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Infant feeding

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

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Original poster

How to produce more breast milk?

23 replies

TXB · 27/12/2009 15:40

Hi,
I am currently mixed feeding but prefer to breastfeed however my 2 week old is a hungry little guy and eats like it's going out of fashion. My dilemma is I can't keep up my breast milk with his demands. Has anyone got any tips for producing more milk, ie foods/drinks that I could consume to help?
Thanks

OP posts:

Taramuddle · 27/12/2009 16:21

Congratulations on the birth of your new baby!
If you feed him on demand then you will make enough milk. What makes you think you aren't making enough?it is normal for a 2 wk old to feed 12 times in 24 hrs, sometimes for long stretches so it feels like you are feeding all the time! If you put your baby to the breast each time he seems hungry he will stimulate you to produce more milk. You needn't eat or drink anything special in order to make enough milk.
Remember that breasts are never truelly empty & will continue to produce milk as long as a baby nurses (even when feeling soft).

StealthPolarBear · 27/12/2009 18:46

yes, just feed as much as you can, offer lots, don't stress about start times / durations etc. If you cut down on the ff your suplly will catch up - there'll be a bit of a lag though, maybe a couple of grouchy feeds.
Eat and drink as much as you feel you need / want to.

Picante · 27/12/2009 19:07

I find Christmas Pudding is currently helping my supply.

StarlightWonderStarlightBright · 27/12/2009 19:09

Ditch the formula. It is interfering with the supply and demand. Go to bed with baby for a couple of days and cuddle and feed and do nothing else. Congratulations.

KristinaM · 27/12/2009 19:12

wonderful advice here

fiestabelle · 27/12/2009 22:03

Great advice posted above, you need to keep your fluid intake up, drink lots of water, and I cannot for the life of me remember where I read this, and it may be complete tosh, but I read that eating porridge or oats increases your supply, apologies if this is complete rubbish....

TheTwelveDAISYofChristmas · 27/12/2009 22:13

the oats is right fiestabelle, but the drinking lots isn't as important. you should just drink to satisfy your thirst really. Fenugreek is, like oats, a galactogogue and can help increase supply. there are also preprepared teas you can buy online and I'm pretty sure fennel tea is good as well.

OP, a babymoon is a wonderful idea, get DH to look after you and just take to bed and feed feed feed with lots of skin to skin, and if baby is hungry after a BF, just offer the other breast, and back to the first one again if required.

As someone else said two week old babies do feed loads and the only way to make more is feed more.

There is some good advice on kellymom about feeding frequency, milk supply, and increasing supply.

congratualtions on your LO . these forst few weeks are tough, but it gets sooo much easier!

Original poster

TXB · 28/12/2009 16:45

Many thanks for all your advice. I have been only feeding him formula as it seems that when I feed him breast milk, he's never satisfied. Then he'll eat quite a lot of formula after a breast feed so I figured he wasn't getting enough. I tend to feed him formula at night as he seems to sleep longer. I do breastfeed him on demand and when I do get the opportunity to express milk, I'm lucky to get between 50-80ml.

I am on my babymoon at the mo but DH is back at work next week so I will continue to get plenty of bed rest and feed him when he wants. Hopefully I'll be able to produce more to keep up with his appetite!

BTW - I love porridge so will be sure to eat more of that

OP posts:

HeadFairy · 28/12/2009 16:51

Great advice from everyone here, I did all the above, plus and this is a little controversial, I found a glass of wine with my evening meal each night made a world of difference. I was quite stressed about bfing and I guess it helped relax me, which is key to producing lots of bm. If you worry about it, chances are the stress you're feeling can inhibit supply.

When I was expressing the most I ever produced was the morning after my friends wedding, 10oz in one sitting . The bfc I was seeing told me it's because I was relaxed and enjoying myself the night before.

ruddynorah · 28/12/2009 16:56

when your ds doesn't 'seem satisfied' what is he doing? do you swap sides? and then again, and again?

thing is, your body doesn't know your baby is having the formula, so doesn't know it needs to make more milk. the more you feed the more you make. even if you feel empty, you're still making it. the amount you express only shows how much you can express, not how much your baby can get.

PrincessToadstool · 28/12/2009 16:59

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LastOfTheMulledWine · 28/12/2009 17:10

PrincessToadstool is right. Ability to express is not indicative of anything. Likewise, taking a bottle of formula after a bfeed doesn't mean he's hungry, it's just a different and easier action. Plus, going longer after a ff compared to a bf is generally due to the ff being harder to breakdown/digest and little to do with hunger.

