a day until nothing came out. I have a Medela Pump in Style. It takes 3 days to see a difference. At first it seemed like it wasn't working, but be patient. Your body will adjust. The best time to pump is right after your baby finishes nursing and at night when she is sleeping and won't miss the milk. Freeze what you pump for a few days so that your body will think your baby is drinking more milk.

I was told by a lactation consultant that milk removal is the only sure fire way to increase your supply. In other words, pump or nurse every hour (or as often as you can) for a day or two. Your body will make more because it thinks your baby needs more. If your supply has recently dropped (ie: the last few days or even a week), that should give it a boost. After you increase your supply, I would say you probably have to nurse or pump 7-8 times a day to keep it up. (at least this is what has worked for me)
good luck ~

I was told that the fenugreek oil is more potent than the pills. I hope that helps. Maybe pump in between feedings? Does your daughter use a pacifier, or is she pacified at the breast? The more you give it to her, the more milk you'll have.

Good luck!

I am not sure of your daughter's schedule but make sure your nurse her before she eats solids. I didn't and my milk also dropped.

Nobody has parenting "licked" because all children are different. Baby could be ready to stop nursing and get on to FOOD. She may not be getting enough of what she needs anymore. You could be wearing yourself out for nothing. Talk to the dr. and see if he/she thinks it's time to get off the breast. It'll bother you more than her honey but we all had to cut that 1st string sometime. Love to both of you.

Just curious, how do you know you need more? Anyway, nursing more is the surefire cure. Drink LOTS of water. No caffeine. Is she eating a lot of solids? Solids at this point are still experimental for her. Try to focus on nursing as the primary nutrition source for her and her solids more like play. Many a baby have made it to the 90th % on breastmilk alone!

Oh yeah, if you have gotten your period back that totally affects supply. Once it's over your supply resumes. Once I got mine, my breasts shrunk, although my supply was still fine. Make sure to leave her on as long as she needs to empty the breast fully - that stimulates more supply too. She may also be too distracted at that age. Nurse in a quiet, boring room.

You sound exactly like me. I have to drink 2-3L of water per day in order to keep my supply up. I aim one liter per 4 hours including the two glasses I down upon waking. I keep a tall glass of water by my bed and drink that throughout the night when I wake. I was also told you should be getting a good 5 hour stretch at night to sleep. I was setting my alarm too to pump, but decided I needed my sleep. I also take fenugreek too and will begin the Mother's Milk drops again to see if there is a difference. Hope that helps!

The girls already mentioned many of the stuff I would recommend. Definitely pump more even if not much is coming out. That way you tell your body to make more milk. The other thing is to make sure your getting plenty of fluids yourself. I drink at least 64 oz of water a day. Plus I try to have soup at least once a day. That definitely helps at least for me. I nursed my first son for a year doing that and so far five months going strong with second son now. Good luck.

If those things don't work and you really want to produce more milk, I took a medication called Reglan (metaclopramide) which helped my production a lot. You need a script for it, though, from your OB or FP. That is a last resort. I hope it helps!

I used vitamin b12 supplements and some beer (about half a bottle), it helped. If you baby is on solids and nursing less it is only normal for the milk to diminish since they get more from solids now. The best thing you could do is nurse exclusively from the breast. Try not to pump and use a bottle. Use warm compresses to help production and flow.

Make sure to drink water as you nurse. And relax! listen to quiet music, don't rush. your emotional state makes a difference.