I can't increase my supply!

[BoboksAndCot]

Please can someone help? DD2 is just over two weeks old. Had a lot of problems initially with latch, I have flat nipples and size 36K (!) boobs and it was very painful for me. I had mastitis with DD1 and quite honestly it put me right off BF! But I really wanted to try hard with DD2 so have taken steps to keep trying.

I'm seeing a BF counsellor on Weds to try and get back on the breast, but for the past couple of weeks I've been expressing with a hospital grade breast pump that my local Surestart has lent me.

It's really getting me down how little I'm managing to produce. I'm expressing 8 times a day (including the all important 11pm session) and getting on average 1-2oz (in total, from both breasts) at each session. Surely it should be more by now? I've been at it for two weeks! Surely my supply should be increasing? I'm drinking plenty, using the pump properly, and doing it (I think) quite often!

DD is so hungry she is taking much more than I can produce, and I don't physically have time to express even more than I am. I'm worried about not being able to get her back onto the breast (I have serious mastitis fear issues) but I can't see me managing to keep this up for much longer with such little result.

Is there anything else I can do to increase my supply? Are there any drugs out there or techniques that help?

Sorry, that was a bit rambly!

Have you tried the 'laid back breastfeeding' (also known as biological nurturing) positioning for your DS? The idea is that you sit back in a semi reclined position supported by pillows and have your baby lie on top of you near your breasts. The idea is that it allows gravity to hold baby close to you and lets him find his own latch (rather than you trying to get both your breast and his mouth in the 'correct' position).

Check out Biological Nurturing for more details.

I'm not (yet) breastfeeding so I'm not sure whether the quantities you are managing to express are a problem or not, but little babies do nurse small and often usually. Is she growing fine? Is she producing pooey nappies?

The other suggestion I've seen is trying to express more often, or trying to get in a session overnight. Another one was to hand express at the end of pumping to see if you could get anymore out.

Hope things improve, you are still early days yet, plenty of time to sort it out. :)

are you feeding her directly at all? or just with expressed milk?

i think you really need to be expressing 2 hourly, and doing at least one night session too

also, when you do pump be sure to start it on the lowest setting and then gradually increase the speed and suction.

Weirdly I found 11pm to be one of the least productive sessions. I thought the crucial thing was to pump as much as pods between 2am and 4am as that's when you produce most prolactin or summat? Anyway, I used to get about 2x the amount then as any other session.

In the morning I also used to pump, then bath/shower, then pump again as the hot water helps get your milk flowing again!

I expressed full time for 3 months with DS1. I wouldn't recommend it, so hope you get the help you need wrt latch etc. Good luck & fingers xed for you!

What I would do is start putting her on the boob, maybe give her a wee bit of expressed first to start with so she is not ravenous and getting stressed.
Don't think to much about it, you can do it. :-)

Amount expressed is not always a reliable indicator of supply - babies are designed to get milk out of you! Wet and dirty nappies and weight gain are better Indicators of your supply.

Why are you expressing? Sorry if I've read your OP wring and missed it. Would second advice to feed your DD directly as often as possible.

PS Your DD's stomach is about the size of her fist - Babies' tummies are small and so they need to be fed small amounts and often.

There's a gastric remedy called Motilium which a midwife recommended to me for increasing supply - one of the side-effects is that it causes a boost in your prolactin levels!

Active ingredient is domperidone. I took 10mg 4 times a day and it helped my supply a lot. Not enough to exclusively BF, but hey :)

Btw my doctor hadn't heard of it, so you might want to do some background research and take it in to GPs as evidence!!

Thank you for all your quick replies!

To answer a few questions, no at the moment I'm not feeding her directly off the breast because I need some help with latch but seeing someone this week so hopefully will get started again then.

She is being topped up with formula because I literally run out of milk and she demands more. I've kept expressing often in hope that my supply will increase to match demand!

I was told by a nursery nurse (who is trained in giving breast feeding advice) that 11pm was important because it stimulated...something... I was tired at the time

Herrena Is it a prescription medication? Sounds hopeful!

Here is the breastfeeding network's info on domperidone. Caution needs to be taken when you are using a high dose, but it's all explained there.

Hope you get some good help with the latch - direct breastfeeding would be so much better at upping your supply than the pump. Fingers crossed for you.

crikeybadger - thanks for the link, I will take that to my own doctor when I'm near the end of this pregnancy! Am trying to make sure milk comes in a bit quicker than last time (1 week and not bloody much of it).

Boboksandcot - you can buy it, but only in small amounts and it's relatively expensive (a fiver for a few days' supply IIRC). I think it's worth showing the info in crikeybadger's link to your GP, you might get lucky!

hi. dd is 20 weeks and i've been on prescribed domperidone for most of the time. it really does work. i'd rather to have increased supply naturally and it very important to get latch sorted (It's poss my increased supply is due to fixing that around the same time as starting doperidone)
I express while I feed on other side . Something to consider when you've sorted latch. It keeps baby busy and I've found I produce more. I also express two top ups worth first thing in morning but dd is a sleeper through so it's easy due to taking advantage of that full feeling first thing!
I then top up with bm most feeds. (In actual fact I'm coming off drug and trying to get dd to feed all of milk directly just in time to start the fun of weaning onto solids!)

I'm surprised no one mentioned the formula top ups. That can make it tricky to increase supply as baby is not demanding all feeds from you. DO NOT worry about that. the last thing I want to do is stress you. Just take heart that it IS possible to increase to "just" bm as it's what I did myself 8 years ago. ds1 was a slow grower so i was kinda forced to top him up with ff in his first few days and weeks but we went on to drop ff and continue to feed for 9 months. ds2 was top with bm and fed for 14 month. this is the first one i've had to use drugs with.

according to kellymom something i read in my darkest hours in the early weeks is that 1 to 2 oz is the normal amount to express and anything more is oversupply. it's oversupply i'm aiming for however to obtain "enough" to top her up.

all the very best.