Help! Its Seems like My Milk Is Drying Up!!

hey C., my son is also five months. (March 21) :) I started to think the same thing a week ago. I got really nervous, so what i did was pump at night after i put him to bed and in the morning after i fed him. It only took a week and my milk supply kicked right back up. I pump anyways once a day to use that milk to mix in with all the cereal I feed him. I hope this helps. Good luck J.

I had the same problem C., at right around the same time with both of my kids. I was un successful at getting my milk to come back to it's normal level and quit nursing at about 6 mos.(Which I hated doing) There are some supplements you can try though...fenugreek and brewer's yeast are really good. They are sold at healthfood stores and Sprouts. This helped me with my first child. My milk supply was really low. And, believe it or not...beer! Drink one after you nurse or pump before you go to bed. The alcohol will be out of your body by the AM. Good Luck
M.

Talk to your OB/GYN and see if they can give you a prescription for Reglan (medical name Metoclopramide). It is the same medicine that the NICU gave my twins for reflux, but when mothers take it, it boosts milk production immensly. I went from making only enough milk to feed each of my babies only once a day, to making enough milk to feed them both breastmilk exclusively and still have some leftover to freeze. You only take the 30 pills for twelve days, and the dosing is kind of weird, but it works. The first day you take 1 pill, the second day you take 2 pills, the third through tenth days you take 3 pills each day, then the eleventh day you take 2 pills, and the twelfth day you take 1 pill. Then you are done with them, and your milk should increase drastically. Also, when you take these pills, take them with a FULL glass of water. And remember to drink as much water as possible throughout the day, and that will also help boost production. Good luck! :)

Are you taking birth control pills or any kind of decongestants? When I was nursing both of these dried me up. Also, like someone else stated, drink plenty of water snd don't stress! If you have a breast pump, try pumping in between feedings to signal to the body to make more milk. It's all about supply and demand! If you aren't demanding it, your body will think you don't need it and will slowly stop making it.

try using a breast pump, it will increace your milk supply and you will also have some on the side if you want to go out. Try not to get frustrated when you don't let down, just keep him on the same breast. You may not notice you are letting down. After my third one I would nurse and not realize I was letting down when I was, but by the time I was nurseing for about six months I stopped being able to tell when I was letting down my milk would come and I couldn't tell. so it may not be you, maybe he is just eating more.

With my first baby I started to dry up at 7 months, so I drank an herbal tea every day called Mother's Milk (I got it at GNC or Hi Health) and my milk came back full force. It also really helped my SIL who had difficulty producing enough milk to begin with. There are also stronger concentrations of herbal mixtures that aid milk production (like Fenugreek) you can take that might even be more effective. Try Baby Mother and More on the SE corner of Gilbert and Southern. They have liquid herbs you can take and can refer you to a lactation specialist. Try to eliminate stress from your life, as that can hinder milk production. And if you worry about this too much, it will only make it worse. But I was very stressed when I started drying up because I also wanted to nurse for a year, so it's easier said than done.

This time around with my new baby, I asked my doctor upfront what I can do to prevent drying up and she said her biggest advice was LOTS of WATER WATER WATER and PROTEIN in my diet. So I eat a whey protein shake every day (bought the powder at Costco) nuts, peanut butter, beans, fish, tofu, and meat. I don't like meat much, so my diet was very deficient with my first baby, but now that I'm aware, I'm very careful and eat high-protein and high-caloric foods since I went underweight last time. I think that's why my body started drying up last time. I've also heard brewer's yeast can help. And one more thing--make sure you are nursing at least 4-6 times a day.

Good luck! I was able to produce milk and nurse my first child until he was 1 year old after thinking it might be over at 7 months. I hope you have success as well.

Don't forget - supply and demand. Your son, if eating solids, no longer needs as much milk, therefore, the supply need is going down. Your breasts are probably just adjusting to the new demand, and are lowering the supply. My advice, since you're not working at the moment, skip the frozen milk and nurse him at night. Your breasts will begin to make the amount he needs at bed time, and by not nursing at night, you're cutting back on the demand, so your body will cut back on the supply. Keep at it. YOU CAN DO THIS. You don't need to eat or drink or supplement to increase production, you need to increase demand. Nurse more, produce more. That's all there is to it. Stay hydrated and don't get stressed out, your body knows what your son needs and will provide for him if you are willing to wait it out.

I've tried nursing and mine too is drying up. It's only been 3 weeks for me. After the 4th day it was engorged and then hand pumped for 2 days after that. I ended up having to rent a breastpump from the hospital on the 10th day. But between that time, I've only pumped 1/4oz to 1/2oz. I still don't get that much.

I've asked the lactation consultant about vitamin to take and she said at this point it's complicated and that I'd need to pump 8-10 times/day for 15-30 minutes each. My son wouldn't latch unless I expressed it into his mouth then he would suck and since he was 2 days old, he had uriatic acid crystals (blood) in his urine, and was told that if he didn't eat, he'd be in a coma (low blood sugar). So the pediatrician / nurse gave me some formula to supplement and so therefore he's still eating formula and whatever I have a few drops or so, he still sucks.

It's frustrating but right now my mom is still in town and making me fish (white fish) and papaya soup which is somewhat helping with more milk production. But after she made it for me 3 times..it's getting expensive. So, since I have the breastpump until Sept 25th, I'll keep trying until then.

I nursed two of my kids and had trouble with both. My second loved it but had bad allergies. You probably know to drink tons of water. I would go to a nursing store and ask for some feedback from them. I went to Babies, Mothers and More on Southern and Gilbert in Mesa. The owner is fantastic and the lacatation specialist is very caring and incredibly informative. Pumping also creates more milk as your body makes more than you need. Maybe try pumping before or after feeds to send a message to your body to produce more. A specialist would know which one to try. Don't be afraid to go to a store and ask for help. I have found that people who believe in nursing are always ready to give advice.

Nursing needs to be first for a feeding method if you want to keep up production. If you're wanting to introduce food, it needs to be a second source. How much are you feeding at a time when it comes to solids? When you start lessening the amount of nursing, your body adjusts accordingly. I fed my little girl until she was 11 months old. It was her absolute MAIN source of nutrition that entire time. Also, you could pump. In between times you nurse, pump and it'll boost your milk quickly. Also drink A LOT of water. These things WILL work if you do them. Good luck to you. :)

C., I had the same problem. I dried up at 6 months. I really wanted to go a year, but I guess my body had other plans. I never really produced enough milk so I was constantly taking things to help increase my production. You can try the Mother's Milk tea and Brewer's Yeast in a tablet, both helped me and you can get both at the health food store. Good luck!

Most likely your milk is not drying up. As time goes by your breasts become less engorged and letdown is much less intense. There is a tea called Mother Milk that you could try. If you still feel that the production is down and the baby is frusterated, pump after each feeding, but don't give him the pumped milk. La Leche is also a very big help, so give the rep in you area a call. Good luck, don't give up!!