How can I restore my milk supply- made a mistake

[AisieSusie]

Through a series of events I've ended up with a milk supply that is really reduced & I am very worried that it will continue to dwindle. Please give me your advice on what I should do to get back on track?

My ds is 7 weeks old, & until last week was fully breast fed, but with 2 bottles of expressed milk to give severely sore nipples a rest each night (he feeds about 12 times a day).
Two weeks ago I got breast thrush which was excruciating & so started to express more & also use nipple shields, & for a few days probably fed totally au naturelle only twice a day... So then to my horror my milk supply just dropped overnight, I woke up & my breasts didn't feel full & when I express only a tiny bit came out.
So I have been supplementing with 2 feeds of formula, using expressed milk I had frozen, & have been trying to bf & expess loads to get supply back. It's worked to some extent but seem to have hit a wall, & just don't know what to do next... Should I stop supplementing with formula & make ds hungry (sounds terrible) or ...???

I should say this is all after a very shakey start: midwives insisted on giving ds formula & then I spent the next 10days trying to get my boy to relearn bf & expressing to get milk to come in. Has made me really unconfident & worried about it all, & also more positively proud that I got to bf and I am desperate to continue - I can't give up now after the battle I fought, so please help with your advice.

Well done for keeping it going I am sure I would have given up. It sounds to me like you are doing everything right but are you looking after yourself-are you eating enough and not worrying about the state of your house because what you are doing is hard work so if you can concentrate on just doing the new mum thing (ie you don't have any other kids to feed/get to school)you should. Let guests, partner, kitchen food, sort themselves out. If it was me I would spend all day in bed with your baby and have a long relaxing day snuggling up and breastfeeding watching crap telly, eating chocolate and taking it very easy-demanding food and cups of tea. (Maybe that is just my dream day, but taking it easy and lots of skin to skin contact will help both of you) PS I am not a breastfeeding counsellor but I have breastfed all my kids and have only just stopped with my third aged 2.5yrs-I found nct breastfeeding support line very good Their details are
: The NCT Breastfeeding Line (8am-10pm) 0870 444 8708. Breastfeeding counselors are volunteers working from their own homes.Breastfeeding Network Supporter Line (BfN)0870 900 8787 (9.30am-9.30pm) (BfN also has leaflets on thrush and mastitis. www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk) La Leche League 0845 120 2918 Also if you phone your council and ask for your closest Surestart centre they should have breastfeeding mums who can give you local support. Good luck and well done-remember every day you do breastfeeding has health benefits and however this turns out you have already given your baby a wonderful start in life xxx

Just read your post again-and I notice you say it is painful, I think if you can meet a group of other breastfeeding mums it would be helpful because they will be able to make sure your babies latch etc is OK. I needed this help for my second baby becasue I was holding her like a toddler (too low down and dragging on my nipple) when one of the other mums pointed this out to me it was obviouls but I would not have worked it out myself. Try and track down your closest Surestart centre they will know the nearest group. Also using the council switchboard number ask them to put you through to their family information service as they should have detaisl of alot of local parent toddler groups and breastfeeding support groups

You've done really well so far. I'm always appalled at how many women get a shaky start to breastfeeding because of what sounds like midwives wanting a fast 'solution'.

I am not a trained counsellor, but you should be fine to get your supply back at 7 weeks.

I would cut back to one supplementary feed of formula at first. If it goes well, cut the other one out in a couple of weeks.

• Eat lots of galactagogues (lactation-increasing foods; oats, fenugreek, brewer's yeast, fennel, there are some others) and drink lots and lots of water.
• If you can take a 'babymoon' day or two that's a great idea - as lou says, spend the whole day just snuggling with your baby, nap together, try lots of skin to skin contact and feed on demand even if it feels like it's constant.
• Opinions are mixed on expressing over and above the demand feeding. I tend to think that in your case, if your baby's demand is outstripping your supply, there's no point expressing milk as well, just demand feed. Otherwise there ends up a 'disconnect' in the process. But as I said, I'm not a trained LC or anything.

Good luck.

I would always offer breast first. So if you are doing a supplemental feeding, fine, but give breast first.

The fact you say you had sore nipples before the thrush makes me think your baby's latch is perhaps not perfect. Nipples should not be sore, even if the baby feeds often.

Are you near a baby cafe or similar? Are you happy to say what town you're in, and I can have a dig? I wouldn't want your latch checked by a random 'other mother', really - better you get seen by a trained breastfeeding helper ...