baby 3 weeks old - is it too late to increase supply

[Lulululu1989]

baby is 3 weeks old & wasnt gaining weight so has had 2 formula feeds a day to top up breastfeeding over past week.. supply has gone down is it now too late to try & increase it... any tips, i love breastfeeding and dont want to stop

It def isnt too late! Have you spoken to your local infant feeding team? My DD was in NICU / SCBU and i had loads of problems establishing bf. We ended up giving her formula to get her big enough to come home. I also have pcos, which can affect milk supply. The infant feeding team gave me this advice:

• put the baby to the breast for EVERY feed. 20mins on one side them 10mins on the other. Start the next feed on the side that did the 10mins last time.
• if baby isn't content after max 40mins, top up with small amount of formula AFTER the bf (we did 35ml - half of one of the little premade bottles going up to 70ml as she got bigger)
• pump 4-6 times per day but every day at 2-4am without fail. Also, most home pumps are not good enough for increasing supply - i hired the hospital grade medela symphony for £47 per month.
• drink loads of water, eat lots of oats and rest. I also tried fenugreek capsules, but DD got very fussy when i was taking these so i got some breastfeeding cookies instead.

There is great advice on the kellymom website too.

I never got to the point of EBF - DD has always had top ups, but she is only 2nd centile, so i couldnt really afford for her to lose any weight. She is 7 months and still has 2 bfs per day. Good luck!

I did it at 2/3 months just keep offering the breast whenever they feed before the bottle

I never pumped because I'm lazy but that is a quicker of doing the transition

Not too late. Obviously Everyone is different but for the first two months I did minimal breastfeeding and then went completely to breastfeeding then. My supply seemed to increase a lot without me doing much but trying to breastfeed as I had been doing.

Of course not, just keep feeding. The more you do the more your supply increases. Agree with PP, the Kellymom site is great. Are you getting any in person support with feeding? Also what makes you think your supply has gone down?

@GuidingSpirit gives great advice. Immediately switch from giving 2 stand alone top ups, it’s much better for supply to feed regularly and top up a small amount at the end of a feed. Then slowly over time try phasing some of them out.

It might also worth investing in a snuggle day - lots of skin to skin, feed hourly etc (not at night)!