Help - how to keep supply up?

[Lucyloo81]

I have a 9 week old DS and my relationship has fallen apart quite suddenly and I'm struggling to hold myself together.

Breastfeeding had been going fine up until now but I'm worried about keeping my supply up when I'm struggling to eat and keep food down. Is there anything I can do to keep it up? What are the most important things for me to eat? Would taking a multivitamin for breastfeeding help?

Thanks for any advice in advance.

when i was struggling with breastfeeding and emotional stuff after dd was born, my mum kept bringing me big cartons of Innocent Smoothies which were fab cos they're so good for you and take no time to prepare, and you can sit there with a glass whilst you're b/f.

Other than this i'm not too hot on which foods are specifically best for breastfeeding. I think the main thing is just to eat lots and make it as healthy and balanced as possible. If you get a spare couple of hours whilst ds is asleep what about making a huge batch of a basic tomato sauce (just onions garlic, basil and tinned tomatoes) then you can freeze it in smaller containers and it saves loads of time if you fancy spag bol or a curry...

I took Sanatogen multi vitamins with iron(the one that's specifically for breastfeeding and pregnancy) and definitely felt better for it.

I'm sorry you're going through this Lucyloo - sounds like a very tough time for you.

As smallwhitecat says, you would have to be literally starving before it affected your milk supply, so please try not to worry about that. Eating a healthy and balanced diet will help you feel better, but just eat what you feel like at the moment.

Do you have anyone around to help out?

Lucy - sorry to hear about your probs.

You'd have to be chronically malnourished for it to affect your supply, so the main thing is simply to keep bf as normal...that's what drives supply, removing the milk from the breast.

It's good to eat well and nurture yourself, of course, but it is not really relevant to maintaining bf.

for your supply the most important thing to do is keep putting ds to the breast - your body will sort out the rest

however you will feel better if you're eating and drinking properly, but it doesn't need to be special 'superfoods' or anything - a cheese sandwich and a couple of apples is a perfectly good lunch.
Just don't fall into the trap of eating crap, or not eating at all.
If you're having trouble keeping food down, eat whatever you fancy at the time as anything's better than nothing. Remember to keep drinking too - full-sugar squash like Ribena can help give you a little energy if you really can't stomach food.

Hang in there!

I believe that keeping your fluid intake up is likely to be key really. When I was ill and couldn't eat or drink anything, my milk supply deteriorated big style, but it did come back after a week and in good supply.
Fennel tea is a good thing to drink if you can...all the best.x

Thanks everyone - thats good to know. I was worried that he wouldn't get as much if I didn't eat as much as I had been. Managing to eat toast and cereal but thats about it for now but will try the smoothie option and am managing to drink plenty at least.

thanks x