Am I screwed?

hbrooks88974

Soooo.....we EBF until 3 mos. and then started supplementing formula because I couldn't keep up while working. LO is now 6.5 mos. & my  milk is almost completely dried up. It's my own fault for not pumping like I should and LO is just not interested in nursing like she used to be. I literally pump less than an ounce in one session. I have to work for THREE days to get a bottles worth of the goods. I have a frozen stash that we are using but I give that a month or so before I'll run out. I started taking fenugreek yesterday and have started TRYING to pump every few hours to try and build a supply back up. Today is day two on fenugreek & so far I haven't really noticed much of a difference. I was told it usually starts working pretty quickly. Anyone have any experience with this? 

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hbrooks88974

aditigirl said:

Power pump Eat oatmeal Drink more water Increase calories Mothers milk tea

Doing all except for the tea. I'll have to try that out. 

cyprissa

Seriously increase your water and protein intake. Take naps with the baby and do lots of skin to skin. Mothers milk tea, oatmeal, lactation cookies (you can google recipes), and power pumping. I always do compressions when pumping. Also, rescue remedy right before pumping helped me let down better for the pump.

jesuisfatiguee

triplea598 said:

If you still do nursing sessions, my biggest advice is put baby to breast as much as possible. Seriously, every opportunity you get nurse that baby! Also, mothers milk tea really helped me a lot. Fenugreek didn't help me much but I don't think I took enough or took it correctly.

Yep, the best way to increase supply is to nurse. 

Mother's Milk tea helped me a lot, too. It does have fenugreek in it, so I would be careful taking fenugreek by itself while drinking that tea. I am not a doctor/expert, so I can't really give advice beyond that. 

hbrooks88974

BunkinMama said:

So do you want to exclusively pump? Or do you still have nursing sessions? How much fenugreek are you taking? How often and it what form? It can take up to a week to notice the fenugreek working depending on how much you take. I struggled with supply the entire time I was nursing. I took fenugreek, I started by taking 2 capsules a day, 1 in the morning and one at dinner. I slowly increased by adding a capsule each time, every other day, until I was up to 6 a day. I also did a week of power pumping. An hour session each night for a week. Pumping can help increase your supply, but nursing is the best way. If she still wants to nurse do it as long and as often as possible.

She has gotten to where she isn't interested in nursing at all. I used to be able to get her to nurse when she woke up and before bed. So I'm pretty much exclusively pumping. I took 2 capsules of fenugreek the first day and then yesterday took 3 (one with each meal). I have read to take 2-3 each dose. They are making my stomach a little upset but I'm going to keep trying them for a few weeks to see what happens. Also going to try out the power pumping! I hope it helps. Thanks! 

ShakeyJakey

Water water water!!! Besides what everyone else said I really stress water. My son is 20 months old and I don't have much of a supply left but even now I notice a difference when I'm dehydrated.

Also, if you'd like to nurse instead of pump, I would recommend a silicone shield. We used one for 4 months because LO got a bottle in the NICU before ever latching.

ShakeyJakey

Posted too soon. The shield helps your nipple make more of a bottle shape, so maybe that would get her more interested?

lifesaverz

It took about 5 days for me to notice a difference. Also I was taking the max dosage - 4 pills, 3x a day.

hbrooks88974

BunkinMama said:

@hbrooks88974‌ eating when taking the fenugreek helps the most. I know this is going to sound weird but you know you are taking enough fenugreek (and don't add more) when you smell like maple syrup. As in your sweat will smell kind of like maple syrup. Good luck!

Haha! I know! I burp "maple syrup" all day now. I try to tell myself to just think about waffles but in my head I KNOW it's some herbal gross stuff I'm burping up. I have already noticed a small difference in my milk supply. I am power pumping and taking fenugreek & going to get some mother's milk tea today. Y'all are awesome! Thanks! I'm so excited my BF'ing days are not over!