Has anyone successfully increased milk supply after time ff?

[Tortycat]

My ds1 is now 6 weeks. We had to top up with ff since 4 weeks, due to failure to gain weight. We had his tongue tie clipped 10 days ago but not seen any difference to his feeding yet. I now feel my milk supply is very low, due to his ineffective suck and now using ff. I'm trying to increase supply with fenugreek, oats and expressing (though I rarely get more than 10-20ml out). Has anyone had this experience and did they manage to get back to ebf, or even reducing top ups? Ds now takes the recommended amount for a ff baby so not sure how much if any breast milk he's getting even though he spends time nursing...

[returnvisit]

Hi my dd had tongue tie which was clipped at 2.5 weeks. Before the snip, She used to feed hourly so i felt i was feeding non stop. This was because she had an ineffectual suck and i was told that my supply was affected. I started taking fenugreek and blessed thistle and eating oats and just fed and fed and fed. Now my supply is much better and dont need any formula. I think it can be done but you need to just feed ds more and slowly reduce the amount of formula you are giving him.

[Tortycat]

Thanks for the reply. Did you notice a difference to her suck after you had the tie clipped? With formula he then sleeps better so feeds are approx 3 hourly. But even when I breast feed more often I feel he doesn't empty the breast and he's really frustrated. I know I should express more but as he's awake and fretful I don't get time unless DH is at home.

[Monkeybrain10]

i had similar situation but not tongue tie. was having to formula supplement...milk seemed to be drying up...got very despondent. started taking fenugreek tablets and drinking fennel tea and a few weeks later we seem to be bf only (it's been a week since we last gave a formula feed). was also told to bf as often as possible as every latch tells your brain to make more milk. so hang on in there!!

[McFox]

Yes I did. DS was mainly ff at first for a few different reasons, but is now bf apart from one ff in the evening. I got my supply up by expressing after every bf and I still do it now that DS is 10 weeks. You have to be disciplined about it though. Even if I'm tired, when DS goes down to sleep I spend 15 mins expressing. It's made all the difference.

[Tortycat]

Thanks ladies. I'll try the fennel tea and expressing more if poss. Tried ax pressing at 4 am after the night feed and got nothing! Fingers crossed better later

[Annietheacrobat]

Feeding, feeding and feeding is the best way to increase supply - even if it means that he is on the breast every 10 minutes.

It is possible to improve supply - I did with DD1. She went from being almost completely FF when I was struggling with PND back to BF with an evening bottle.

Good luck. But remember if it doesn't work out you haven 't failed him.

[mangofizz]

I read this yesterday, feeding is the best thing to do but pumping will really help, even if you don manage to get much off

community.babycentre.co.uk/post/a23945875/relactation_my_story

[hideandsqueak]

I took domperidone to increase my supply after having to formula top up due to TT. Was lucky to get a prescription from the GP. I also fed around the clock and took fenugreek. Who knew which made the difference but went from DS having mainly Formula to EBF. And he's still BFing now!

[LegoCaltrops]

Yes. DD had tongue tie & I had very badly cracked nipples, I completely lost supply on one side by about 4 weeks. Was having to FF as well as BF from the other side. I got as much sleep as possible, pumped a lot, & got back fully BFed by 8 weeks. Supply was uneven but I did get some back in the side I'd lost, & by about 3 months I could produce about 4oz from 1 side & 8oz from the other side, every 3-4 hours, a bit less in the evening when I was tired. I didn't take anything special.

It's hard work & can be pretty time consuming (all the pumping) but it's possible.

[fishfingerSarnies]

Could you try a day with no formula and just skin on skin feeding pretty much all day? You'll need a good box set or book, and some one to bring you treats etc.

[returnvisit]

Yes there was a difference after the tt was clipped but it took about a week and a half for her to learn how to suck effectively and start gaining weight. I know its hard work to try and increase your supply but feeding more often and expressing is the way to go IMO.