It really is supply and demand and your body will respond to his needs if you allow it.

Congratulations. It's so very tiring at the beginning isn't it? Sounds like you're doing marvellously.

tiktok · 28/12/2009 17:14

TXB....some good suggestions here. One concern would be that the immediate need is to protect your milk supply and then build it up again.

A lot of formula over a period of days in these early weeks, inc overnight formula feeds can mean a seriously negative effect on your milk supply - it may be possible simply to start to breastfeed with no formula at all and things will be ok, but you might want to check with a midwife or HV to help you start a plan (avoid whichever midwife or HV thought it would be a good idea to give formula in the first place... ) This plan would include working out how to reduce the formula as you increase your breastmilk supply (by feeding more often, day and night, and by using at least both breasts each time).

RnB · 28/12/2009 17:17

definitely drink lots of water.When I found my supply was dwindling with ds2 this did the trick straight away

hellsbelles · 28/12/2009 17:18

I don't know if this is bad or not (!) but I found taking the supplement fenugreek (sp?) helped with my supply. I got it from the holland and barratt website.

And I agree about expressing. I was rubbish at it (maybe a few oz's a time)....but had a healthy chubby 100% breastfed baby...so it was no indication of the milk I was producing.

LastOfTheMulledWine · 28/12/2009 17:20

I think it might be a good idea (tiktok will correct me if I'm wrong) to try and offer bmilk first at those times when you're substituting formula, at least two sides so that formula if necessary is a top up and not a substitution. You say you're using formula for night feeds. I think night feeds in particular are important for stimulating the supply/demand side of bmilk production. I vaguely remember reading something somewhere about the link between night feeds, hormones and successful feeding. Am I making this up tiktok?

Do you have a good hv/midwife/bfing cafe or bfc to help you?

tiktok · 28/12/2009 17:32

(Extra water, beyond what you are thirsty for, has not been shown in proper experiments to make any difference at all, and there's no biological reason why it would....however, individual people feel it makes a difference to them )

MulledWine - yes, breastfeeding before any formula is important, and also bf at night.

LastOfTheMulledWine · 28/12/2009 17:41

Drinking plenty of water made and still makes (still feeding at 2.7) a huge difference to how I feel. Bfing makes me very thirsty. Seems to have bugger all effect on bfing itself though! The only thing I've found that remotely affected my supply was my periods returning and that's only a temporary dip that quickly rights itself after a couple of days.

RnB · 29/12/2009 12:47

Probably true tiktok but I think many new mums are so busy they forget to drink enough water. Definitely worked for me...

MrsSawdust · 29/12/2009 13:07

I was in this situation with my dd and found a gradual switch the easiest way. So from 3 ff feeds (all at night) I dropped them one at a time over a period of 2 weeks and made sure I always offered the breast first before the formula. Quite quickly, she lost interest in the formula as the increased breast milk satisfied her.

I really sympathise, it's so easy to start mix feeding (in my case due to lack of bf support and also pressure from well meaning friends and family) and then feel that it's very difficult to tip the balance back to ebf. But it is possible and in fact, much easier than I thought it was going to be.

Congratulations on your new baby!

GoldenSnitch · 29/12/2009 13:07

My midwife told me night feeds were the most important too. Like MulledWine and TikTok said, something to do with hormones at night being the important ones for helping to build supply.

She said that babies often feed more at night than they do during the day. It's tiring and seems like it should be the other way round (ie more feeds in the day) but that's babies for you I'm afraid!

DD (DC2) is now 12 days old and we're doing really well. I've been demand feeding and swapping sides if she seemed fussy. She spent ages on what felt like an empty boob last night but she was content to suck and I knew it would be boosting my supply so I just watched TV and let her get on with it

Agree with others that you should phase out the formula too. You're body won't know it needs to make more milk if it's not being asked to.

Am very of the babymoon. I did it with DS but it's not so easy this time as I now have a 2 year old to occupy during the day too!

Igglybuff · 29/12/2009 13:11

TXB in the early weeks of BF, I didnt think I was making enough milk (I even tried to hand express as convinced I'd ran out )

As everyone says, just feed feed feed and feed some more. And drink loads of water! And eat well. Plus rest

It worked for me although took a good 6 weeks before I was confident that I was producing the goods.

Igglybuff · 29/12/2009 13:24

Also again as others have said, night feeds are important. I found DS fed for longer at night when he was a few weeks old and he is doing it again (12 week growth spurt I think). To get through the nights I used to set up my feeding station beforehand with a flask of hot drink, snacks etc. This was before I had been shown how to feed lying down, something I highly recommend!

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