How can I increase my supply?

[whiteswanlake]

I’ve tried the obvious oats and special tea and been prescribed domperidone. Is there anything else? Baby has just thrown up most of a feed which represents about 6 hours work for me

Baby has just thrown up most of a feed which represents about 6 hours work for me.

Are you feeding white or expressing? If you're expressing, how old is baby and which pumps have you tried?

Kellymom has a really good article on increasing your supply here which should help

How are you getting on tonight @whiteswanlake?

Sorry, yesterday was a bit full on!

I’m expressing. I see photos of women who pump out 100 mls a time and honestly it would make a huge difference if I could do this. Even 50 mls would be amazing.

I don’t know what pump you’re using?

My titties seem to need the planets aligning to be able to pump anything decent. BUT a double electric pump with massager setting (spectra s1) and looking at photos of my baby or just sitting with him whilst someone else supervises I can get a lot.

I cannot get hardly anything if I’m tired, stressed, not eaten much, not drank enough, anxious or if I’m looking after DC. You of course won’t be the same but it took me an age to figure out what needed to be in place to get the right amount out.

I’d recommend someone else taking baby for that 10-15 minutes, watching videos of them, being super calm and feeling well in yourself before even starting.

It might not be your supply, some women just don’t get as much out through expressing - one of my friends exclusively breastfed and could barely get 50 ml from a pump, I was combination feeding and was able to get up to 120. Her supply must have been much greater than mine though. Sorry that’s not helpful - although as a pp mentioned it might be worth trying a different pump rather than worrying about your supply.

If you're not even getting 50Ml, have you tried using a haaka pump to catch let down and latching baby onto other side or at least snuggle them to encourage let down? You should get around 50Ml this way? Sorry if you're not able to do this I don't mean to be insensitive. My baby is EBF and I can get nothing from an electric pump!!!

He isn’t breastfed sorry liner, I exclusively express.

I’m not sure pink, I’ve tried a hospital one and didn’t get notably more. But I do think the milk is there - so frustrating!

Have you checked your flange size? If you're using flanges that are too big or too small you won't get as much milk out as you could. I had to order some silicone ones from the US that are extra extra small as I have very small nipples

The only real way to increase supply is to feed, feed, feed with the actual baby not a pump. There's a lot more going on within the body when a baby latches on to your breast than just a mechanical action and that cannot be replicated with a pump.

Unfortunately we just haven’t been able to.

It must be hard for you. I BF and like a pp said, I could barely express anything.

Have you tried hand expressing?

I've ebf 2 DC and always really struggled to get anything with a pump - I would get 30ml on a good run. I was tandem feeding for a while (toddler and newborn) both with good weight gain so I know there were no issues with my supply.

You could try skin to skin while you pump as that might help with the right hormones for 'let down'.

Is there a reason you're pumping and not feeding from the breast? I don't know anyone who has managed to maintain that - bf is hard, what you're trying is even harder

Just never been able to latch baby on for any length of time - and we’ve had the tongue tie snipped, seen a lactation consultant, etc.

Have you tried nipple shields?