BF'ing Mommies...suggestions on how to boost milk production?
So, I've been BF'ing my LO since birth...and had a super tough time with it in the beginning. I stuck with it, but, I've always felt like my production hasn't been great. Part of that feeling comes from my stud and dud issue - I produce significantly less milk from my left breast and my LO won't really feed from it either (I talked to my ped's doc about it and she said this happens often and it's nothing to worry about). I saw a lactation consultant early on and she said everything looked great...and on her advice, I only pump once a day. I try to drink lots of water (at least 5 16.9oz bottles a day, plus some crystal light as well) and eat several times a day...plus, I recently started taking Fenugreek (2 capsules, 3 times a day). But, I still feel like it's not getting better. Today I bought Organic Mother's Milk tea and it's supposed to promote healthy lactation. Has anyone ever heard of it or taken it? I'm hoping with consistent usage of the Fenugreek, this tea, and drinking/eating well things will change.
But I'm wondering...does anyone have any other suggestions as to how I can help boost my milk production? All suggestions are greatly appreicated!
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Minh Nguyen on
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Hi Jennifer,
The CHOC Lactation Consultants told me to take 12 Fenugreek capsules a day in addition to drinking the Organic Mother's Milk teas three times a day when I was breastfeeding. These two combinations kept my milk supply up for 11 1/2 months. My son did not breastfeed well, therefore, I pumped for almost a year while struggling to breastfeed him as much as possible. I pumped every 2-3 hours during the day and every 4-5 hours at night. It was very time consuming and exhausting, but it kept my milk supply up and I was able to provide him the nutrients he needed.
Good Luck!
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Permalink Reply by Lindsay on -
You should definitely talk to the gals at Milkalicious in Aliso Viejo. They are the absolute best! Its a breastfeeding boutique with LC's onsite as well. Couldn't be nicer gals :) Good luck!
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Permalink Reply by Maggie Pearlman on -
Go to the free breast feeding clinic at Milkalicious. I went every week when my daughter was younger & its awesome.
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Permalink Reply by Jody L on -
i have used more milk plus (I got it on Amazon) the liquid version, it tastes awful but works well. It is concentrated fenugreek and other herbs, it worked a little better than Fenugrek alone for me. My son is 9 1/2 months old I work full time so I have to pump a lot but luckily this has helped keep my supply up to continue breastfeeding. I also agree with everyone else that Milkalicious is great!
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer on -
Minh - thanks for the input! I guess I'm kinda already doing what you did...just taking less Fenugreek. How'd you find time to pump as often as you did? I'm feeding my LO from my breast every 2-3 hours and if I pumped after I fed her every time, I would have little to no time to play with her! I guess I might have to wake up at night (bummer) to pump because my LO sleeps from around 9pm-7am and I don't pump during those hours. Maybe that's it?
Lindsay/Maggie - Thanks for the Milkalicious suggestion :) I live in Orange, so, getting down to Aliso is tough. But, maybe I'll try that sometime soon.
Jody - I saw more milk plus on Milkalicious' website last night...it's expensive! Maybe Amazon Mom has it cheaper? If the Fenugreek/tea combo doesn't work, I'm definitely going to try it. Thanks!
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer V on -
First of all, congrats to everyone who struggled but stuck with it! Minh, your story is amazing/inspiring!
Hey Jenn! I guess we already talked about this in person, but I also struggled a lot at the beginning, and I have found the fenugreek and pumping after feeding to be the best in boosting milk production. I have the swing pump now, which is great, but is single breast. But when I was having tougher times, I rented the Symphony double breast pump for ($81/mo) from Hoag, which made a HUGE difference. Check with your insurance, because they may cover part of the cost etc.
Where did you deliver? A lot of the hospitals run lactation consulting clinics, I've gone to Hoags (call babyline at 949/764-BABY (2229)) one quite a few times, but also found a great consultant, Sandy Griffin, that can come to your house (more pricey). For me, it was super stressful always having to go out for help, so having her come to my house, where I could be comfortable really helped me get a better handle on things.
Sandy Griffin:
http://www.ocbreastfeeding.com/breastfeeding-lactation-consultants....
949-456-3866
For me, I also noticed that little things like limiting caffeine, drinking enough water, getting enough calcium and sleep made a difference in the milk.
Hang in there, keep at it! If you need support/ encouragement, we are all here for you!
Also, Danielle from OC mommies started a breastfeeding site that has lots of good info.
I also recommend the following books which helped too:
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Jennifer,
Yes, I pumped in the middle of the night and tried to sleep when I could during the day. I know that not pumping in the middle of the night will affect your milk supply because your body will adjust accordingly. I sacraficed a lot of sleep to keep my milk supply up. There were a lot of tears and frustration, but looking back it was all worth it. I hope my next baby (due next month) does not give me the same breastfeeding trouble as Benjamin.
