Re-establishing milk supply

[SkiBunnnnny]

My DS is 5 months old and has been on formula since last wednesday when I went into hospital and ended up getting my appendix removed. I have been trying to pump and dump as much as possible but my supply has definitely dropped a lot. I am starting to take fenugreek and blessed thistle today, and tomorrow is the last day of the antibiotics so will be able to start bf again on Sunday. I seem to have lost supply in the right much more than the left so the plan is to offer right boob first every feed, then left, then formula if still not full. I will also be power pumping for an hour every day hopefully decreasing the formula I have to give. Anyone done this before and have any success? Any other tips?

Sorry about your operation. I hope you're all better soon.
You're doing great with the feeding. Keep putting baby to the breast as often as you can.
It might be worth taking to your bed and going ack to some skin to skin contact for the day to get back in sync. Just keep feeding.

Get well soon.

Oh, somebody mentioned camomile tea on another thread. Worth a try. It's probably good to avoid too much caffeine.

Use newborn teats on the bottle - it's much harder work for the baby so they won't have such a preference for the bottle. Made a huge difference to DD at 7 months when I had the same issue

Thanks for the advice. I think I have some camomile tea lying around so I'll give that a go.
micky did you get your supply back up to what it was before or did you keep having to supplement?

Ski really try to keep the formula as a last resort. When DS was new and we were having real problems with sleep he would get a bottle at night to help him sleep (it maybe didn't help him sleep but it helped him learn it was bedtime... I thnk) Even after boob he could drink between 40-80 ml. We ran out of formula and he seemed to be settling into a pattern so I stopped the formula.
Stopping didn't really make any difference and it made me more positive about my supply. So I think it was more for our peace of mind than DS going hungry.

The breast feeding tea here is a mix of fennel, star anise and cumin. They also recommend wheat beer (alcohol free ) or malted drinks to help build supply.
Have you also looked up the La Leche League? They might have someone at least on the phone near you that could give you some advice.

anecdotally, oat porridge. I took fenugreek and reeked of the stuff! you have been warned think it did help tho.

Yeah, I read that fenugreek makes you smell like maple syrup... I suppose there are worse things to smell of! Just going to offer the boob as much as possible today, wish me luck!

fenugreek made me smell like fenugreek, I regret to say. Breath, underarms

fortunately DH is not picky tolerant

Oats are great. I made a load of flapjack with treacle and it gave my supply a huge boost, to the point of engorgement.

Hi you could try a few of these i have my mums doing all sorts :)

Fennell tea

Massage Olive oil into your chest and feet every few hours, ( do not put the oil on your nipples and wash off before a feed).keep well away from nipple area

Hot bath: lying and visualizing your body producing milk this will release all your natural endorphins you need to lay there for about
20 mins and just be silent you could even put your baby on your chest in-between your boobs whilst you do this,cover babies back with a flannell.

Allow your baby to preform the breast crawl. Place baby inbetween your breast and alow him to lift and latch as often as he wants just to suckle for up to half hr between the two breasts.

20 min rule express 5 mins one boob 5 mins next boob then 4 mins one boob 4 mins the next then 3 2 & 1 to trick the breast into demand and supply this can be done at anytime.

By far the best is

Reflexology is excellent at maintaining and increasing milk

Lastly make sure you eat no less than 2000 calories per day.

Hope this helps

Thanks Deearna, that's all really helpful. He hasn't had any formula in 12 hours, my boobs feel really empty but confident enough that he isn't starving.

Hi Ski - it is perfectly normal that you breasts will feel like this, basically in the early days whilst your breast adjust to feeding you feel full,large and occasionally engorged before feeds, this all settles down by approx 14 weeks and your breasts will almost look like they are empty, but infact they wont be ( unless of course you havent fed for hrs) as soon as baby suckles the signal will be sent and let down will happen. He will be fine. If in doubt do the 20 min trick

sorry pushed enter without finishing Basically your body starts to self regulate some dont even experience a let down, the only time to be concerned is when the wet nappies stop, with regards to dirty nappies they will slow down this is a normal occurence.

Yes, I realise that. The difference between the first couple of weeks and how they felt at 4 months in was amazing but I could pretty much always tell which side I was due to feed on by feeling. There is a big difference between before I went into hospital and now. My boobs even look smaller and my nursing bras aren't fitting. I know for sure that supply is a lot less than it was, I'm just hoping it is possible to get it back.
I tried the 20 minute pumping last night and got 20ml in total from both sides. I wasn't expecting much since DS had pretty much drained me through the day. Is it still beneficial once you get to the stage that nothing more is coming out? Surely the removal of the milk is the main point?

Removal of milk is main point- however this trick works on tricking the mind into supply and demand. Ive been doing this many many yrs and im confident you will have enough.

Thanks for the advice. It's just so frustrating! I feel like I worked so hard to build up a good supply in the first 4 weeks or so and now I'm starting again from the beginning with having to feed so frequently and sore nipples and worrying about how much he's getting.

What are you usng on your sore nipples- where possible avoid lansinoh as this is so greasy and actualy allows baby to slide around on the nipple with their toungue being like a grater the greease doesnt help. I have tried and suggested a vast amount of products with clients and this by far has always won, I have been suggesting this for a long time now we call it miracle in a pot- its even used for adults on spots, shaving rashes etc etc, how many nappies per daty ? what colour is the poo?www.amazon.co.uk/Earth-Mama-Angel-Baby-Feeding/dp/B000JVCBBG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1367907761&sr=8-3&keywords=earth+mama+angel+baby

I haven't used any thing on them (yet) as they are more bruised feeling than cracked but I'll check that out for sure. Had a normal amount of wet nappies yesterday but no poos, he often will skip a day and have a few the next day and I think he went a couple of days when he switched to formula as his stomach adjusted so I'm not worried yet.
Gave a bottle of formula last night before bed again as he was seeming v frustrated on the boob and was tugging on my poor nipples a lot, but he only drank 2 oz which I guess is a good thing.