I've been working with my LC and I have low milk supply. We have a plan of BF Comping and feeding EBM and pumping with the hopes my supply will pick up in a few weeks.
I can get about 30 - 40mls out when I express which is about half what bubs needs each feed.
Is there anything else I can take to increase my supply? I have bought the Nursing Tea to help.
Have you tried lactation cookies? There's a recipe around BB somewhere, but I'm on my phone so I can't find it for you. They seemed to work pretty well for me, plus they're REALLY yummy
Glad you have sorted a few things. Try relax and just take it a feed at a time. Baby doesnt think- it didnt work last time so this time will be bad too- baby just goes YUM mummys milk Good on you for persisting you are doing so well
Wew we had a second feed and no bottle Shes sleeping again now. Took both sides and latching was better /dances
No I will try lying down next feed. Thanks for the suggestion
I will keep taking the medication and nursing tea just to make sure its not a fluke, perhaps my boobs are finally getting the Idea? I really can't believe it never thought it would happen. I haven't had to pump all afternoon becuase shes waking every 2 hours for a feed. I don't think I would need to keep pumping in between that do I? It is the first time in almost 2 weeks of not being chained to a pump and it has been really relaxing!
Last edited by Lolpigs; November 19th, 2011 at 04:09 PM.
lolpigs,
You could be me writing. My precious little man is now 12 weeks old but our story is so so similar. I too had an early c/s (due to a stillbirth previously and because my little Harry prefered to have his head up not down.......even after being turned twice by the OB!)
I have big boobs and a tiny baby with a really tiny mouth who had jaundice and was milk drunk in minutes of sucking.
I ended up feeding him as much as we could manage....I even used damp cold cloths to wake him up. I would then express immediately and give him whatever I expressed as he seemed to manage to drink from the bottle flow easier. Then he'd sleep and I'd express again in about an hour. He'd wake every two hours and we'd repeat.........I was KNACKERED.
As well as all this I had thrush and vasospasm...totally unfun and very painful.
You are doing an amazing wonderful job. More power to you for keeping going.
I did not have a supply problem as such but I like to think of it as a "tap" issue..........couldn't get the milk effectively from my tank to his!
The good news is as he's got bigger things have really really improved and taking medication for thrush helped with the breast and nipple pain too.
I did not use motillium but I wasn't expressing much more than you seem to be either.
Hang in there it is so so worth it. Get as much help as you can and remember that you know your little bubba better than anyone so do what you think is right.
Little Harry lost weight and my GP told me I had to wean onto formula. Luckily I ignored him and now I have a chubby healthy exclusively BF baby.
The best thing I did was buy a dual breast pump....saved a lot of time from the single hand pump I had.
good luck to you
Kate
Lying down feeding is awesome, lovely for Mum and bub. You can put a face washer under baby's head if you need to make it a bit higher (and it will catch any drips).
Not sure if you are allowed baths after a c section, but when you are they are really good if bub is unsettled or has a bit of breast refusal. Jump in the bath with bub and have cuddles and often they will snuggle in and have a feed and also calm down.
Well done Hun on persevering sounds like you are getting there.
We used the nipple shields up until DS was 5 month or so. Just worked better for us for getting him to latch on. My LC would try to get me to slip it off half way through a feed once he had got the hang of things but looking back I probably wasn't that game to try - hell it had been difficult enough to get him to feed why was I going to risk not being able to get him back on lol! I'm trying to think now how we ended up stopping using them and think it was just that his mouth eventually grew into the size of my nipples and eventually got the hang of it. Once on wasn't a drama though minor pia making sure they were in place before I attached him. I used the medela ones as these were the ones recommended by my LC.
Lying down never worked for us but there are heaps of comments / possibly threads on here about how good being able to feed like that was. Was very envious reading about those who could feed that way as would have been a lovely way to while away the day!
