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Too late to bring my supply back up?

jfburningjfburning member
in Breastfeeding
My daughter was premature and I was encouraged to breast feed her and bottle feed her a high calorie formula.  SHe had trouble latching so I was also encouraged to use a nipple shield.  She was doing well with both for the first 2 weeks (and I would pump out about 3-4 oz during her formula feedings to help keep supply up) and then I got sick on and off for the next 6 weeks.  My husband would get up in the middle of the night with her and formula feed her so that breastfeeding session was dropped.  I started my period about 5 weeks after giving birth.  I had read that both dropping the middle of the night feeding and starting my period would decrease my supply so I started giving up hope.  I was only pumping out about 2 oz at this point.  Now that I am 10 weeks into this, is there any hope to increase my supply or is it too late?  Has anyone successfully increased after a similar situation?  I breastfeed her as often as she wants but she'd done quickly and sometimes I need to supplement with formula because she didn't get enough.  I return to work in a few weeks and am worried that it will only get worse.  I'm a teacher and I can only pump during my prep and lunch period.  Thanks!
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Re: Too late to bring my supply back up?

  • eggmankateeggmankate member
    Absolutely! Breastfeeding is all supply and demand. If you want to go back to exclusive breastfeeding then don't supplement with formula anymore because your LO will need to signal to your body to make more milk and can't do that if she isn't demanding breastmilk. Also, you can add the MOTN feeding back in, too. It may take a few days but I think that frequent feedings and no formula will send your body a signal to boost your supply. You may want to add a pump after one of the morning feeds as an extra boost. This is exactly what happens with clusterfeeds--baby nurses a lot to get your supply  to boost. If you can maybe seek out support from a LC just for more moral support and confidence.
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    TTC since April 2011. DH Dx MFI in February 2012. BFP #1: 7.16.12. MMC dx: 8.22.12, D&C 8.28.12, TTC Again November 2012. DH Varicocele repair November 2012; Repeat SA showed "dramatic" improvement February 2013 (awesome!)
    BFP #2: 3.26.13, EDC: 12.7.13. Anya born December 9th, 2013!
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  • surpriseadditionsurpriseaddition member
    I went back to teaching, and could only pump twice (planning and lunch) and they were only an hour apart - I could pump at 11:45 and would need to finish up with the second one before 1:30pm. So, I only had an hour between finishing one session and starting the other. But, I made it to a year and am still BF my LO now who's 18 months. It can be done! I'd pick up that MOTN feeding again. I know it is nice to sleep, but your LO will drop it soon enough. I actually began pumping that MOTN feeding when she gave it up. I could get 7oz by pumping then! So, picking that back up could give you that option if your struggling getting enough when you are back at work. It only would take me 15 min because I'd have the pump all set up, and would just put the bottles in a cooler like I did at work so I didn't need to go I to the kitchen, etc. I just dealt with everything when I got up in the morning. GL....you can do this!


    **DD1 - 7/9/98**

    **DS - 11/9/00**

    **DD2 - 4/30/13**

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