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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Increase milk supply

17 replies

premiumma · 04/11/2021 03:30

Has anyone got any tips on how to increase my milk supply?
1st time mummy to a premmie who is now 2
Months old, started breastfeeding straight after birth and thought I was doing well however at our 1st appointment the baby had lost 8% of his birth weight. The midwife freaked out and made an appointment for the day after where she wanted him to put weight on so I panicked and gave formula. The day after he had gained but was jaundice so she suggested I top him up with formula... anyway we've been doing this since then as I lost all of my confidence in being able to feed him properly
ideally I'd love to either breastfeed OR formula feed as doing both is exhausting but would love to give full time breastfeeding a try .. however I'm not producing enough ( I'm aware because of the formula top ups ) he's never content after a feed even if he's in the breast for an hour ... I try to express but can't get more than 50 ml per session 🙈 am I a lost cause? TIA x

OP posts:
FoggySpecs · 04/11/2021 09:10

Get some fenugreek capsules, I think solgar do them og you can buy fenugreek seeds in Waitrose but you might not feel like that curry taste all the time

Babdoc · 04/11/2021 09:14

OP, you are producing less than two ounces a feed. It is possible you have breast hypoplasia, in which case nothing will increase the supply.
If this is the case, you will need to rely on formula as baby’s main food source, but can choose whether or not to continue breast feeding as a supplement.

Taswama · 04/11/2021 09:16

My doctor prescribed a medicine that was developed for something else but had the side effect of increasing milk supply.

I'll see if I can find the name.

FoggySpecs · 04/11/2021 09:17

Also if you can do skin on skin with your baby

Taswama · 04/11/2021 09:18

Ps losing up to 10% of birth weight in first few weeks is completely normal.

Samanabanana · 04/11/2021 09:19

I ebf and can never pump more than 10ml a time! So I don't think that's necessarily an indicator of poor supply. Lots of skin to skin, put him on the breast often, pump one breast and feed from the other at the same time. Power pumping can help. How are you topping up with formula? With a bottle? Or a cup? You can use breast compressions when you feed from the breast to make it easier for baby to extract more milk too. Hope it works out for you but there's no shame in ff if not Flowers

Keroppi · 04/11/2021 09:22

Fenugreek! Oat cookies. You can buy breastfeeding/lactation cookies and herbal tea on etsy.

I'd try and just keep him on the boob as much as you can. He will increase your supply! Have you heard of babymoons, basically you just spend time in bed together doong skin to skin and cuddling and trying to bf as much as possible.

Heres a really fab website kellymom.com/hot-topics/low-supply/

mayblossominapril · 04/11/2021 09:23

Expressing is never as effective as a baby sucking. Try and find a local breast feeding support group.
I had to top both of mine up. Always give a top up after a bf, alway bf in the night. They should have calculated exactly how much you need to top up and how often. Mine was 30ml every 3 hours.

PinkPlantCase · 04/11/2021 09:29

Agree with PP that loosing anywhere up to 10% of the brith weight is normal and shouldn’t have cause alarm!

Anyway, I wouldn’t worry about how much you can pump, not everyone can pump effectively so it might not give you an accurate idea of how much milk you actually produce.

Firstly are you eating lots? Not of anything in particular just lots of food and quite often? I EBF a 4 month old and I eat way more than I did when I was pregnant and probably more than my husband eats now.

Secondly I would have baby on the breast as much as your possibly can. Give yourself 2 or 3 days of being on the sofa in a dressing gown and see if that’s enough to up the supply.

I also found that not using a dummy really helped my supply, if baby wants to suck on anything for comfort he sucks on me 😂 time consuming but I do think it helped.

Or contact a lactation consultant Smile

babyboyHarrison · 04/11/2021 09:33

Oats are supposed to help, try having some porridge. I would say that be prepared for it not to work and if it doesn't don't beat yourself up about it. I do speak from personal experience. My eldest had tongue tie and lost 12% weight so midwifes etc wanted us to top up with formula. He got the tongue tie fixed but by that point it was too late and we were entirely using formula. Second time around I really went all out to try and breast feed. She lost 14% birth weight. I hired a hospital pump and double pumped every day I took fenugreek I ate porridge I took domperidone prescribed by the doctors and completely beat myself up trying. I still only ever managed to pump to get max 30ml in a day over multiple sessions on both sides. Managed 6 months of combination feeding and then got the flu and my milk stopped. I still find it a bit heartbreaking that it didn't work but I did absolutely everything possible to try and get my supply up and made myself miserable over it. I think it just turns out my body doesn't make much milk. If it doesn't work, it is not your fault and don't beat yourself up over it. Formula is the there and your baby will be fed and loved and cared for whether using formula or breast milk. Also, dads can do night feeds with bottles 😊

Greytminds · 04/11/2021 09:39

What sort of pump are you using? I’d recommend renting a hospital grade one and then pumping as much as you can for two weeks.

My supply tanked a week after birth and then I had to top up baby with formula as he lost 12.5% which was borderline being admitted back into hospital. I rented a medela symphony double pump and pumped 6 x a day including one session at 2am. Within a week I had gone from producing 20ml after an hour of pumping to 100-200ml in 10-15 minutes (all depended on time of day and whether baby had fed first). This is what made all the difference. I did eat lots of oats, take a breastfeeding vitamin supplement and drink breastfeeding tea but I’m not sure how effective those things really are! I just did them to make myself feel like I was doing everything I can.

Baby is now 6 weeks old and I’m exclusively breastfeeding and he’s growing well. It can be done!

MagicalFish · 04/11/2021 09:49

Up to 10% weight loss is normal. Supply will increase to meet demand. By topping up with formula you are signalling to your body to produce less milk than baby needs. I would gradually reduce the amount of formula you give each time, and try and spend as much time as possible over the next few days skin to skin with baby in bed, on the sofa or in a sling.

Try and get some real life support too. Is there a breastfeeding group locally that you could get to?

PraiseBee · 04/11/2021 09:50

I use brewers yeast to boost my supply. No idea if it's placebo or not but it's what several people recommended to me. Stress and alcohol definitely reduces my supply. Good luck

MagicalFish · 04/11/2021 09:51

And by the way, pimping is not a reliable indicator of supply. Baby removes milk far more efficiently than any pump. I can tell you both that as trained breastfeeding peer supporter and anecdotally (I fed 2 DC for over 2 years each, they never had a drop of formula, and I was never able to pump more than 30ml at a time).

MagicalFish · 04/11/2021 09:52

Pumping, not pimping Grin

Jujujuly · 04/11/2021 10:10

I have ebf 2 kids and have never managed to pump more than 20mls. Pumping is not the same as feeding so ignore the doom monger pp - breast hypoplasia is rare and the fact your baby only dropped 8% (ie within normal limits) suggests you don’t have it.

Keep putting the baby to the breast as much as possible and try to see a lactation consultant if you can.

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