BREASTFEEDING ADVICE / increasing supply

[Newlyttc]

Hiya everyone,

Just wondered if anyone has any tips or advice on breastfeeding / increasing supply please?

I am 5 weeks pp and combi fed from the beginning - and by that I basically mean mainly formula but the odd time on my breast. Luckily my baby took well to both breast and bottle so I didn’t need to spend time improving latch etc, however as the first 2 weeks passed I ended up just moving to pumping and formula because I was worrying I didn’t know how much milk my baby was getting. When I moved to pumping I felt my supply was ok as at times managing about 3-5oz from each breast from a 20 min pump…. Which I think is decent considering I pumped very loosely (max 3 times a day if that) - I wasn’t on a strict pumping routine of 6 times a day which some people do/advise.

Anyway, as new mums will know, the endless visitors and midwife/HV apps along with navigating new mum life and tiredness, meant I fell out of a routine and haven’t pumped for about 3 weeks now. However, now I am feeling better and settled into a bit of a “routine” I regret not putting more efforts into breastfeeding and feel I want to try again!

I just wondered if anyone has any experience with this, and have successfully moved to breast feeding and have a decent supply? And if so, do you have any tips please? i tried pumping a couple times this week (again very loosely) to kickstart increasing my supply and literally didn’t even manage to get an oz, so I’m feeling very disheartened :( my breasts were previously bigger and fuller and would leak however they have now shrunk back to normal size and very light so I just feel that means I will not be able to try breastfeeding again - plus I have noticed when I try to put baby to breast for comfort (as advised by HV to increase supply) his latch is poor and he doesn’t take to it like he used to !! Which obv makes sense as he is now used to bottles …… urghhhh should i just give up ????

There's no need to give up if you don't want to. The best way to increase supply is to keep latching the baby onto the breast. Of course, keep giving the same amounts of formula as before so he doesn't go hungry. But every other spare minute, just keep latching him on. In time (days/weeks) you might hear gulping noises.

You're still recently postpartum so this should be doable. If it doesn't work, you'll still give him the benefits of oxytocin, skin oils, skin microbiome etc

It doesn't matter that his latch is poor to begin with, it'll get better with practice and as his mouth gets larger. Just keep giving the formula too, then you know hrs getting enough nutrients. Gradually you might hear him gulping more and he'll take less formula.

When breastfeeding is going well then we don't know what volume of milk a baby gets. We trust that they get enough if they are gaining weight, feeding at least 8 times is a 24 hour period, and producing at lleast 6-8 dirty nappies in that time.

The first 6 weeks is key for supply so you might be able to do something if you move fast!

You want to be removing milk from your breasts 8 times in 24 hours. If you can do this through the day/night that's great as more prolactin at night. Offer baby the breast each time as that's the best way of stimulating demand. If he doesn't take it after 5-10 mins then pump. Ideally you won't use any formula, just feed baby what you've Pumped if you've not been able to feed him directly, and when he gets the hang of it again you can just feed him on the breast and stop pumping.

Do loads and loads of skin to skin with baby. Try to remove all other demands - really focus on this for a week, bin going out, turn away visitors unless you are happy doing skin to skin in front of them.

Very best of luck. Olive Hinge, Lucy Webber and Kathryn Stagg are all excellent on insta. But do some skin to skin now.

Also - stay hydrated and well fed and rested as far as possible. Are there people around you who can help make sure you have meals and snacks and plenty to drink?

I drank lots of fluids and lots of milk - the milk really helped almost straight away!

Personally I wouldn't stop giving him formula. Even in a most ideal scenario, you won't build your supply up fully for at least several days. A baby that age needs a consistent supply or he will lose weight and start ailing and then he'll be even less likely to feed well.

You can give the formula alongside building supply. It's just frequency of latching that's the main driver of supply building, not starvation of baby.