CHOC's lactation clinic is free and the hospital is in Orange. My Benjamin was a preemie and I drove there one to two times a week. The consultants were a great help and best of all, it was free. I'm not sure if they will accept you if your baby was not a patient there. You might want to inquire to find out their policy.
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer on
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Hi again Jennifer!
How many capsules of fenugreek are you taking a day (I take 6)? I’ve started pumping 3 times a day now…In the morning at about 7:30ish, when Isla takes her nap @ 1:30, and again at night before I go to bed around 9:30-10ish. I have a Medela In Style Advance double breast pump. It’s pretty good – I guess it’s the same as the Symphony, except it’s for personal use and it’s not medical grade. I’ve been using it since I got home from the hospital :) It was a LIFE SAVER early on.
I delivered @ Hoag in Newport and I definitely considered going to their breast feeding clinic when I was worried about Isla not latching on right, falling asleep at my breast, or not gaining the appropriate amount of weight. However, I saw an in-home lactation consultant instead who was GREAT and only charged $40 (she works at CHOC and that’s super close to my home). I felt more comfortable with her coming to my home so she could see me in my element and actually view me nursing as I would normally. But when she came, she said everything looked great…from Isla latching on, to her positioning, etc. I’ll have to find her info again. Maybe it’s time to see her again?
Re caffeine, etc….I don’t drink any caffeine due to Isla’s reflux issues, I definitely try to drink lots of water (at least 80ozs a day), and I take calcium chewables twice a day. I’m certainly getting more sleep now…but, maybe that’s the problem? I don’t pump between the hours of 10:30-7:30am. I mentioned to Minh before that maybe that’s the problem?
I feel like I’ve been doing everything I can to help boost production, but, I’m not seeing a significant change. I’m going to continue with the fenugreek and tea for a couple weeks and see if anything changes. If not, I’m going to try a fenugreek extract and hope that it does the trick. My plan was always to breast feed for at least 6 months and we’re in month 5 @ two weeks. So, if things don’t change here soon…I’m most likely going to switch to formula following her 6 month mark.
Thanks so much for the info and encouragement. It's nice to have someone else to talk to about it and to bounce ideas off of :)
Jennifer V said:
First of all, congrats to everyone who struggled but stuck with it! Minh, your story is amazing/inspiring!
Hey Jenn! I guess we already talked about this in person, but I also struggled a lot at the beginning, and I have found the fenugreek and pumping after feeding to be the best in boosting milk production. I have the swing pump now, which is great, but is single breast. But when I was having tougher times, I rented the Symphony double breast pump for ($81/mo) from Hoag, which made a HUGE difference. Check with your insurance, because they may cover part of the cost etc.
Where did you deliver? A lot of the hospitals run lactation consulting clinics, I've gone to Hoags (call babyline at 949/764-BABY (2229)) one quite a few times, but also found a great consultant, Sandy Griffin, that can come to your house (more pricey). For me, it was super stressful always having to go out for help, so having her come to my house, where I could be comfortable really helped me get a better handle on things.
Sandy Griffin:
http://www.ocbreastfeeding.com/breastfeeding-lactation-consultants....
949-456-3866
For me, I also noticed that little things like limiting caffeine, drinking enough water, getting enough calcium and sleep made a difference in the milk.
Hang in there, keep at it! If you need support/ encouragement, we are all here for you!
Also, Danielle from OC mommies started a breastfeeding site that has lots of good info.
I also recommend the following books which helped too:
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer on
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Minh,
Ugh – this is so frustrating! My LO is finally sleeping through the night and now I have to wake up in the middle of the night to pump? Bbbboooooooo! I guess I am going to sacrifice sleep in order to keep things rolling :(
Congrats on your new little one! Do you know what you’re having? I hope he/she doesn’t give you as hard a time as Benjamin did. Good thing every baby is different, huh? Sending you positive vibes!!!
Re CHOC’s clinic…I’ll check with the lactation consultant I worked with a few months ago. She works there and I’m sure she’ll know the policy. Although, I’m much more comfortable working with someone from home. But, we’ll see! Thanks again for all the input and support <3
Minh Nguyen said:
Jennifer,
Yes, I pumped in the middle of the night and tried to sleep when I could during the day. I know that not pumping in the middle of the night will affect your milk supply because your body will adjust accordingly. I sacraficed a lot of sleep to keep my milk supply up. There were a lot of tears and frustration, but looking back it was all worth it. I hope my next baby (due next month) does not give me the same breastfeeding trouble as Benjamin.
CHOC's lactation clinic is free and the hospital is in Orange. My Benjamin was a preemie and I drove there one to two times a week. The consultants were a great help and best of all, it was free. I'm not sure if they will accept you if your baby was not a patient there. You might want to inquire to find out their policy.
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer V on
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Hang in there Jenn, I felt that 4-6 months were tough since they are eating so much and have soooo many growth spurts! Once you hit the six month mark solids really help since they tend to drop feedings slowly as they eat more solids. Take it day by day and set small goals for yourself (& hope Isla doesn't get teeth early like Aria lol).
