November 2015 Moms
Cook3133
member
Breast milk production?
Cook3133
member
i have no clue what to title this question as....
So I have 3 kids, I was able to nurse my first 2 no issues at all, I swear I was like a cow when it came to my milk coming it. I was practically drowning my poor child and had to pump before feedings!
With my third though we had issues and by the time we figured it out my milk had depleted to almost nothing and I had to deal with the fact that I couldn't provide BM for my baby, it was hard but that was reality.
So my question is has anyone done any breast milk "prepping" before baby and have success with it? What is the best way to increase BM? I have tried milk thistle and fenugreek but don't remember seeing a difference. I have googled thus to death but want to hear from real women who have done it.
So I have 3 kids, I was able to nurse my first 2 no issues at all, I swear I was like a cow when it came to my milk coming it. I was practically drowning my poor child and had to pump before feedings!
With my third though we had issues and by the time we figured it out my milk had depleted to almost nothing and I had to deal with the fact that I couldn't provide BM for my baby, it was hard but that was reality.
So my question is has anyone done any breast milk "prepping" before baby and have success with it? What is the best way to increase BM? I have tried milk thistle and fenugreek but don't remember seeing a difference. I have googled thus to death but want to hear from real women who have done it.
Re: Breast milk production?
I used fenugreek and saw a little difference. Mothers milk tea helped some too. Eating oatmeal every morning and drinking lots of water helped the most. Nursing on demand and lots of skin to skin early on was the best advice I got.
I'm not sure if it will make a difference, but do you mind me asking what the issues with your third were? Perhaps they were a one-time kind of thing and you will have no trouble this time?
I didn't have difficulties with my second and third, but I did have a heck of a time getting my supply established with my first. I was pretty young, and didn't know where/how to research things much at the time, but I did have a great lactation consultant helping me. DD1 was a lazy sucker, and didn't want to open her mouth wide enough to get a good latch. As a result, my supply suffered. The LC recommended getting a breast pump and pumping after every feeding (like some of the other posters have also mentioned). I was lucky because I didn't need to do anything more than that. The LC continued to work with me until I knew exactly how to get DD1 to open her mouth wide enough to latch well. After that, it was pretty smooth sailing, and thankfully DD2 and DS were great nursers too.
All this to say that just because you have trouble with one, doesn't mean you will have trouble with the next one for sure.
With my second he ended up having a latching issue. He was loosing weight is how we found out he wasn't getting anything. I can't rember when I started pumping (sometime at the end of week one start of week two) but I had milk so we knew it wasn't that I was "dry". I did meet with a lactation specialist who said it was common in moms with more kids that they almost "forget" how to nurse a new born. She helped me get a good latch but so mentioned his tongue was a bit tight (not enough to be tongue tied though).
I want to say we met with her after his 1st week. Other than my lil guy loosing weight you couldn't tell something wasn't right. He was alert and strong and only fussed twice with feedings. At 16 days old we ended up in the children's hospital with failure to thrive. He also was getting jaundice. We spent 2 nights there and got his weigt headed back up and had a few months of home nurse visits and diatician visits. Overall he lost 1.5 pounds. But my milk never recovered from those first 2 weeks of no real nursing. I was only able to get about an ounce maybe on each side and it just kept going down. So I had to let it go. (We started formula by the way to supliment when my back up supply was gone).
We also had to track what he was getting so I had no choice but to bottle feed him what I pumped to make sure he got his 2 ounces and then try and met him nurse.
I also was getting a yeast infection on my breast and in my LOs mouth to so I think that effected it to.
So l think all those factors added up to me loosing my supply and not being able to nurse after about 3-4 weeks. I tried beer, milk thistle, fenugreek, and I can't remember what else to try and boost it but I think by that point it was no use. I tried the tea to and that was pretty nasty
It was really hard on me since I nursed my first two for a year with no problems at all and I eras able to do this while working full time. I would pump and get 4-8 ounces out of each breast sometimes. I guess that is why I am so afraid this time around that it might happen again. So I want to try and do any prepping as early as I can!!
Thank you for sharing! I understand your concerns much better now. Failure to thrive sounds so scary, and it's completely reasonable to be worried that it might happen again. I'm afraid I don't know much about prepping beforehand, but I did have a thought that may be helpful.
Does it cost a lot extra to see a Lactation specialist? If not, maybe it would ease your mind to set up an appointment right after the birth, so that if there are any latching issues again, you could catch them sooner, and not miss out on those early weeks when your supply is being established.
I hope you get to have another successful BF experience this time around, and I'm sure that being prepared in case things are bumpy again will help you catch any potential problems before they get out of hand! GL!
I remember calling la letche help line and that was a joke!
I had low supply issues from the word go. I tried SO many things. Brewer's Yeast, oatmeal, lactation cookies, fenugreek, there are even supplements, like a multivitamin, I took to help "increase production". Nothing seemed to help. I pumped after feeding which helped a little bit, but when I would try to call a lactation consultant, it was "Well, try this!" I really wanted to go see someone, but I never had the courage to ask straight out to get an appointment. The one thing I will say is the Fair Haven Nursing Blend is the only thing I saw a difference with, but not in quantity. I noticed my milk was fattier. I also went on prescription drugs towards the end and that didn't do much, but I also stopped all of the herbal supplements I was doing.
It is extremely stressful and I get how you feel. I wish there was something I could do now to "prep", but I don't think you can. I just want to be able to feed my babies!
<Hugs>
And it showed him it was normal for the baby to want to be attached pretty much non stop in the beginning.
It helped him support me better.
We also learned about pumping and bottle feeding and he did all the bottle feeding while I was at work so it was good info.
I don't think guys know what really goes into it. The class can be an eye opener.
Agree w/ taking a breastfeeding class w/ your SO. Also, I got a couple of books about breastfeeding from the library and read them ahead of time and was able to keep them several weeks after the baby was born for a reference. I felt more knowledgeable about the whole process and was able to troubleshoot some basic problems on my own. Plus, I think the more you know, the less likely you will get discouraged if/when you do run into a problem. However, I am a type A over planner. :-) I also found the breastfeeding board of Bump to be helpful once the baby came.