ladies who have successfully increased your supply?

beckypooh03@yahoo.com

Is pumping or feeding every 3 hours enough to increase my supply or should I pump or feed every 2 hours? And what about at night time? Can I successfully increase my supply by pumping every 2 hours during the day? 

I've been really close to giving up several times so any advice is helpful! I'm already taking fenugreek and I think I'm going to switch to mothers milk tea this week. Been drinking more water and I've been trying to pump or feed every 3 hours but it's gotten really hard! I've only seen about a half ounce increase in the last week of taking fenugreek!

What exactly did you do? TIA!!!

 

amstephens

Drink a beer a night has helped me boost my supply! GL

sgrl

Oatmeal, although beer sounds better!

octwed07

Oh don't give up!  I remember you had posted before and i was stating that i was on the same boat as you.  I'm feeling like all the pumping is making some progress. I'm now at 2 oz per session instead of 1 oz.  It's still small, but i'm determined to make it work. Don't give up! 

vml14

Increasing my supply took me about 8 weeks... and it was a SLOW process.   I went from producing about 12-15 oz per day when my LO was 2 wks old to producing around 30 oz per day when she was 10 wks old.  After a long road, including triple feeding, supplementing with some formula, bottlefeeding BM and EPing, my LO is now a nursing champ and is now EBF.  Here is what I did... for about 3 weeks, I triple fed every 3 hours, around teh clock (nursed LO, then pumped right after, and then supplemented with a bottle feeding).  That got exhausting after a while (since each feeding session took about 1.25 hours and I was starting over every 3 hours), so I went to EPing.  I pumped every 3 hours around the clock, except for the occasional 4-5 hour stretch at night. Some people don't respond well to the pump, but my body really did.  I also recommend taking More Milk Plus (you can get it at Whole Foods) -- I took 1 pill 4x per day.  The Mother's Milk Tea is not very strong and won't work as well.  I also ate oatmeal every morning for breakfast, and tried to drink lots of water. 

A lot of people will tell you that nursing your baby frequently is the best way to increase your supply, and in many cases, this is probably true.  But, for me, my LO really didn't figure out how to suck effectively until she was around 9-10 wks old... so, when I was nursing so much earlier on, it really wasn't helping my supply because she wasn't accessing the milk available to her.  Now, that she nurses effectively, though, I can see how she does eat differently and it allows her to increase my supply as necessary.  Be sure to see an LC for a weighed feed to see how well your LO is eating and to see if they have any suggestions for you.  Good luck to you!  It can be done!

vml14

Oh, one more thing... Keep detailed tracking of your feeding -- how many minutes you nurse, how much you produce when pumping in a 24 hour period.  I got these pumping bottles called Snappies which attach to my Medela pump.  They were great because they measure the milk to the tenth of an ounce, so I was able to be encouraged by very small increases each day.  

And, the best advice I got -- don't give up on your worst day.  If I had done that, I would have quit about once a week during my journey.  Keep going until a better day, and then if you still want to stop, do so.  But don't quit when you're feeling terrible.

epopp85

I pump after every feeding and every 3-4hrs when away from LO.  I did a power pump last week and it seems to have helped.  I was actually able to freeze my first bag of milk this weekend!  That was a major accomplishment for me since I was having to supplement with formula at least an oz per feeding originally.

Try not to get discouraged.  It takes a long time to increase supply sometimes.

Mama2MyBabies

I've been taking Fengreek 1 pill 3xdaily, Blessed Thistle 1 pill 3xdaily, Mothers Milk Tea 3 cups daily,Oatmeal for breakfast, Oatmeal cookies,lots of water (I drink 100+ oz a day) & a Beer with Dinner (make sure it a dark beer). All of that plus nursing LO all day & pumping every 2hrs at night.

LO is now nursing every 2hrs during the day & STTN. GL!