Help me succeed this time...

[GreenBottomBaby]

I nursed my dd part time for 11 months. We had a great latch at the hospital and as soon as we got home everything fell apart and even with the help of bf'ing friends and lac. consultants it was never the same. DD would nurse for hours never getting enough. I tried pumping and feeding her what I could get out but I never got more than 2 oz. pumping. I took fenugreek and really tried to get my supply up.

Now that I will have a new little one in 7 weeks im getting worried. I REALLY want to exclusively bf this one. What can I do to jump my supply off to a good start? Or should I talk to a doc. about it?

[Clare378]

For my second, I drank mass amounts of water and immediately started pumping. As in I took my pump to the hospital and used it to stimulate the milk coming in. I was just pumping a little colostrum, but it got my system going. I also pumped for 10 minutes after each feeding and started a freezer stash. The water was CRITICAL in the first several weeks.

[cupcakewright]

Each time you are pg your baby makes more duct work in your breasts, so even if you had a hard time nursing #1 . #2 maybe be a whole different story.

In the hospital nurse as much as baby wants and try to get baby to the breast within 30 minutes of birth. From then on, nurse on demand, as aften and as long as bbay wants.

Watch for 1 wet diaper day 1 and 2 day 2 and so on until day 6 when then you wnat to see 6-10 wet diapers a day and at least 1 poop a day until around 6 weeks when some babies start to poop less often.

Also weight gain.

After a few weeks if you see issues then you can addres them, you can also start fenugreek right away and wean off if you reaslize things are going great but I bet you will do just super this time!

[Karidre]

Just nurse as much as possible and try to relax. Try to avoid pacifiers for the first 3 weeks and any bottles/artificial nipples for at least the first 6-8 weeks. Don't be put off by them wanting to nurse more often than what you read is normal. Just give yourself a chance to nurse whenever possible and that will keep up your supply.

[Layney82]

I had extremely low supply with DS and have been looking into ways to increase supply for a second little one. We also started out great for the first 3 days since early on, their tummies are so tiny that they don't need much. DS had a great latch, I didn't have any pain or discomfort, things were going great. Unfortunately, he started loosing weight, and his demand very quickly outpaced my supply. He ended up at Sick Kids hospital at 8 days old because of dehydration and starvation

One of the biggest causes of low supply is insufficient breast/glandular tissue. I worked with Dr. Jack Newman for a few months with DS and he recommended Goat's Rue which has been shown to promote growth of new breast tissue. If PCOS is the underlying cause, metformin has also been shown to increase breast tissue (it was actually developed to match a compound in Goat's Rue.) Natural Progesterone supplements before conception and during pregnancy have also been shown to help increase breast tissue. Often, the progesterone produced naturally in the body in each pregnancy causes you to grow more breast tissue as well so you may not have any trouble this time.

I had great luck with Domperidone, though I didn't see it at the time. I went from being able to produce 4oz per day to almost 14oz within 6 weeks of starting Domperidone at the max. dose (160mg/day or 4 tablets, 4 times a day.) I was really disappointed since I could never EBF, but I should have been happy that it more than tripled my supply.

I found this website quite informative. http://www.noteveryonecanbreastfeed.com/index.html . There are some success stories, and lots of journal articles discussing causes of and solutions for low supply issues.

Good luck mama!!!

ETA: It may also be worth checking with your doctor. Thyroid problems and low iron can also wreck havoc with bfing.

[Earthy Momma]

drink a lot of water, have a very healthy diet, as balanced as possible.
if u start to give the baby formula, then ur supply will go down.
relax, if u want it to happen it will. it is new for u even if u have done it before. and even though babies have the sucking reflex down in the womb they still need to learn how to suck the booby milk out...
if you are tense the baby will feel that. give it time.
and it is very normal for the baby to have a good latch at the hospital and then wen u get home it falls apart. so dont give up.
remember it is the best thing for ur baby..and u dont wana give them that yucky powdery stuff...its not as yummy
and yes talk to your doctor about ur concerns he/she can help you with many options to help it out...they have some really good teas out there that help

[Layney82]

Originally Posted by Earthy Momma drink a lot of water, have a very healthy diet, as balanced as possible. if u start to give the baby formula, then ur supply will go down. relax, if u want it to happen it will. it is new for u even if u have done it before. and even though babies have the sucking reflex down in the womb they still need to learn how to suck the booby milk out... if you are tense the baby will feel that. give it time. and it is very normal for the baby to have a good latch at the hospital and then wen u get home it falls apart. so dont give up. remember it is the best thing for ur baby..and u dont wana give them that yucky powdery stuff...its not as yummy and yes talk to your doctor about ur concerns he/she can help you with many options to help it out...they have some really good teas out there that help

I have to say that this is offensive. While it is true for most people, it is not true for all. There are legitimate medical reasons for low supply that positive thoughts and teas cannot overcome. Statements like this are insulting to women struggling with supply - suggesting that if they only tried harder or wanted it more they would succeed, that it's their fault they don't have full supply.

Instead bfing advocates should support these women and present ways to supplement that don't harm their supply or the bfing relationship. Supplementing with formula (When necessary) via a lactation aid like the medela SNS or the Lact-Aid, after the breasts have been drained completely using switch nursing with compression, will not cause your supply to go down and will prevent your baby from becoming dehydrated and failing to thrive. It also will not cause nipple confusion or impair the nursing relationship because the baby is only feeding at the breast.

[Zappa]

Originally Posted by Layney82 I have to say that this is offensive. While it is true for most people, it is not true for all. There are legitimate medical reasons for low supply that positive thoughts and teas cannot overcome. Statements like this are insulting to women struggling with supply - suggesting that if they only tried harder or wanted it more they would succeed, that it's their fault they don't have full supply. Instead bfing advocates should support these women and present ways to supplement that don't harm their supply or the bfing relationship. Supplementing with formula (When necessary) via a lactation aid like the medela SNS or the Lact-Aid, after the breasts have been drained completely using switch nursing with compression, will not cause your supply to go down and will prevent your baby from becoming dehydrated and failing to thrive. It also will not cause nipple confusion or impair the nursing relationship because the baby is only feeding at the breast.

Exactly. Some of us are doing everything we can and still have a low supply.


To the OP, I just want to wish you well. I was in your shoes when I was pregnant with my second and while I have not been able to EBF I am making more milk than I did with my firstborn. I understand your desire to succeed this time around but please do not be to hard on yourself if you cannot EBF. Remember that every drop of breast milk that your baby gets is better than none.