Don't know what to do! Trying really hard and no progress...

sept~bride

Sometimes I feel like giving up on BF DD... It is so much harder than I though it would be. I had a problem getting DD to latch on right the first few days in the hospital. Her weight went down from 6 lbs 11.5 oz to 6 lbs 4 oz... (I know that infants tend to loose some of their birth weight) but we then found out she had jaundice and of course I felt guilty because I felt like it was my fault for not feeding her well... and in order to get her weight back up the nurses had to supplement with formula... I cried because I wanted to EBF DD but understood that her health was more important at this point... fast forward to now 5 weeks later and tons of visits with the lactation consultant and I feel like I am making no progress. Out of all the visits with the LC we found out that due to the latch issue early on my milk supply was low, so they suggested I take fenugreek ... have been taking the horrid thing for about a week now and feel no closer to increasing my milk supply. Have been supplementing DD with formula but it makes her gassy and not to mention the stinky farts...LOL - I have tried switching her formula to a sensitive formula for gas & colic and it has not helped. I have taken dairy out of my diet and it has not helped. So here I am still with a low milk supply and a super gassy LO... she is gaining weight so not totally doing a bad job at this but am getting kinda to my wits end here... sorry long vent...

shotzie

I'm sorry you're having a rough time.  Are you pumping?  When you supplement, it can kinda make your supply tank.  BF'ing frequently is what tells your body to produce more milk to meet LO's needs.  So it's a good idea to pump frequently while you are supplementing and hopefully that'll help increase your supply.  (And try to BF as much as possible, that's even better than pumping).  Also, eating oatmeal can help your supply (I have it for breakfast every morning with brown sugar and chopped walnuts) and drinking tons of water helps too.  I hope things start improving for you soon.  BF'ing definitely is a huge commitement and a lot of work! 

sept~bride

shotzie:

I'm sorry you're having a rough time.  Are you pumping?  When you supplement, it can kinda make your supply tank.  BF'ing frequently is what tells your body to produce more milk to meet LO's needs.  So it's a good idea to pump frequently while you are supplementing and hopefully that'll help increase your supply.  (And try to BF as much as possible, that's even better than pumping).  Also, eating oatmeal can help your supply (I have it for breakfast every morning with brown sugar and chopped walnuts) and drinking tons of water helps too.  I hope things start improving for you soon.  BF'ing definitely is a huge commitement and a lot of work! 

Thanks for the advice! I will try the oatmeal and try pumping more. I feed her every 1 1/2 to 2 hours so it's hard to find time for pumping in there but hopefully once my milk supply starts to come in it will allow her to sleep a bit longer to allow me to pump more often. Thanks for the support.  

 

LuckyBride06

EBFing is very hard! I remember I was very discouraged when DS was that young too. It's harder then I ever expected. But it DOES get better....I promise! I didn't believe people when they said that, but now 4 months later, it's a breeze!

Don't give up. Keep nursing LO as much as possible and your supply will regulate. If you supplement, remember to pump too!  Why don't you stop supplementing and see what happens? Your supply may be fine by now and you maybe don't know it. Just make sure you get enough dirty and pee diapers.

StephE623

I had a similar experience to you. DD had trouble latching, lost a lot of weight, and was jaundiced. But I refused to let them give her formula so I pumped and pumped and pumped. Latching was still an issue so I just kept on pumping because I really want her to be on breastmilk exclusively.

To increase your supply. pump whenever you give your LO a formula bottle. You need to send the signal to your brain to produce more milk. And if anything, try breastfeeding first and if you see that your LO is still hungry then give her some formula. That way, you are at least stimulating milk production

sept~bride

Thanks so much guys for the encouragement! I usually BF DD first and if she is still hungry, which she normally is (because she only gets on average 2 oz from me) then I pull out the formula to supplement... between yesterday and today I have noticed a slight improvement so I am going to keep it at... guess some days are better than others. Thanks again!