Which methods of increasing breast milk worked for you?

[iamgroucho]

Hi all, my partner is struggling to produce enough breast milk atm, so on the advice of our midwife we have had to start supplementing littlun with formula. We have looked up a few things to try to help increase milk production, but just wondered if anyone here had particular success with anything? If so please do share!

:)

How old is your baby? Supplimenting can often make things worse as breast milk production works on a supply and demand basis. The more your baby feeds the more your partner will produce milk. It's probably a good idea to get in touch with your local La Leche breastfeeding group who will be able to give you great advice.

I took fenugreek but the only effect was that I smelt like curry. Come to think of it, DD loves curry. Silver lining.

The best thing for supply is to have the LO at the breast as much as possible. Supplementing with formula absolutely should be done if they're not getting the milk that they need - but you can combine with increasing how often you offer the breast.

If your LO is really little, I would say fill your fridge with yummy things for your partner, and get her to spend a few days tucked up in bed with the baby, feeding as often as possible, resting, eating!

Have you come across the Kellymom website? it's a really excellent breastfeeding resource.
kellymom.com/bf/got-milk/supply-worries/low-supply/

Switch feeding. Once you've had an initial let down, swap to the other side, then swap back. I used to do this 5,6,7,8 times. Now DD is older she does it herself. Feeding skin to skin also helped us.

I used Fenugreek capsules from Holland and Barrett with DD1 and was convinced they worked (was trying to build supply for expressing purposes) was less convinced of effectiveness with DD2.
I'm sure I've read something about porridge helping not sure how or why.

Hi, he is 17days old.

I understand what you are saying, but we have been told very clearly that he needs more food, and that supplementing formula is a necessity - we are frantic about this but are following professional medical advice. We want to be 100% breast milk, but my partner is struggling both with pain and production.

If anyone has had success with any natural ways to help boost breast milk production we would be delighted to hear.

wow, ok didn't expect so many responses whilst I was typing so my last response!

Thanks for the tips, please keep them coming :)

Three tsp (or 3 capsules 3x) a day if fenugreek worked for me. It took about two or three days but my pump output (in the mornings) went from 30ml to almost 200ml!

Also, and this is a faff, but to pump after every feed. Pumping frequently (rather than large amounts in one sitting) can help to increase supply.

Kellymom is a brilliant website for breastfeeding info.

Pumping after every feed is a PITA though as typically you need to settle your baby while needing to pump. Wait too long after a feed and you risk extracting your milk and then not have enough time to replenish in time for the next time feed.

I feed about every 2.5 to 3 hours, followed by a 15 minute pump each side.

Supplementing with formula should be avoided. It will have an even worse effect on milk supply.

Also, get a lactation consultant to check latch. A poor latch can lead to the baby not stimulating the prolactin receptors effectively.

Just to reiterate - We know formula top up is a bad idea but we have been instructed he needs it by our midwife. We didn't come to this conclusion on our own, and it's not something we wanted to do! :)

Constantly putting them to the breast, even when they were frustrated at not getting anything, it was still stimulating the supply. We had a horrible few weeks of cluster feeding where dd was just so angry and frustrated but we kept at it and established a really good supply.

I understand, my midwife was the same. Have you seen a breastfeeding counsellor to have the latch checked?

Your DP should try to express every time you give a formula supplement. Can you give expressed milk instead of the formula for a top up? Switch feeding is really important for increasing supply, as AndIFeedEmGunpowder has mentioned. You should also be breastfeeding every 2 hours (from start of feed to the start of the next), and try and breastfeed as frequently in the night as possible - night feeding stimulates supply more than daytime feeding.

None of the so called natural remedies have an evidence that they work, but it won't hurt to try them if it makes you feel better.

As your DP is still experiencing pain at 17 days, has anyone checked your baby for a tongue tie? This can make feeding painful, and also hinder the baby's ability to efficiently extract milk, meaning slow weight gain and lower milk supply. Often midwives aren't trained to spot this, so you might need to ask (or arrange privately) to see a lactation consultant or breastfeeding specialist.

*any not an

Was just coming back to say has latch been checked out? Might be milk transfer prob rather than low supply (although I know one begets the other!)

Have you seen a lactation consultant? From what you say I wonder if there's a tongue tie involved. Is baby feeding lots and doing a lot of wet nappies but not putting on weight?

'As your DP is still experiencing pain at 17 days, has anyone checked your baby for a tongue tie? '

this ^

Take to bed/sofa with supplies and let the baby hang out at the breast and nurse as much as possible including comfort suckling. Milk production is by supply and demand - suckling stimulates production.
Also recommend Kellymom website as a valuable resource of support/info and breast feeding counsellor if possible.
Congratulations to you both by the way, well done to your wife for getting this far bfing and to you for supporting her.
By the way, re pain, if it is not nipple-related but more the kind of unbearable toe curling pain when the milk lets down, your GP can prescribe anti-inflammatories to help get through this phase...I had to take them both babies, first time for a week, second time for a few days, which enabled to carry on because after that, bfing became pain free. Nipple pain/cracking etc can usually be helped with lots of nipple cream - lansinoh etc.
Good luck, it's pretty alarming first time round, but does get so much easier if you can get through it.

Has anyone mentioned Domperidone - it did work to some extent for me. My supply was erratic...well in the end, who knows what the problem was, but I went to the breastfeeding counsellor and even she recommended topping up with formula. I pumped, I took Domperidone, I got up in the night to pump even when dd was asleep. I was desperate not to formula feed, but in the end I did both bf and ff, at every feed, for 5 months.

It was really hard work. There may have been times when my supply picked up and I could have just gone back to bfing, but I had lost confidence.

Looking back, 8 years on, I was too hung up on breast is best. Yes, it's good to do your best and give your baby as much breastmilk as you can, and at 17 days old anything could happen, and it could all change for the better in a matter of days,...
...
but if it doesn't, formula is not the end of the world, and by the time they're 1, you might wonder why you were so worried about it.

I'm guessing your mw suggested formula because your baby is slow to gain weight. Can you give us some idea of the patterns your baby's weight gain/loss?

Lots of the suggestions to increase supply are all valid, but need to be used along side removing more milk from the breast. Also,
The baby needs to be drinking effectively for weight gain to happen. If something is not working properly ( for example tongue tie) and they can't transfer the milk properly, then frequent feeding will be fruitless.

Has anyone watched a whole feed- seen how the baby comes to the breast, how they latch and how they behave during the feed?
Getting in touch with the infant feeding midwife or a
Lactation consultant might be useful.

Sometimes, formula is needed to ensure a baby is healthy and growing, and able to feed effectively at the breast - the posts here cautioning its use is because it is too often suggested too quickly before other things have had time to work. It's obv not possible to know if this applies in your case, so of course it's important to listen to the midwife....she has seen your baby, and knows the situation. Use of formula does not have to impact long term on breastfeeding.

The most effective way of increasing milk supply - far more effective than any food or drink or drug or lifestyle change - is to ensure frequent, effective removal of milk from the breast (by the baby, by hand or with a pump).

The more often this happens, the more milk is made.

No one should be struggling with pain at this stage - this needs thoroughly checking out. It could be positioning and attachment, it could be tongue tie...whatever it is, it needs assessing and fixing.

Hope things work out soon :)

Just to add - the pain could well be linked to the difficulty the baby has in removing milk, so getting the pain fixed may well improve the feeding effectiveness.

www.lowmilksupply.org

The BF clinic referred me to this website. Hope it helps.