Has anyone successfully increased milk supply after time ff?

[Tortycat]

My ds1 is now 6 weeks. We had to top up with ff since 4 weeks, due to failure to gain weight. We had his tongue tie clipped 10 days ago but not seen any difference to his feeding yet. I now feel my milk supply is very low, due to his ineffective suck and now using ff. I'm trying to increase supply with fenugreek, oats and expressing (though I rarely get more than 10-20ml out). Has anyone had this experience and did they manage to get back to ebf, or even reducing top ups? Ds now takes the recommended amount for a ff baby so not sure how much if any breast milk he's getting even though he spends time nursing...

Hi my dd had tongue tie which was clipped at 2.5 weeks. Before the snip, She used to feed hourly so i felt i was feeding non stop. This was because she had an ineffectual suck and i was told that my supply was affected. I started taking fenugreek and blessed thistle and eating oats and just fed and fed and fed. Now my supply is much better and dont need any formula. I think it can be done but you need to just feed ds more and slowly reduce the amount of formula you are giving him.

Thanks for the reply. Did you notice a difference to her suck after you had the tie clipped? With formula he then sleeps better so feeds are approx 3 hourly. But even when I breast feed more often I feel he doesn't empty the breast and he's really frustrated. I know I should express more but as he's awake and fretful I don't get time unless DH is at home.

i had similar situation but not tongue tie. was having to formula supplement...milk seemed to be drying up...got very despondent. started taking fenugreek tablets and drinking fennel tea and a few weeks later we seem to be bf only (it's been a week since we last gave a formula feed). was also told to bf as often as possible as every latch tells your brain to make more milk. so hang on in there!!

Yes I did. DS was mainly ff at first for a few different reasons, but is now bf apart from one ff in the evening. I got my supply up by expressing after every bf and I still do it now that DS is 10 weeks. You have to be disciplined about it though. Even if I'm tired, when DS goes down to sleep I spend 15 mins expressing. It's made all the difference.

Thanks ladies. I'll try the fennel tea and expressing more if poss. Tried ax pressing at 4 am after the night feed and got nothing! Fingers crossed better later

Feeding, feeding and feeding is the best way to increase supply - even if it means that he is on the breast every 10 minutes.

It is possible to improve supply - I did with DD1. She went from being almost completely FF when I was struggling with PND back to BF with an evening bottle.

Good luck. But remember if it doesn't work out you haven 't failed him.

I read this yesterday, feeding is the best thing to do but pumping will really help, even if you don manage to get much off

community.babycentre.co.uk/post/a23945875/relactation_my_story

I took domperidone to increase my supply after having to formula top up due to TT. Was lucky to get a prescription from the GP. I also fed around the clock and took fenugreek. Who knew which made the difference but went from DS having mainly Formula to EBF. And he's still BFing now!

Yes. DD had tongue tie & I had very badly cracked nipples, I completely lost supply on one side by about 4 weeks. Was having to FF as well as BF from the other side. I got as much sleep as possible, pumped a lot, & got back fully BFed by 8 weeks. Supply was uneven but I did get some back in the side I'd lost, & by about 3 months I could produce about 4oz from 1 side & 8oz from the other side, every 3-4 hours, a bit less in the evening when I was tired. I didn't take anything special.

It's hard work & can be pretty time consuming (all the pumping) but it's possible.

Could you try a day with no formula and just skin on skin feeding pretty much all day? You'll need a good box set or book, and some one to bring you treats etc.

Yes there was a difference after the tt was clipped but it took about a week and a half for her to learn how to suck effectively and start gaining weight. I know its hard work to try and increase your supply but feeding more often and expressing is the way to go IMO.