Tips to increase supply?

[RockChick1984]

I'm currently breastfeeding my 8 week old ds, except for 1 ff at night (have been doing this since week 1) however he currently seems to be going through a growth spurt and my supply doesn't seem to be keeping pace with what he is needing - last 2 days I have had to give him an extra formula feed as he has been crying and hungry but I've been totally drained! Any tips for what I should be doing, I feel so awful that I'm not able to produce enough milk for him!

Someone much cleverer than me will be along. In the meantime, just feed, feed, feed. I think that if you give another FF you may be telling your breasts to do less, rather than more. I just spent the whole time attached to DD and the supply caught up. Are there lots of poos, wees and DS is gaining weight?

Do you offer him both sides at each feed - you can switch back to the first breast if he comes off the second and is still looking for more - I read in a post here to think of the milk supply in your breasts like rivers which don't run out rather than lakes (which have a finite capacity). The best way to increase milk supply is to feed at every cue and opportunity as by sucking your baby is stimulating your milk supply - maybe you could try the idea of a babymoon - lots of skin to skin and cuddles whilst resting as this would give you the chance to feed frequently and responsively.
You have done really well to get to 8 weeks and please be assured that you can produce enough milk for your baby. hth

The more formula you give, the less milk your own body will produce. As Mrs TP said, just keep on feeding. Try switch feeding and a baby moon. (google if need be)

BF experts on here usually describe breastmilk as a river - i.e you never get drained. I suppose the flow can slow down from time to time as you are experiencing but as long as you let your baby feed on demand it should catch up.

I have heard Tiktok and others saying that foods you eat don't affect supply but I have seen others write that eating oats has a positive effect, so I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try. You can also take domperidone to increase milk supply - it's an anti nausea drug which has the side effect of increasing lactation but whether or not you could persuade your GP to prescribe you some is another matter!

Ha Ha, pearlgirl and I wrote more or less the same response...

Same advice as everyone else - just keep feeding. I always found that the more night feeds I did the quicker my supply increased. I had poor supply issues in the first month or two and I found that feeding at night helped - my HV has since said that this could be due to prolactin levels being higher at night.

If I'm honest, it was tiring but well worth it in the long run to get my supply established - still happily feeding at 6 months

DH would give a bottle of EBM at about 10, then DS would wake for me to feed him at about 12, 4 and then about 6.30. As I got more practised at the night feeds I could feed, resettle him and get myself back to sleep within about half an hour. It really helps if you are sleeping in the same room as DS - I had DS in a moses basket beside the bed so I could just hoik him in with me and drop him back in when finished so I didn't have to wake up too much.

I've qalso heard fenugreek is good - you should be able to find it in a health food shop.

Good luck!

oh and growth spurts feel never-ending (IME!) but don't worry you will catch up!

Another idea might be to get your latch checked - I believe you can have a poor latch without realising, and this will affect your supply.

If its getting you down, ask your HV about any local breastfeeding support groups - its great to speak to other breastfeeding mums in real life, stops you feeling as though you are struggling on your own.

DON'T give formula if you want to increase your supply.

I found drinking A LOT more water helped- 2 glasses every feed.