Increasing supply through pumping
beachbum482
member
I started back at work a couple weeks ago and my supply has totally tanked. I've had to start supplementing a little formula throughout the day but I still nurse at night and LO gets two breast milk bottles when I'm away from him. I can only pump three times before I get home - once right before I leave, once on my lunch/prep & once right at the end of the school day. I average 2-3 ounces a session which isn't enough for my LO who eats 3-4, 5 ounce bottles during the day. I currently started the Fenugreek, drink a ton, eat enough calories, etc.
My question is how can I use pumping to help increase my supply?? I've heard of power pumping - has anyone tried this and had it work? When you pump after you nurse, how long do you pump for? I've never pumped when I'm done nursing and haven't woke up at night for a MOTN feed/pump since starting back at work. Any advice on a pumping schedule to increase supply would be greatly appreciated!!
Re: Increasing supply through pumping
Really the only thing you can do is pump and breastfeed as often as you can and use herbs to increase production. You might want to consider throwing in a middle of the night pumping.
It can take time to increase production. Just keep pumping/feeding and using the herbs daily and try not to stress about it!
You might have to end up using more than just fenugreek. The lactation consultant told me to use more than one herb because they are more effective that way. I personally drink Breastea from breastea.com because it has so many herbs. It has helped a lot. You could also take something in capsule form as well.