Increasing milk supply

[ARRRGGGGHHHHHHH]

Hello

My baby is 1 week and a day old, she was weighed at 5 days and had lost 9.9% of her body weight, so they can't again yesterday and it had dropped further to 10.8%. They're coming again today.

She had a tongue tie snipped on day 2, my nipples were ravaged already so I started using shields on day 3. I've just started using them for the beginning of the feed and then taking them off in case that's the problem.

She falls asleep feeding ALL the time. It's a real struggle to keep her awake. She feeds for about 10-30 mins from both sides in total. A few days ago the feeds could have been up to 90 mins.

Since last night I have been expressing after a feed just to try and increase the supply and giving that to her after the next feed (even after she's fallen asleep she will take it from the bottle) and it's only between 1-2oz that I can express.

Is there anything I can do to increase the supply? It's as if getting milk out is exhausting her. She's not acting hungry but she's just asleep all the time so I'm worrying she's gone beyond hungry.

I know the midwives will have advice but I thought I would ask here to see if you all had any ideas.

Thanks!

I feel for you OP as I could've written this in the early days. This is what helped us: skin to skin or carrying in sling, offer feeds whenever baby is awake. I'd express after every feed and give in a bottle once a day. Wind well before offering other breast. usual tricks like tickling baby's feet to keep awake on breast. making sure she wasn't awake for too long periods as she'd be too tired to feed well. i hope that helps a bit until you get to see the midwives x

I lot of people take fenugreek tablets. I ate lots of oats and drank breastfeeding tea. Did you have a difficult birth, things like infection and blood loss (I had both and more) can affect supply but it wears off.

oh and forgot breastfeeding clinics to get latch checked. I was also told to eat oats...worth a try

DD (now 16 weeks).was the same. I didn't find a way around it I'm afraid. I ended up using formula so I could see how much she was taking and however much breast milk I could express. She found bottles much easier and took more before tiring.

Thanks @Pantheon, I've spent today with her skin on skin and actually the last feed was much better already. The midwife has been and thankfully she put on 32g overnight so going in the right direction finally.

She's still really lethargic, I've been stripping her off for a feed to keep her cool, tickling her feet and behind her neck but she is really very sleepy so hopefully as she puts weight on she'll have more energy again.

And I'll keep expressing even if I don't get anything out hopefully it will trick my body into thinking it needs to make more!

@SnuggyBuggy I'll find some fenugreek thank you! And I'll try the oats too, that's easy enough! What's breastfeeding tea?

No this birth was pretty straightforward, no blood loss at all to the point where the midwives has to make up that I lost 50ml! I think the cause for the drop is that she had a tongue tie so I started using the shields, and the midwife has said to me today that the shields can stop effective feeding so my body has stopped producing the milk accordingly. Hopefully now I've stopped using them it will naturally pick back up again too.

@blackcat86 yeah she take my expressed milk out of a bottle really quickly and well, hopefully with a bit more energy she'll start tiring less! I'm trying not to introduce formula at the moment to see if I can build back up my supply, mainly because I'm vegan and the thought of putting dairy in her little body makes me feel sick, but obviously I'll do what she needs so will keep it in mind.

That's understandable. I hated using formula (I still do) but DD really needed it. I think if you can keep your supply up enough to express for her and BF then fab. If not just aim for as much BM as you can. If you do have to use formula I'd recommend aptimel profutura. I'm not sure of the ethics of each brand but I do know that it has the best nutrition. I also use nuk infant medium flow bottles. When ended up in special care and sound that using a bottle for every other feed helped when I was still trying her on the breast. At least then we knew she was getting something. It sounds like things are going better today.

When you can't keep her awake on the first side anymore, change her nappy to wake her up so she can have the second side. What you're doing with expressing and topping up at the end of the feed sounds like a good idea while she's so sleepy. Hope it's all heading in the right direction for you both.

@blackcat86 that's great thank you, yes I'm totally realistic and whatever my feelings are her health obviously comes first so I'll do my best but if it doesn't improve then I will get some of the formula you suggest.

Just feeding her again now, she's asleep AGAIN although I feel like my boobs are empty anyway.

This is all so stressful!

Make sure you are eating the extra calories and drinking enough yourself.
Keeping baby awake while feeding is hard. Tickle feet and back, cool damp flannel wash, nappy change.
You’ll get there x

Great news about the weight gain. Yes, keep expressing as it'll pay off after a while. How often does she feed overnight? I think i was told the key time for milk production/stimulation is between 12-5am. You're doing well OP. It gets so much easier x

I used to feed with just a nappy to keep dd awake and change nappy/tickle feet and put on cold leather sofa to keep awake. The Gp May prescribe you domperidone tablets as these are no longer available OTC put they help. I used to fed dd then express off each side to increase supply initially. Found that expressing with her near me and a warm flannel on my breast helped encourage milk flow. My mum used to make me drink a large glass of water after a feed to help make more ?! Good luck and remember you are doing amazingly well to breastfeed and especially to overcome tongue tie
Another thing I would do is feed her when she was asleep ( google dreamfeed) my lactation consultant told me to this. If you can afford it hire a lactation consultant, best money I spent x

Ps I was told that baby is far more efficient at extracting milk than a breast pump abandoned so low volume of expressed milk doesn’t necessary mean baby isn’t having enough milk

Thanks everyone, she's feeding much better, and I'm able to wake her up a bit better than the last couple of days and that's definitely helped as I can feel my boobs filling up. But feeding without the shields is so excruciating. Her latch has been checked by midwives and they say it's fine, but I'm going to see if I can get to a clinic as I'm absolutely dreading feeding because it hurts so bloody much!

It takes a little while for babies to learn how to suck, especially if they've had a tongue tie. I bet there's no problem with your supply, it's just a question of time. I usually recommend lansinoh for nipples but not sure what a vegan alternative would be.

It sounds like you're heading in the right direction but if you can stop the bottle, please do so, simply because it's easier for baby to get milk from a bottle than from you so she will take the bottle for preference. Breastfeeding support groups can be really useful but if you still have concerns, consider contacting an IBCLC to help resolve any feeding issues.

Moo goo do a really good nipple cream which I think is vegan.

@Pantheon she normally feeds twice in that time frame, prime nipple ruining time though OH MY GOD the pain.

All things added together are definitely making a difference though, I think it was definitely the shields that stopped me producing, the midwife explained it as early on the milk comes out on its own and so she was just drinking the pool of milk in the shield, but over the course of the day of my boob not actually being stimulated that is enough for my body to think she didn't need it anymore. But I've gone from expressing about 10ml after a feed to over 100ml so at least I know it's there for the taking now! Bloody nipple shields!!

@Shiraznowplease I've tried to feed her asleep but she just clamps her lips together! But at that point she will take a bottle of expressed milk, I just can't get the boob in there!

@gallicgirl I always give her the boob first, she doesn't refuse it she just falls asleep, and with weight issues I'd rather give her a bottle of expressed milk that just leave her half fed.

@blackcat86 I'll look up moo goo, I've got a vegan alternative and I've been putting clingfilm over as well which definitely helps them not rub but still, they're absolutely ravaged.

I used to gently express a few drops of milk onto her lips and he used to open his mouth. I used to find that the great from his milk would make flow and so initially he didn’t need to suck just swallow and after a few minutes he would.

Lasinoh is a great nipple cream and you can feed with it on. Jelonet dressings are amazing to soothe sore nipples although you need to wash nipple or remove Xs cream before feeds