Help! Breastfeeding/expressing issues

[Evie135]

Hi all!
I’m very new to expressing. Long story short my little girl who is 9 weeks started to gradually refuse the breast. It has been put down to restriction of her previously cut tongue tie and possible torticollis. I have been told to pump to try and keep my supply up while we give her expressed bottles and await input from specialists.

I haven’t been feeling great over the weekend- I think a mixture of stress, exhaustion and possible early mastitis. My supply has dipped dramatically. I would have gotten up to 4oz in 15-20 mins each side. Now I’m lucky if I’m managing 1oz both breasts combined. I’m trying to keep hydrated and relax as much as possible. We have enough expressed milk to cover her tonight but I think we will need to give her formula in the morning. I know upping supply can take some time but I hope someone can give me some advice? I’m already devastated our feeding journey has changed and I’m really keen to keep giving expressed.
Sorry for the long post!!

Hi, congratulations on the birth of your little bundle.
I think there is a technique called Power Pumping that is designed to increase supply.

If you do have to switch to formula please do not beat yourself up about it. When I am had my first son I was determined to BF, thought about all the benefits how great it'd be for my son. He'd get less colds etc etc. Bollocks! He's ill every week from bugs at nursery.
When I had my second, my mentality was so different and I put a lot less pressure on myself and formula definitely has a place.
So please don't feel bad if you do have to switch. We really mount pressure on ourselves at a time we need to nurture ourselves.

Take care x

Oh and also I would try and put her on as much as possible. I think stimulation by your baby on your breast is the best way to increase supply.. even if she doesn't BF properly it would encourage your body to make milk I think.

Congratulations OP. Sorry to hear your in this situation. My recommendation would be to try little and often today + as much akin to skin with your bub as you can. I needed to get my supply up early days so I took my baby to bed and stayed there for three days doing nothing else (it really wasn’t much of a hardship tbh!) I should think as long as you keep a basic level of supply going then you can always try and increase it when she latches again. Also, try and massage any lumps out if you think mastitis. Good luck!

Hi! Sorry to hear what you're going through. I know it may not be the best advice but I found when pumping I always got more when I had had SOOO many calories. Id eat a packet of Oreos and could get 6oz but if I had eaten normally I'd get 2 tops xx

Some foods have been shown to boost supply like oats and I took a supplement called fenugreek. There are also mother's milk teas. I used to set alarms to pump during the night when your supply is naturally higher too. Good luck with it all - I exclusively expressed for my daughter for 12 weeks as she couldn't latch and it was very hard work! Switched to formula after that and never looked back so don't beat yourself up too much.