How can I get more milk from my breasts?

Mrs.T

I hope you are finding things a bit easier. I was like you, I refused to put DS on formula (our PHN thought this was the easiest solution) and I was determined to breastfeed. It took a couple of months to get the hang of it and I found the cluster feeding extremely demanding but I persevered and we found our way. I ended up feeding for 27 months in the end.

I think it's very sad that most PHN are keen to get baby on to formula as soon as possible. I got most of my help from my best friend in Scotland and a friend in Holland and I got loads of support from babycentre.co.uk and rollercoaster.

wolfpawnat

Hello everyone, thanks for all the replies, just here to giive an update. I am on fenugreek tablets and I am expressing constantly but sadly my supply is decreasing rather than increasing. I find it very disheartening. On doctors orders Aidan had to be given formula milk too but only every so often as a top up. i am still working hard to give him my milk so hopefully the supply will up soon and i wont have to use the formula milk. He really does not like it compared to natural milk.

Quality

Ahh its a stressful time Wolf, when my little fella was born I was made bring him to casualty when he was five days old the phn was unhappy with his weight loss. The doctors had told me to top him up with formula, but at the time I knew my milk was coming in so I ignored their advice and left him on the boob, he put on 8oz in 2 days then!!

The best advice I can give you is to keep the baby on your breast as much as possible and only top him up with formula if you really feel he needs it. Because the less time the baby spends on your breast the less milk you will make. Even If it means you have to spend the rest of the week sitting down feeding him. It is a very worrying time, but after 4 or 5 days of feeding nonstop,your milk supply will increase.

best of luck!!

livvy

wolfpawnat wrote: »

Hello everyone, thanks for all the replies, just here to giive an update. I am on fenugreek tablets and I am expressing constantly but sadly my supply is decreasing rather than increasing. I find it very disheartening. On doctors orders Aidan had to be given formula milk too but only every so often as a top up. i am still working hard to give him my milk so hopefully the supply will up soon and i wont have to use the formula milk. He really does not like it compared to natural milk.

This is only my opinion but don't beat yourself up about it. I breastfed my first and intend to bf my second - due in summer but if for some reason i can't I certainly wont loose any sleep over it. Im the youngest of a large family - none of us were breast fed and we are all healthy TG.

I was never as stressed as when i had my first - don't add to it being disheartened over this. You sound like a lovely warm mam who would do anything for her small man. Don't waste any more time worrying yourself and enjoy your new baby.

axel rose

Listen to livvy she talks a lot of sense. I remember being suprised at how disappointed I was when breastfeeding didnt work out for me. Please remember that you have already given your little man the best start in life.

Mrs.T

wolfpawnat wrote: »

Hello everyone, thanks for all the replies, just here to giive an update. I am on fenugreek tablets and I am expressing constantly but sadly my supply is decreasing rather than increasing. I find it very disheartening. On doctors orders Aidan had to be given formula milk too but only every so often as a top up. i am still working hard to give him my milk so hopefully the supply will up soon and i wont have to use the formula milk. He really does not like it compared to natural milk.

Hey Wolfpawnat, are the doctor and PHN basing your wee man's growth from the graphs in the baby book? This happened to me, they are so centred on those graphs even though they are so out of date. Those graphs are based on babies from the 70's who were both bottle and breastfed. It has been proven that breastfed babies tend not to put on as much weight as bottle fed babies. Uk have introduced news graphs to combat confusion, they now have separate graphs for bottle and breastfed babies. I found this link for you..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4938234.stm
In Holland, they don't even weigh babies! The percentage of breastfeeding is much higher there too.

I so know how you feel and what you are going through. Luckily when the PHN sent us to the doctor about our wee man's weight our doctor was very supportive for us. He looked at our wee man's weight over a longer period of time, eg every month instead of every week. He was growing at a steady pace even though it was on the last line, he was still growing steadily and that is all the doctor looked at.
You will recognise yourself if your wee man is thriving. Our wee man is now a strapping 3 and a half year old. Try not to let this whole thing get you down. My DH sent the PHN out of our house because she made me cry. I was positive our wee man was thriving then she told me to put him on formula but because of all the research I had done I felt so confident for the first time since his birth.
Look at me going on....:D Feel free to PM me if you want a wee bit of support or the websites where I got all my support from. You will be surprised how many Mums are told that they aren't giving enough milk when they are. Most importantly, be good to yourself!!

wolfpawnat

Hey everyone, I actually found out why I have had problems with my milk supply, I have a very bad infection on my c-sectin scar. I noted it was sore but I thought it was my clothes rubbing against it. So I am on anti-biotics and it should be ok again after, I have to continue the pumping and keep my chin up, was getting really down, but at least I know things will get better:)

Thanks everyone for the advice

Nevyn

wolfpawnat I am glad you foud out what it is, ok the fact that there is an issue sucks
but at least now you know what the issues is and are taking steps to deal with it.
You are doing a great job.

disssco

Mmmm breast milk

disssco

Quality wrote: »

The doctors had told me to top him up with formula, but at the time I knew my milk was coming in so I ignored their advice and left him on the boob,

The best advice I can give you is to keep the baby on your breast as much as possible and only top him up with formula if you really feel he needs it.

