Boosting supply of breastmilk

[Bergeroo]

Am hoping there will be some advice out there for frustrated mum who is struggling with breast feeding 3 and a half month boy. Started out ok but found after about 6 weeks that didn't have enough to satisfy him at night and so inluded some formula. Am now resulting to formula several times a day because supply is continuing to reduce despite drinking loads, eating well, taking herbs and stimulating the boobs on a reasonably regular basis. Was hoping to b/f him for a year, but situation currently not looking good. thanx for any advice

my first thought, and i am no expert, is that giving formula several times a day is the one thing that is diminishing your supply.

for your supply of milk to keep up with your babe, they need to suckle at the breast as often as they want to

you can express if you want DH to give a bottle, but the more formula you introduce, the lower your supply will get

babies have frequent growth spurts, and they can feed more or less continously, whihc might make you think you don;t have enough milk

i would aim to reduce the amount of formula, get baby to the breast as often as he wants and hopefully your supply with again catch up

www.kellymom.com

and

howbreastfeedingworks.com/tag/breastfeeding/

are great sites for breastfeeding help

She need so to cut back the formula feeds to redress the balance - only regular feedng(not sure what you mean by stimulating) will help bring back her supply. Diet etc are not sufficient and indeed probably unnecessary. It is possible to mix feed but her supply could well be affected unless she feeds him directly regularly as well.

what makes you think that your supply was/is reducing?
the best way to boost supply is feed feed feed.
tbh at 6 weeks your baby was probably having a growth spurt which would have led to an increase in feeding, and generally being unsettled. which a lot of mums believe is an indication that they don't have enough milk.

Sorry reread and realise you are asking for yourself not a 3rd person. [blush}

Just wanted to add that a six week old baby would have needed to feed frequently at night whether he was breast or bottle fed. Whilst not being an expert in this area, I would hazard that your milk supply was just fine before introducing bottle of ff. My DS3 fed at least 2-3 times during the night (11pm-7am) at 6 weeks and has only now at 9 months given up the night feed.

Bergeroo, not sure which thread to reply ono

Severalk formula top ups a day are bound to reduce your milk supply - drinking loads and eatiing well will have no effect at all, sorry, or no more than a marginal effect, while formula is being given. Your supply needs to be rescued Can you call one of the helplines and see if they can help you work out a plan to reduce the formula?

As soon as formula is introduced to breastfeeding, it can start to effect supply....but the opposite is also true, that as soon as formula starts to be removed, supply can start to rise