Desperate EPing question
I feel like I'm screwed. C will be 12 weeks old on Thursday.
I've pumped 7-8 times a day for months (including at least once a night, usually twice) but am now falling behind when C started eating 5oz. He has 6-7 bottles a day. I pump anywhere from 600-675ml (about 20-23oz) a day pretty steadily, naturally that's not enough to keep up with him. We've been doing 100ml BM and 50ml of formula to get to his 5oz.
I have a Freestyle and started Fenugreek and didn't notice anything. In fact, my supply dropped a good 30%. So I called our hospital's women center and rented a Symphony from them for a month she also recommended More Milk Plus... so I'm doing MMP and the Symphony currently. Haven't seen even a hint of an increase. I've had to add a whole extra pumping just to get to my normal 600ish ml output.
So what gives... am I the only one on earth who didn't get at least a tiny increase from Fenugreek and/or MMP? I don't know what else to try. Compressions have never really done much for me, warm compress doesn't make a noticeable difference. I don't know what else to try. It's like I'm not doing triple the work. Pumping, making formula, and feeding him.
It seems like a waste of time and energy and too much stress to continue pumping if I'll soon be giving him more formula than BM.
Re: Desperate EPing question
I am sorry this isn't coming easy for you. It doesn't make sense why some people don't have a good supply. It may not be worth it for you. If you are devoting that much time, and not getting the results. You are so stressed, that adds to it too. Ultimately a happy mom = a happy baby. If you decide to quit, know that you did everything you could, and you gave the baby BM for the first 12 weeks, which is the most important.
good Luck!!
I noticed when my pumping output was slowing that the more I stressed the less I produced. Don't watch your milk go into the horns, again stress about "not enough milk" will weigh on you. When you pump try and look at pictures of your baby, it might help with letdown. I also dobreathing techniques to calm myself and to stop thinking about milk. Think about the baby, the touch of his fingers, his little mouth etc.
Are you getting enough sleep, water and rest?
Ugh, that's frustrating!!!
How long are your pumping sessions? I get a big letdown after 20 minutes in... maybe try that? I actually did better with 6-7 30 minute sessions as opposed to 8. I'd say anything is worth a try now..
Also, you may want to try domperidome. You can get it through inhousepharmacy.com. Supposedly it works the best out of all of them.