Too late to increase milk supply?

[Wend1]

I've been combination feeding my baby since she was born. She was a large and very hungry baby so I just never seemed able to produce enough milk. It was just exhausting me and with another child to contend with if just wasn't practical to carry on solely breastfeeding.

Now things have settled down a bit I'd like to try and breastfeed my baby more. I currently feed her myself once a day on a bad day, three times on a good day. However she still always needs a bottle after each feed.

Is there any way I can increase my milk supply and feed her more? I definitely don't want to express. Did this for months with my son who was born with tongue tie and can't face going back to it!

Feet up after 6pm, telly on, snacks and hot drinks, and feed as much as they want. Worked for me, but hopefully some proper experts will come along with advice

Just as DayLillie said. Get that baby in your arms and on the boobs as much as possible. it gives your body the order for more milk the more they suck. Night feeds are seemingly good for boosting production too.

Have you looked on the Kelly Mom website?

Taking fenugreek and eating plenty of oats are good ways to increase milk production. And as ever, it's all about supply and demand, so feed often and do lots of skin to skin.

Here's the Kelly Mom webpage on relactation It has lots of good advice and shows what can be done if you have the right support and a bit of will power.

Good luck.

Hi, Wendi. You don't say how old your baby is - that's relevant, as the younger the baby, the easier it is to turn things around.

The way you are feeding at the moment is just not sustainable for breastfeeding- once, twice or thrice a day is nowhere near enough to build up and maintain a supply, and your supply will go to nothing, leaving you without the option to feed even once a day.

I sound dramatic, but urgent action's needed :)

You can call any of the breastfeeding helplines and work out a plan for relactation that's right for you and your life, plus a schedule for gradually reducing the formula, so you can genuinely combination feed without it becoming solely formula.

Feeding often - I mean really often:) - is the crucial thing. Diet and herbs will only make a teensy weensy difference, and no difference at all if you don't increase the frequency of feeding.

Hope it works out for you :)

Thank you everyone. I knew I wasn't doing it enough! She's 9 weeks old - young enough to turn things round?

Definitely you g enough but you need to feed as often as possible. Don't think you need to wait as he/she only fed half an hr ago, feed as soon as your baby starts to be one unsettled.

Definitely feed as often as possible, if you can stand it, then use breasts as comforters so if she cries, put her to your breast. She will stimulate your supply.

Also, for bottles, I forgot to mention the Medela Haberman Teat which you can get online or from larger stores. This is a teat which was designed for special needs babies, but is really good for babies who are bottle/breast fed as the baby has to really suck to get the milk out. Even the slowest flow on other teats allows some milk out and encourages bottle-laziness.

It may take a couple of weeks before you start seeing a difference so stick with it and best of luck.