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Breastfeeding
nilu129
member
Supply Issue (I think)
nilu129
member
So my LO gets 4 bottles in a day in addition to me nursing her in the morning and evening. I have been back at work for a week and I am not getting enough milk for her, so I have had to dip into my freezer stash. I am pumping 6 times a day at about every 3 hours. Would pumping more frequently help increase my milk supply or should I go get some fenugreek?I eat a decent diet, drink a lot of water, eat instant oatmeal and try to have a salad and an apple everyday. No idea what else I can do.
nilu129
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Supply Issue (I think)
Married Bio * BFP Charts
Trying fenugreek can't hurt. You will need to take 3 pills 3 times a day. It will take a few days to see an increase in supply. You need to smell like maple syrup, if you don't you need to take more till you achieve that smell.
Also you need to have regular oatmeal not the instant. Lactation cookies are also good to try.
So your baby takes 18 ounces a day while you're at work? That's a lot of breastmilk for a normal 8-5ish type of separation. How long are you at work?
You may want to look at the Kellymom milk calculator to see if perhaps your baby is taking too much by the bottle - it's essentially 25 ounces divided by the number of daily feedings. Then adjust as necessary. Our result was 2.77 oz per bottle - we rounded up to 3, then 3.5, then 4 based on DS's signals and hunger cues. Ultimately, to sneak more calories in we settled on four 3.5 oz bottles each day, and it's a rare day when he takes more.
Anyway, look at the calculator, https://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/pumping/milkcalc/ and talk to your caregiver about how to bottlefeed a breastfed baby, and you may find that your pumping output more closely matches her daily intake.
Married Bio * BFP Charts
I know it's easy to stress about making enough milk, but stress is a HUGE supply killer.
You just started back to work. Your body and mind have to get back into the swing of your new schedule. Try not to stress (I know easier said then done).
Try the things people have suggested, regular oatmeal, fenugreek, lactation cookies, adding another pump session at home.
If LO is sleeping through the night (which it sounds like if LO is eating 6 times a day, 4 of which when you are at work), then pump sometime at night before you go to bed to try and cover the difference. It might take a couple days of pumping at that same time to trigger your body to make more milk at that time.
You need to give your body a chance to respond, to you being back to work. If you add another pumping session, it has to be able to respond to that too. It's not all instantaneous.
Perhaps try meeting with a lactation consultant would help as well.