Old wives tales & other ways to improve BM supply please.

[mrsissue]

Hello

I?m looking for some advice and ways to encourage milk supply because I am currently 34 weeks pregnant and desperate to BF my new baby and I am looking for any and all advice on how to encourage my milk.

I tried to BF my DD but my milk never came through and I don?t mean that in an excuse because I really only had a very tiny amount. I had loads of support in the hospital but after I came out I saw an MW the day after we came home and then I didn?t see one for another 3 weeks and the HV didn?t come out until we had been home for 2 weeks! I don?t think the MW had a clue what I had gone through because when I told her I had given up even trying to express milk she said ?oh it doesn?t matter you just get sore, full boobs for a few days? and she seemed really shocked when I said my boobs never got full, sore or leaked the whole time I was trying to BF DD!

Anyway my DD was born at 34 weeks and I think this one is coming early as I think I had my show on Saturday so I really want to be prepared to try anything after he arrives to be able to feed him, so if you have any advice or a magical pill please let me know!!!!!

Cheers in advance

May not help if you have premmie baby but best way of encouraging milk flow is letting the baby feed as much as possible, skin to skin contact and getting lots of rest and eating and drinking well.

Little and often in the first few days very important.

I also think might be worth getting thyroid levels checked if you don't think your milk has come in as low thyroid levels can reduce milk quantities.

BTW when DS1 was born I was never full or leaked but I did have enough milk for him. I also never had much success with a pump.

Also worth getting someone to check latch is good.

i had premmie baby and if that happens express 3 hourly in the day and to start with at least once overnight... I found I was fine if the gap was 7-8 hours but I was lucky.

On the old wives tales, oats, fenugreek.... if you really struggle get domperidone prescribed by your gp to increase supply

Really sorry to hear about your first experience, quite at the total lack of support you had.

If in doubt, stick 'em on! The more you feed the baby, the more your body/brain gets the message that you have a baby to feed and it should stimulate the supply to meet the demand.

MW at the BF workshop I went to at my local hospital advocated lots of skin to skin contact for this reason too (while baby is feeding or sleeping) and as little use of cots/Moses baskets as possible.

Generally, there is nothing a boob cannot fix (apart from a wet nappy!)so don't agonise over whether they are hungry, tired, windy, etc. Give them a feed whenever they cry - if they were tired, they will fall asleep, if they were windy, feeding helps push the wind through too and the end result is plenty of breast stimulation which should result in the required level of milk.

Remember you can also contact your local La Leche League group by phone for advice or you can go to a local meeting (actually go now if you can, they will be pleased to see you and give you advice and build up your confidence prior to the birth).

good luck!

I second all the advice given here already just want to add that drinking plenty is essential too. I never leaked or had an oversupply of milk for my dd and struggled a lot in the first 4 months but we got there in the end and we breastfeed until she was about 15 months. I would recommend getting satchets of hydration powder (its called something like diolityca or something similar available in all good pharmacies) which is recommended to replenish minerals and salts when dehydrated. Use one satchet with 1 liter of water and then add another liter of favorite juice. Drink these two liters every day for the first month or so and then just when you feel you need a boost. Drink water in addition. Take vitamin supplements for breastfeeding too, that seemed to help keep my energy levels up. Make sure you rest and eat enough also, your going to need it and it will all help.

Thanks for the advice, I?m going to get some fenugreek today to put in my hospital bag.
I was putting my DD on the breast (and she latched on very well) at least every three hours and generally more. I then would sit and try and express milk for about 25 ? 30 mins after every time I put her on the breast I would manage to express 10-20ml from both boobs, I would then try her on the breast again after that. I was spending all my time messing with my boobs and when I was in the hospital had a student MW basically try and hand milk me I tried to drink gallons of water as well. I did this after every feed, day and night and I really thought I would pass out from exhaustion.

I have looked at a local support group web page but all their info didn?t seem very supportive and was more militant and self congratulating and made me feel as if I didn?t want to go the group unless I can actually BF successfully which I think defeats the point of a support group.

Snuppeline, I hadn?t thought about dehydration sachets so I think I will get so of them too for the bag.

I want to BF so much.

IME better than fenugreek was More Milk Plus - contains fenugreek and something else which makes it more effective.

But beware using these things too much preemptively - engorgement is no fun and can lead to blocked ducts/mastitis.

what about speaking to a lactation consultant before and after too?
also depends on the type of birth you've had and what drugs etc. fluid retention etc.

good luck honey. have faith!

Please don't drink more water than you need. It's not necessary and the one study that's been done into this (that I'm aware of) found deliberately increasing fluid intake reduced milk production.

Drink according to thirst - that's all that's needed

Skin to skin for as much of the day and night that you can, and a baby who effectively removes milk many, many times in 24 hours - that's the only sound 'recipe' for bf

one other comment about how much you expressed 10 - 20 ml from both after a feed with a prem is atcually quite a lot in the early days. I got about 30ml without ds feeding directly for the first week or so. By the time DS left scbu 8 weeks later I was pumping 150- 200 ml 7-8 times a day and donated severa litres to scbu for other prems... the supply increased as I was pumping so much to keep the supply up. DS was never going to get through it all though!

Thanks everyone, I think just from reading your suggestions shows that there is so much conflicting information out there. For example the MW?s in the hospital kept telling me to try and drink as much as possible but tictok advises against this.

I tried to BF my DD for 5weeks so it wasn?t just while I was in hospital. I was expressing for 20 ? 30mins (some times longer) on each breast and getting a max of 20ml from both and my DD wasn?t getting enough from the feeds either.

I think I will try drinking enough and not getting thirsty but I?m going to try and get some more milk plus.

I think that skin to skin might have been an issue because my DD had to spend 4 days in the incubator and I could only hold her for feeds and it all felt a bit rushed to get her back in the incubator.

anyway if anyone has any other advice,please let me know and I'm sure I will be back on for advice once he is here

Have you heard of Breast Compressions? It is a way of increasing milk flow to the baby and is a very good way to encourage a sleepy baby to take more milk.

Also, see Dr Jack Newman's videos as they are great in helping with latching baby and judging if baby is suckling effectively.

Those videos saved my nursing relationship with DD2 when she was about 3 days old. The MWs gave me no help as I was nursing DD1 as well and obviously a 20 m/o and a newborn both nurse in exactly the same way . The fact that I had never really nursed DD1 as a newborn didn't matter to them (she was bottle fed until she was 8 weeks old when I managed to get her back to nursing).

Congratulations on your pregnancy and good luck with breastfeeding. Remember there will always be someone about on MN day or night to help Mumsnetters never sleep

Midwives should not be telling you to drink as much as possible - this is quite wrong and they are not working to up to date guidance on this.

www.kellymom.com/nutrition/mom/mom-calories-fluids.html is useful, with refs - the references are quite old, but this is because we have known for a long time that increasing a mother's fluids beyond what she needs to stay hydrated/comfortable is neither necessary or helpful.

If there is an infant feeding co-ordinator you can see, please tell her that local midwives are saying wrong things to you!