Parenting after a Loss
Jered&Gena
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talk to me about EPing
Jered&Gena
member
DD has been eating for a half hr 10 to 12 times a day, not including burping time. She has been doing this for like a month and its killing me! And she was not napping and really gassy. So I decided to pump and track how much she is eating. And its been great! No more biteing and pulling on me! She is now eating 6 to 7 oz 5 times a day and she is happier and naps all by her self, her gas is also gone! It's great, but I'm not quite able to keep up production for her need. Im dipping into my freezer stash for like 3 oz a day.
My question is How can I bring my supply up? I am pumping before and after each feeding, what else can I do?
Thanx
My question is How can I bring my supply up? I am pumping before and after each feeding, what else can I do?
Thanx
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Re: talk to me about EPing
Most EPers need to pump at the very least every three hours.
BFP #3 via cancelled IUI ~ C (2lb 3oz; HELLP) 5/16/11
BFP #4 via the natural (free!) way ~ E (8lb 11oz) 9/13/12
Eat oatmeal, drink dark beer, drink a shitton of water - like 2 gallons a day. You can also power pump, though, honestly, if she'll take it from the breast, that's the best way to build your supply. Even if you can just get her to suck half a feeding's worth and then you pump the rest. Or, have her start on the bottle (to take the bite of hunger off) and then finish on the breast. DS refused the boob completely after he was 6w (he mostly refused it from 3-6w), so I didn't have the boob option. I resorted to beer, oatmeal, tons of water, lots of calories and power pumping.
Mother's Milk tea (and similar products) help some people, but every one I tried, and anything with Fenugreek I tried, upset DS's already upset stomach. I even tried it when he was older and no dice. Plus, none of them really helped my supply.
Some also take "Dom" with success, but it requires a prescription here, or a Canadian pharmacy willing to ship. I can't remember what the full name is - domeprezole? I didn't try it.
I found that EPing was initially freeing and then it became really effing hard and a true ball and chain. I never had time for myself. I was always pumping. Everything came after that. I would have slept so much more if I'd just BF. Pumping is so time consuming and a complete mind game. It didn't help that the second I'd hook in and have a let down that DS would need me - every.single.time. I grew to dread pumping.
I also had supply issues at 2-3w, which, combined with being in insane amounts of pain and him eating for 45 minutes every 1.5 hours, led me to EPing. I had to supplement with formula for about three weeks until I was able to get my supply up. Then, my supply dipped at 4m and never fully recovered. It dipped again at 6m and went down from there. I was able to pull it off for a year, but I would have actually kept BFing if he would have taken it from the source. However, with pumping, it was such a huge time suck and fight that it just wasn't worth it anymore. Funny thing is, as much as I hated BFing, I wished I'd kept it up as it would have been easier on me.
ETA: I just noticed your DD's birthdate. I bet she's hitting the 6w growth spurt. It's a nasty one. The period from 6-8 weeks is a blur for me, but it involved an insane amount of eating. However, once he got past that, it got so much better.
Thank you for your response! I think that on the brest she is not getting enough to fill her up, and its weird because she is never able to drain a brest even if she eats all day off of just one. now that she is eating more she is happy and does not eat as often. I think I will try to but her back on the brest in the next day or two and see what happens!
Karen, I hear ya pumping is not fun, I always hated pumping when I was building my freezer stash. We did really have a tough time between 6 and 8 weeks and her eating habits never got better. I think she was only nursing half way when I was feeding her because her poopies were turning green. So I was guessing she was getting too much fore (sp?) milk. Thats part of the reason I wanted to measure how much she was getting. I figured if I gave her more and pumped more she would get a better min of fore/hide milk. and I think she is because her poopies are yellow and seedy again!
That is so interesting about the beer, but I hate beer! lol I do love oatmeal! I'll be eating much more of that!
But DD is 11 weeks on Monday and the following Sunday I got back to work. I'll be working 10 hr shifts so that means 12 hrs away from DD. No matter what I'm going to have a lot of pumping in my day. And that worried me for my supply!
Thank you for the response!
OMG, my brain is still stuck in July! I read your siggy and thought, "Oh, she's only about 6w as it's the end of July now." Sorry! There's also a 3m growth spurt.
You don't need a lot of beer to make it work. I've heard that as little as 4oz per day is enough. I like dark beer, so I just had a whole one, usually during a pumping session. I usually noticed the increase on my next pumping. It also helped me to not have it daily, as my body would get used to it and it would no longer work. Since you're doing back to work, power pumping (if you can do it at work) may be your best bet. Just to warn you, the stress of going back to work may make your supply take a hit. For me, I was usually able to get it back after a period of stress with the same old tricks I told you about.