- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Houston Babies
almostjones
member
s/o BF-related: Did you overcome supply issues? Have a success story to share?
almostjones
member
Good idea, rayskit. I thought I'd just go ahead & start the post...
I'd love to hear how some of you overcame supply issues or bounced back from a breastfeeding rough patch. I'm sure others would benefit as well! Please share!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: s/o BF-related: Did you overcome supply issues? Have a success story to share?
I have to say that I really struggled to make it to 15 months. It was not easy at all for me. I was using Fenugreek and Mothers Milk Tea for a while and that helped but not much. I was prescribed Reglan and that helped tremendously. I was so mad at myself for waiting so long before saying something to by OB. She was mad at me too.
DS wouldn't take formula and barely ate anything so I felt so compelled to continue breastfeeding him. Then right at 15 months he wanted nothing more to do with it. Oh happy day.
Cameron was a slow gainer, and somewhere in the 4-6 week mark, we discovered he wasn't transferring milk terribly effectively, which impacted my supply some.
I worked my butt off for 2-3 weeks, pumping for 15 minutes after every feeding - both to boost my supply and to have BM for his post-nursing supplemental bottle. The most formula he ever had was 2-4 oz/day.
As he got more calories in him, he started nursing more effectively. I also tried taking every supplement (OTC) I could find that would supposedly help with milk supply. I'm honestly not sure if any of them really helped or not because my body doesn't produce for the pump, so I never really had a good indicator. It continued to be a lot of work for a while (he took forever to nurse, seemed to nurse all the time, etc.), and then one day it was just suddenly so much easier.
ETA: I really think once I was ale to relax and not stress out about it, that helped my supply a great deal. Less obsessing, more nursing
I had low supply (for which I took every supplement possible) and we fought with latching issues so I ended up exclusively pumping for just over 12 weeks. Some days were better than others. There were even a few days I didn't have to give a formula bottle but I think most days she got 1. I hated that *** pump - I "quit" every single night... and then got up the next day and pumped some more.
KNJepp was a super positive influence and having her to whine to helped me focus and take it one small goal at a time. Otherwise I would have quit much, much earlier.
I was very fortunate to have a great supply but it wasn't without the help of my friend. Without her support and encouragement I wouldn't have made it past the first two weeks. Having someone to talk to and give you tips is the best thing ever.
I did get a stomach virus toward the end of nursing (but I wasn't willing to give up just bc my supply tanked). I drank Mother's Milk Tea, took fenugreek, drank non-alcoholic beer (BARF), pumped one extra time at night before going to bed and drank enough water to float a cruise ship. It worked and my supply came back to what it was pre-sickness!
*Edit* Some other things that helped my supply from the get-go. I ate oatmeal (old fashioned oats) and limited my caffeine intake. I noticed a definite increase in supply. My friend at work just came back from maternity leave and she was drinking about 6 cokes a day (can't blame her...a Momma needs to stay awake) but we suggested she cut back a little and her supply has increased...at least 4 oz/day. It's different for everyone but it's worth a try!
I also fed DS on demand from day one. (This was probably out of desperation of not knowing what the heck to do with him but I swear it helped my supply in the end!)
My first big supply dip was around 6 months. My supply was REALLY good when it was up, almost oversupply, but then I could be really low the very next day. I have no idea why my supply would change so drastically so quickly, and whenever I get pg with #2 that's probably something I will see a LC about and see if we can determine what that was all about. I responded really well to the pump and one day I could pump 8oz off one side, the next day I could maybe get 2. It was really frustrating.
If my supply was low I would have a nice, full, dark beer at night before bed, took More Milk Plus, sweet potatoes seems to help, lots of water, and pumping for 15min+ after each nursing session.
We really struggled to get DD to gain weight at the beginning...had to go in for weekly and then bi weekly weight checks. I never responded well to the pump. I think at first I could only get maybe an ounce a day after she nursed...the most I ever pumped was probably 4 ounces.
We supplemented for the first month or two...and I was finally able to wean her off of the formula. I'd offer her an extra ounce or two that I'd pumped after her nursing sessions but she wouldn't take it...She finally started to really gain a good 5-6 ounces a week at about 2.5 - 3 months.
Nursing was such a struggle for me in the beginning, I never thought I'd make it to a month...or 6 weeks....and we ended up making it to 14 months
Things that helped:
-Fenugreek
-Eating Oatmeal (not instant)
-Eating lactation cookies (google for a recipe.. it's basically an oatmeal cookie that has brewers yeast, which you can buy at GNC, and flax seeds)
-Drinking plenty of water
-Pumping for 5-10 minutes after each nursing session
-I ended up waking her in the middle of the night to get an extra nursing session when we were worried about her weight in the very beginning (right when she started sleeping 4-6 hour stretches...). I don't know that I'd recommend this though b/c it ended up backfiring on us and making her a really terrible sleeper...and not doing 4-6 hours stretches again until 8 or 9 months.
-I drank the mother's milk tea, but I'm not sure it made any difference.
I've heard great things about More Milk Plus supplements that you can buy at A Woman's Work but I never tried them personally (I probably should've!).