Yes great advice here.Let your child go hungry because you only want to feed it breast milk. Whats the difference?

Nevyn

disssco banned for 1 week, if you can not contribute constructively to this forum then
don't bother posting.

Quality

Thaedydal wrote: »

disssco banned for 1 week, if you can not contribute constructively to this forum then
don't bother posting.

I am loving the clever editing that was done in disscos post....

Nevyn

Quality that poster was banned from troling lets not drag this thread off topic
if you want to give feedback then please use the pm function or the feedback forum.
Thanks.

MoonDancer

Please don't quit bf because you think you have a low supply. Most women always have more then enough milk to feed their baby. Ive bf both of my kids until they were 1 year old,
You said your baby is 13 days old, the colostrom is just finishing & you are only producing small amounts of milk anyway. Your baby will only drink a 1-3 ounces at a time. Usually about a week after the birth your boobs will become engorged but they will settle down after about another week. Lots of women mistake this as not having much milk because their breasts are a lot smaller then the week before. Don't forget about the baby's growth spurts, as far as I remember they come every few weeks, and your baby will want to feed 24/7 - another reason why women think they don't have enough milk. It's important to let them feed as often as they want as this stimulates your breasts to produce more milk.
I often found my kids used me as a dummy only sucking for comfort too, just don't mistake this as thinking you have a low supply.
As long as your baby is putting on weight (some lose weight shortly after birth) and having at about 10 wet & dirty nappies a day you have nothing to worry about!

marti101

Exactly what i was saying you wont feel it but few weeks from now you wil be flying.Its the expressing thats doing that to your supply,baby will get kuch more out than the machine put baby on breast and dont look back.

missymoo2

Is your new babs just comfort sucking? Ive bf 3 babies and I know from the first few weeks they just sit under you and cry when you take them off. Is he latching on, frustrated and latching off crying? That means he s prob hungry. Giving Formulae at this stage would def damage your supply. You could also try expressing when he s not at your booby.
But if you hang in there and ride this one out, you ll see its only a phase, these things always settle themselves after a few weeks. hth

wolfpawnat

marti101 wrote: »

Exactly what i was saying you wont feel it but few weeks from now you wil be flying.Its the expressing thats doing that to your supply,baby will get kuch more out than the machine put baby on breast and dont look back.

missymoo2 wrote: »

Is your new babs just comfort sucking? Ive bf 3 babies and I know from the first few weeks they just sit under you and cry when you take them off. Is he latching on, frustrated and latching off crying? That means he s prob hungry. Giving Formulae at this stage would def damage your supply. You could also try expressing when he s not at your booby.
But if you hang in there and ride this one out, you ll see its only a phase, these things always settle themselves after a few weeks. hth

Unfortunately he will not latch for love nor money, and I have had very limited success with the nipple shields, I have to express and the annoying thing is I cannot get the time I really would love to have for expressing, between all the time the baby takes up as well as doing basic bits and pieces like cooking and the washing it gets a bit much, of course the worst of all is I get stressed because I cannot get enough milk and stress causes it to be more difficult. But I am going to a breastfeeding morning here on the 1st, kinda looking forward to it but I think I'm a lot younger than most bf mums

axel rose

Ah Im so sorry to hear that. Please please dont take it personally, sometimes it works out perfectly and sometimes it doesnt. It has nothing to do with your age at all! In fact its got nothing to do with you in any way! (I mean that in the nice way )

You're disappointed, you had an image of BFing that is different to what you are experiencing. (I remember doing the pump thing throughout the day to increase my supply and my god I spent most of the day with my t1ts hanging out)

From what you say you really are giving it your best- be proud of that! Your son is a lucky little guy to have you!

wolfpawnat

Well he is nearly 7 weeks old now, and sadly I am only managing 4oz in 24hrs. Pathetic really. It kills me everyday. I am furious that women I know that didn't want to breast feed were stuck with milk for ages and I want nothing more than to feed my little man but not able to. :(

I am really baffled to how this happened, for the first 2 weeks I had more than enough. Now nothing:(

KittyeeTrix

My second son was born premature over 12 years ago and i tried to breastfeed him but it didn't work.
I hand expressed and used the pump for 14 weeks to give him the breast milk. Don't ask, it was a bloody nightmare.
I found though that I was producing tonnes of milk. I could get 9oz from each breast at each sitting. The fridge was absolutely full and because he was a preemie he was only drinking 2-3oz at each feed.
I would say to try the pump because the vigorous pumping action stimulates more milk production.
Best of luck with the little lad

MoonDancer

Is there a lactation consultant available in your area that you could get some advice from?
Have you looked into the la leche league also?
http://www.lalecheleagueireland.com/

There is a great support group there for breastfeeding mama's with lactation consultants available during the meetings. I think they meet up once a month. I would highly recommend going to one of their meetings.
You can still establish a greater milk supply- it's not too late!!