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Breastfeeding
low supply, very frustrated :(
I was already having a difficult time with BFing, I went to the LC today and found out that I have low supply. DD has not gained any weight since last Thursday. She hasn't lost any, but she is not gaining like she should. We have been feeding like crazy, and I don't know how I could do any more.
So the LC says to take fenugreek, 3 tablets 3 times a day, along with pumping after feedings and supplementing once or twice a day with a little formula. Ok, so at least I have help in finding a solution.
BFing feels like it has been nothing but work and I'm frustrated that for all I've put into it, it's still not going smoothly. I have been soooooo tempted to just give it up. I just fed her, and then I pumped afterwards and just barely got a few drops. Grrrrrrrr......
I need to see some light at the end of the tunnel.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: low supply, very frustrated :(
There is light at the end of the tunnel-let me offer my story as encouragement. Ds weighed 7 lbs 7 oz from the time he left the hospital until he was 3.5 weeks old. I saw a LC at 2 weeks b/c of this-I also had a low supply and a lazy sucker. I did the same thing your LC recommended, took More Milk Plus (which has fenrugreek and blessed thistle in it), feed every 2-3 hours round the clock (even when I had to wake ds up to eat), and pumped after probably 6-8 feedings a day. I also bottle fed ebm to ds 4-6 times a day so that he would be getting enough. I was able to begin to lesson bottle feedings and by 7 weeks, he was ebf. Besides bfing being painful in the beginning, I wanted to cry with guilt that I wasn't getting my baby enough food, and the frustration I felt b/c it was so difficult. But IT WAS WORTH IT. At that point, I didn't see how it could be, but feeding ds is so easy now. We went to the doctor today-and from being in the 11 percentile for his weight, he is now in the 53rd percential.
Some things I found to work:
-drink lots of water-my supply one day depended on how hydrated I was the day before
-make lactation cookies-they really seemed to work for me
-if you can, when you have to supplement, bottle feed your lo the bm that you pumped at a previous session
-get an extra set or two of pump parts (I have three) or use the refrig trick so you're not washing pump parts all the time
-have dh wash your pump parts if/when he's around (that's dh's job to help me feed ds)
I also found that when I pumped right after feeding, I'd get nothing, so I switched to pumping 45 minutes after ds started a feeding. That way my body would have some time to produce milk, and I'd still have at least an hour before ds wanted to eat again. At first I was getting between 5 and 15 mL a side (not even an oz total) but it grew with time.
Give yourself a realistic goal-I'd say at least six weeks, and then if it hasn't improved and you really want to stop, allow yourself to do that. Formula is not the end of the world-it's just another way of feeding your baby.
Best of luck to you!
i'll tell you what i told myself the first few weeks, " your body was meant to do this. your baby will tell your body how much milk she needs as long as you keep nursing her" i can never pump after a feeding and get anything. just keep her on you as long as you can stand it and she'll bring in the milk. believe me, i have had nights where dek was sick and nursing every two hours as a one year old, so my body was not used to producing that much milk anymore but i would feel that let down and know that he was getting something.
good luck!