Yeah for the feeds without the bottle - all your hard work is paying off! Bit by bit you will get there and you know what even if you don't and you end up comp feeding in additional to BFs so what! She will get all your special Mummy milk and then a little bit extra if she needs it from elsewhere. MadBs advice is good. Call ABA when you are feeling down and stressed about what is happening. There are wonderful women at the end of the phone who are there to listen and give advice and suggestions on what can help. Sometimes that is what we need when it all gets too much.
you are doing a wonderful job
Last edited by Now we're 3; November 19th, 2011 at 07:38 PM.
Well most of the feeds today she settled after. Except the 12:30 feed, she was cluster feeding all evening and at the 12:30 feed she was really hungry so my husband gave her formula. It irritated me to do it but she wasn't settling and seem really hungry.
Least we made some progress today, fingers crossed for tomorrow.
Thanks for the kind words appreciate it.
Last edited by Lolpigs; November 19th, 2011 at 11:30 PM.
Make sure you are drinking enough water and like TB said- try the cookies, they are super yummmmmm my kids stil ask me to make them once aweek just for them to eat
If AF is coming, that sometimes can decrease you for a few days. keep bub sucking and if you can- express can help build you back up. Hope you can get it back
Fenugreek works well hun. You can buy capsules rather than drinking the tea. My supply wasn't great either but I found with the expressing in between feeds it did boost. It's a pain in the butt to have to express all the time but once it was boosted I had no probs. I think around the 10 week mark things were better and I stopped giving a top up. Good luck, you're doing a great job
Thanks guys, yep got the lactation cookies recipe going to get the ingredients on the weekend The tea isn't too bad just a stong aniseed smell so I hold my nose
Our feed sessions at the moment are bubs on boob for 10-15mins or as long as it takes for her sucking to stop due to no flow. Then top up with EBM and then formula if needed.
Then pump. Only time I don't pump is the early morning feed, when I'm usually had it and just want to go back to bed, but I make sure I have EBM for that feed. If I am awake though I pump.
I'm happy to do it and even if I can only give her some its better than none! thanks for the information on how long it took for you Babyluv, gives me an idea of how long it might take.
I was also gonna say the cookies and fenurgreek tablets. If you're an Asthamtic, stay away from the fenugreek as I have read some research which suggests it can effect it.
Can I just ask why your comping rather than letter your DD finish the feed?
Only reason I ask is because the more baby stimulation to the breast the better. Pump is better than nothing but the best pump is your baby.
And as the others have said, make sure you're drinking enough water. Its heating up now so you could be getting a bit dry.
Becuase she is finished, I've had the LC check and the flow just stops after about 10 - 15mins and she stops sucking or falls asleep and that is on the left side. On the right the flow is so slow she fusses and again has trouble staying awake. I've had her on for hours in the past, however she is just exhausted and still hungry afterwards.
LC thinks this is the best way forward to increase my supply without compromising my daughters health, and from the turn around I've seen since we have been comping I would have to agree.
My supply dipped at about 9 weeks but my circumstances were a bit different to yours. I went to the GP and asked for motilium. The first GP I saw hadn't heard of this as medication to increase BM supply so she had to consult with another. Then when she wrote out the script she wrote it out for 3 tablets a day. This was not enough for me and from my internet research was a lot less than recommended for BM supply. When my supply didn't increase I saw another GP and he increased my dose to 8 tablets a day, which is more like the recommended dose for BM supply. I then got perhaps about 200mls more milk a day. I've been on motilium for about 6 months now. so, just be aware that not all GPs understand the issues with BM supply and medication dosing. If you do some internet research there is a clinical practice guideline for the Royal Womens Hospital in Melbourne which talks about motilium and dosing. I used this when approaching the second GP...but I think he was more up with it than the first one. From what I read motilium is most successful with women who at one point had a good supply, but it certainly is worth a try and made a significant difference for me.
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Low Milk Supply
Good on you for persisting you are doing so well
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