Breastfeeding-what to eat?!

[PretzelPrincess]

I've just had DS2 3 days ago and unfortunately he was born 7 weeks premature and is still in scbu. I'm trying to express and so far I think it's going ok but what kinds of things can I include in my diet to ensure he gets enough milk and enough nutrients.
I'm also still BF DS1 but that is down to just a nighttime feed.
I'm just worried my supply will start to drop as he's still in hospital and I've never been able to express a great deal. With DS1 I found expressing really difficult and never managed good quantities. We still EBF so I know it wasn't a supply problem per se.

DS1 was born at 34 weeks, and also got expressed milk in SCBU.

I was advised to express lots - at least 8 times a day - to help increase the amount of milk I could express. I don't recall getting any advice on diet, but the paediatricians did prescribe abidec (multivitamin) for DS1 while he was still in scbu. As I understand it, the amount of times you express per day is more important than what you eat in terms of making sure you get enough milk. And I guess if he was born just 3 days ago that your milk will probably just be starting to come in now?

We never really managed to get breastfeeding established properly with DS1, so he was fed mostly on expressed milk until after we started weaning. I found that I could express enough milk if I expressed as many times a day as he had feeds.

DS2, on the other hand, was full term and took to breastfeeding much better. He was EBF, and I had problems expressing much extra milk with him - I think because by the time he'd taken what he wanted, there wasn't much left for the breast pump to get out.

Good luck with it. I hope he's able to leave scbu and go home with you before long.

Sorry you've had a tough start. DS2 was in PICU for several weeks when he was born (he's now 4 months) and I expressed before finally starting direct feeding at about 4 weeks. As ShadowSteam says, frequency of pumping is the key thing . Your diet should be healthy and plenty of it, but that's more to keep you going rather than to influence your milk. As I understand it, milk stays pretty much standard whatever you eat, so you don't need to stress about it too much.

You should be pumping at least every three hours, preferably more, and at least once overnight. Have you got access to a hospital double pump? Pumping both sides at once can help once your milk comes in. Even if you're not getting loads, pumping itself stimulates supply. Pump for a few minutes after the flow has stopped, try alternating sides several times, and do breast compressions.

This is a useful source of info :

kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/pumping/exclusive-pumping/

Good luck, it's really hard work, but can be done.

I am expressing at the moment for 3 weeks old in nicu since birth. I am bloody starving all the time so making sure I eat every time I Express, stuff like bananas, babybel, mackerel on toast and the odd bit of chocolate! Always have large glass of water by my side too.
The pumping frequency is more important though. To get things going, you can cluster pump too. So I have let myself sleep for 5 hours and then pumped at 2am, 5am, 7am, 9am, 11am then gone down to every 3 hours to work around hospital visits etc. With double pumping it only takes 20 mins a time. When milk flow stops, go back to initial faster setting on pump as this should give you a top up.
The staff at our hospital have just been brilliant at facilitating and supporting expressing, don't know if that is the case everywhere, hope so for you. My baby has been mostly bottle fed my milk but is now able to feed from me too. Hope it all works out for you. I know how impossible this is, but the only thing that has affected my supply is stress and being so upset I had a panic attack, so try to relax (can help to look at pictures of baby while expressing or wearing a blanket that smells of them). Hope baby comes home soon

Just noticed your baby is 3 days old, this was definitely the low point for me, I was convinced my milk would stop at any minute.... I now have a freezer full! Keep going and you will be fine, I can say that 17 days further down the line

Congratulations on your new baby!
Oats are good for helping with supply as will regular pumping sessions.
Good luck and I hope you're all home soon.

Eat whatever you like. Take a pregnancy vitamin (same content as a breastfeeding one but HALF the price) that contains vit d and iron.

Thanks for all the advice! I am trying to express every 3 hours but already finding it tiring and just never ending. Milk just came in yesterday so I've had a pretty good supply overnight.
I'm trying to make sure I eat a balanced diet and not just bread and cake haha. All I want is starchy food at the moment
I'm going to send DH out for some flapjacks today and may give fenugreek a shot. Does fenugreek have a nice taste? I've read that it makes you and your pee smell

Yeah flapjacks porridge and get plenty of fluids it's very thirsty work is breastfeeding! Good luck

Get a supply of biscuits and tea to have with you when you express, and try and find something mindless and engrossing to read. (A Kindle is ideal as you can turn pages one handed!) It's hard to take your mind off the worry in a situation like this, but equally, watching every drop of milk like a hawk doesn't help, so you need to do whatever you can to relax.

Congratulations on your very new baby.

You are doing brilliantly. If you want cake, eat cake. Lots of healthy, nutritious food will help you feel better and more able to deal with the demands of recovery and breastfeeding but absolutely don't worry about the cake. You probably qualify for it on prescription tbh.

If you can rely on other people so that your focus is just looking after you, your milk and your baby, then do it. Don't worry about anything else.