So what is it that makes you think you don't have enough milk? (I totally get the worries, though, I've been worried about milk supply since day one because of my rough start).
I remember though that when she all the sudden became more efficient at eating, that she went from eating 20-30 minutes to 4-7 minutes on each side... and it totally freaked me out. And about 4-5 months she was totally a distracted eater and I felt like I was forcing food on her. But then after talking to other moms, and the pediatrician, that was perfectly normal for her age. I also noticed that before when she was younger the "let downs", and "full"/"empty" feelings were stronger than 4 months on... so I worried that I didn't have enough milk... but in reality, she was gaining weight fine, and growing at the rate normal for her etc. I still pump 1x a day at least and take fenugreek 1-2 x a day to maintain.
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer on
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It feels like my supply started to taper off when we changed Isla’s night time routine about two months ago. When we first started, I nursed her before she went down for the night at about 10:30-11pm. But, she’d wake up consistently around 3am to eat again. I decided that I wanted to try bottle feeding her with breast milk before she went to bed at night to see if that would improve her sleeping. I also decided to do it so that my husband and I could share the duty of putting her to sleep. We gave her 6ozs of breast milk w/ 2 tablespoons of oatmeal in it and that seemed to do the trick. She started sleeping until about 6-7am. But because I slept when she slept and woke up when she woke up, I had to nurse her right away. So, I’d nurse her and she would empty my breast, of course, and I didn’t get the opportunity to pump in the mornings like I always had. I tried pumping at night, but, for whatever reason I can’t pump as much at night as I can in the morning. In order to keep her night time routine the same and for me to be able to pump for the next nights bottle, I ended up having to give her one bottle of formula every morning (my ped’s doc. said it was o.k. to give her one bottle a day but continue to breast feed the rest of the day). I felt o.k. with that because she was still primarily getting breast milk, so, that’s what I’ve been doing since then. So, I guess I feel like my production has gone down because I’ve had to supplement with that bottle of formula and because when I do pump, I don’t pump as much milk as I used to. I used to pump like 6+ ozs in the morning and now I’m lucky if I get 5ozs. On most days I can only pump between 3-5ozs.
Also, Isla is already eating solids. We started her on rice cereal at 4 months and we introduced solids to her at 5 months. She’s doing GREAT with them! Although, I do worry about her poop…she’s pooped 4 times today! Is that weird? Anyway, I read something that says a baby should get 12-32ozs of breast milk/formula a day and that even if they’re eating solids, it should still be their main source of nutrition. I guess that’s why I worry…I want to make sure she’s getting between that 12-32ozs and I wish it was all breast milk and no formula.
I definitely think Isla has become more efficient with nursing…maybe that’s part of it? Another thing that makes me worried is I used to be able to feel when my breast (mainly my right since I don’t produce much on the left side anyway) was filling w/ milk and I knew I needed to either pump or nurse Isla. I don’t feel that anymore :(
I don’t know…maybe I’m fine and I just think there’s an issue? I just wish I could pump 6+ozs like I used to and be able to feed her without supplementing with that bottle of formula in the morning.
Jennifer V said:
Hang in there Jenn, I felt that 4-6 months were tough since they are eating so much and have soooo many growth spurts! Once you hit the six month mark solids really help since they tend to drop feedings slowly as they eat more solids. Take it day by day and set small goals for yourself (& hope Isla doesn't get teeth early like Aria lol).
So what is it that makes you think you don't have enough milk? (I totally get the worries, though, I've been worried about milk supply since day one because of my rough start).
I remember though that when she all the sudden became more efficient at eating, that she went from eating 20-30 minutes to 4-7 minutes on each side... and it totally freaked me out. And about 4-5 months she was totally a distracted eater and I felt like I was forcing food on her. But then after talking to other moms, and the pediatrician, that was perfectly normal for her age. I also noticed that before when she was younger the "let downs", and "full"/"empty" feelings were stronger than 4 months on... so I worried that I didn't have enough milk... but in reality, she was gaining weight fine, and growing at the rate normal for her etc. I still pump 1x a day at least and take fenugreek 1-2 x a day to maintain.
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Permalink Reply by Natalie H on -
Wow, Love this thread! KEep up the hard work Jennifer... it is HARD, I totally understand why people give up. I never had a supply issue, but I had the stud and dud issue. And I took fenugreek tabs 2 tabs up to 3 times a day. And I always pumped my dud breast right after my son BF to stimulate it into more action.
And yes every time he slept longer, or changed nap schedules I would have a dip in supply. I am also with Minh I always pumped at 9pm, midnight and 3am. even if he was sleeping, to keep my supply where it was at. And it also allowed some milk to be frozen so that my husband could feed him at lunch sometimes, and give me a much needed break!
Good luck!!
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