Babies: 3 - 6 Months

Re: Help low milk supply!! Also on Breastfeeding Board

iambethy — Sat, 18 May 2013 13:39:29 GMT

Flax seed and brewer's yeast worked for me. Also keep drinking your fluids; I drink close to 3 gallons of water per day. Also pump first thing in the morning.

Re: Help low milk supply!! Also on Breastfeeding Board

preetisalvi — Fri, 03 May 2013 19:05:11 GMT

Old Indian wives tale but works like a charm for me - I boil a handful of fennel seeds ( called "saunf" in Hindi) in 3 cups of water. Cool it down and drink the water without the seeds.....works every single time for me.

Re: Help low milk supply!! Also on Breastfeeding Board

ICarriedAWatermelon — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 17:30:17 GMT

Sarah7736:
Maybe you ladies can help me out. I am desperately trying to increase my milk supply. My LO is 13 weeks old and after I returned to work my milk supply has dropped. LO seems satisfied when she nursing on me at home. She drinks three 5oz bottles at daycare and on a good day I usually bring home 8oz after pumping three times at work. I started taking Fenugreek 610mg 3 pills 4 times a day for a week and had no results not to mention it gave LO horrible gas so I stopped. I just recently started drinking mothers milk tea. I am drinking 5 bags a day and today is my third day. Yesterday I was able to pump 10oz which is better but, I need to bring home at least 15oz. I am blowing through my freezer stash I maybe have 5 bags left. Can someone recommend anything else? I am also drink close to a gallon of water a day on top of 5 cups of tea. Would it be safe to drink more of the tea? It recommends 35 cups a day

I am basically you. We had to start supplementing w formula at around 4.5 months. Not a big deal, and Cal still nurses exclusively when I'm home. We just make sure we ALWAYS offer the breast first if I'm available. Other than that, he gets a couple of formula bottles at daycare.

Re: Help low milk supply!! Also on Breastfeeding Board

oneyedsally — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:49:22 GMT

First of all, 5 oz is probably way too much per feeding. Here are the KellyMom recommendations: http://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/pumping/milkcalc/. I think 3-3.5 oz is average, that's how much I put in per bottle. KellyMom recommends never filling more than 4 oz per bottle. Babies tummies can't handle any more than that.

How long are you away from baby? It should be between 1-1.25 oz per hour, so I'm guessing you will need about 10-12 oz total. If you start reducing the amount per bottle, you will probably have just the right amount of milk.

Some tips for increasing though, Mother's Milk Tea worked for me. It made me engorged, lol. PP was right, you have to steep it covered for 10 min, and drink 3-4 cups a day, in fact it says so right on the instructions. I've seen a lot of people make the mistake. Also dark beer does not work. Read it on Infant Risk. Even if the yeast increases your supply, alcohol inhibits letdown. So you have the milk but can't letdown...counterintuitive. As far as oatmeal, I've heard different things. KellyMom says any type will work, other sources say instant does not. I try to eat steel cut oats whenever possible because they're better for you, but you can't beat the convenience of instant.

Here are the KellyMom tips for pumping: http://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/pumping/pumping_decrease/

Re: Help low milk supply!! Also on Breastfeeding Board

theresaandsteve — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 11:56:44 GMT

My lactation consultant told me to take Fenugreek and Blessed Thistle together 3 times a day. She was very specific that they had to be together. She also recommended drinking 2 glasses of chocolate Ovaltine. She gave me a recipe for cookies that had brewer's yeast and flaxseed in them. They taste really good and my supply always goes up after eating some.

Re: Help low milk supply!! Also on Breastfeeding Board

RachelLou13RN — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 20:51:44 GMT

A couple spoonfulls of cocnut oil throughout the day is great naturalway to help with milk production, it also boosts immunity and energy. Good luck!

Re: Help low milk supply!! Also on Breastfeeding Board

mswood26 — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:27:42 GMT

Hi beautiful!

I can tell you from my experience. My Son is now 3 1/2 year old. I'm expecting my second one and I'm planning on fully breastfeed like the first one. I did it for a whole year, no formula, all his food was prepare with breast milk. I also returned to work after 4 weeks of labor and had to pump at work. I was doing it every 2 hours in my job and use to carry as many as 6-8 bags of breast milk! What I did was consume lots of milk, old grandma recipe which consist of a codfish soup (you know that salty codfish?), my mom used to prepare that for me at least three times a week and drink plenty of water. I used to walk to release stress and take my Son to the park everyday and the beach all summer long. I consume plenty of seafood, which I think it helps, but try the codfish soup. That's what really kept me for a whole year and the best of all is to stimulate the breast, I mean by breast feeding directly. It's kind of relaxing and your breast gets more soft. I remember one time I left the pump at home and had to do it manually! I thought I was not going to make it but I did! Thanks to those classes that I took, helped me so much. My husband support was great too! Hope you can get better with this but just try to find the best foods for this and do it as natural as possible. Baby needs the best of you! :D God Bless You.

Re: Help low milk supply!! Also on Breastfeeding Board

amom22 — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 23:18:17 GMT

I know I'm late to this whole conversation, but Mona Vie (high quality acai juice)increased my production by 50%. My OBGYN didn't believe me, but then she needed it! She didn't want to believe it, so she st opped, and it went back down. Good luck!

Re: Help low milk supply!! Also on Breastfeeding Board

Jewels6054 — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 15:46:29 GMT

Hey, Sarah:)

I had the same situation as you. So, I tried the Mother's Milk teabags, and I barely saw a difference. BUT HERE'S THE SECRET! YOU HAVE TO STEEP and cover the tea for at least 10-15 minutes! I actaully do it longer than that. I try to drink a minumum of three cups a day if not more. And more liquids will continue to help you. So keep it up! Don't get discouraged! You're doing great!!!

The tea did not work without me steeping it!

Re: Help low milk supply!! Also on Breastfeeding Board

danab_sd — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 20:07:17 GMT

You will likely see a decline in you supply when you start mainly pumping.

Drink lots and lots and lots of water.

Eat, you need the calories; oatmeal is a great breakfast also asparagus, quinoa, fennel, flax, alfalfa and red raspberry leaf. Avoid sage, peppermint, wintergreen and comfrey tea, sassafras tea, ginsing tea and licorice tea. you can try lactation cookies and Fenugreek, it did nothing but give both of us gas I am getting ready to try golacta.

Also, drink a dark beer before bed and lots of skin to skin [I know that's a tough one :p].

Look here for some good tips. http://www.simplyrealmoms.com/posts/increasingyourbreastmilksupply/

Re: Help low milk supply!! Also on Breastfeeding Board

jack19 — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 20:58:33 GMT

why do people post an all points bulletin like this asking for help and then never respond to any of the questions by people answering? I feel so used, hahaha

Re: Help low milk supply!! Also on Breastfeeding Board

ajamisonf — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 01:50:31 GMT

I also had a low milk supply problem. Oddly enough, what worked for me was pumping on high with my hands elevated above my head. I have an electric pump and pump both breast at the same time by wearing the specialized bra. When I elevate both arms I get more of a let down. I also drink the mother's tea, non alcoholic beer, and eat oatmeal. Also, I pump on a schedule: early morning, afternoon, mid evening and before bed. I nurse when I am home and the baby is hungry and during the night. After a week on a schedule, I would start leaking milk around the time I would pump. Good luck

Re: Help low milk supply!! Also on Breastfeeding Board

SSchmidt70 — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 13:10:54 GMT

It's been awhile since your post.. I had the same the problem... this might sound odd... drink a beer. The yeast in the beer will help your supply. You can also take brewers yeast in pill form.. doesn't work in pill as good as a beer. Good luck... hope it works out for you.

Re: Help low milk supply!! Also on Breastfeeding Board

mhoehne — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 01:08:32 GMT

Back when I was breastfeeding, I went to a nursing support group. The lactation consultant actually said that drinking too much water can interfere with the milk production. When I went back to work, my supply dropped a bunch when I was pumping, too. I only had a couple times a day when I could pump (I'm a teacher), and it just wasn't enough. I had to do bottles with half breast milk/half formula. The fenugreek and mother's milk tea worked well for me, and I took them by the handful until I smelled like maple syrup.

Good luck, it's hard to go back to work and have it interfere with everything you worked so hard for when you first started nursing!

Re: Help low milk supply!! Also on Breastfeeding Board

javanut — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 19:25:47 GMT

Hey Surprise6,

I would really recommend the book Making More Milk. It has stories about diagnosing and strategies to overcome cause of low supply. I got some great ideas from it with my first.