Help!! Production Going Down, down , Down!

My son is 8 months as well and I just recently noticed a decrease in my production. I honestly think that it's your body's way of starting the weaning process. As long as your son is still getting satisfied after nursing then I wouldn't worry about it so much. It sounds like you're doing all of the right things. I think that as baby's start incorporating more solids into their diet they stop requiring so much milk. This is a good thing. Congrats on making it this long!!

Hi J.,

Could you try offering less baby food while you are home nursing? He would nurse more and maybe up your production. Breastmilk is going to be more important than baby foods....so I would fight for your supply. Especially since you have made this far.

Since your not pumping as often your body is starting to dry up. you may want to try mothers milk tea for Fenagreek (sp?) that you can get at GNC...it worked GREAT for me.

With my first son, when my milk supply would decrease - I took a herbal supplement called Fenugreek (you can get it at GNC). You have to take a lot of it - 3 pills 3 times a day until your milk increases. You should see a difference when you start to smell like maple syrup (even your urine will smell like maple syrup). If you begin to smell and your supply has not increased, unfortunately it will not work. Good luck! I know that it is stressful and scary!!!!

My son got to the point at 6 months that he would only drink 18 ounces a day. So yes is very normal for your production to go way down. They go from drinking up to 32 ounces a day to about 18-24 ounces. You can contact your doctor to find out the exact amount of milk he needs for his age.

Hello J.,

drink Anise seed tea. they also have mother's milk tea @ sprouts, wholefoods and other healthstores. also star anise tea will help w/ milk production. Good luck! ~C.~

I think it's normal for milk supply to go down as solids are introduced. I know this happened to me with my first daughter. She ended up weanning at 10 months but being a working Mom I was very proud that I made it to 10 when my intial goal was 6 months.

I might suggest offering him the breast before feeding him his "solids" meal. Also, a recent study shows that oatmeal can increase milk supply... a nurse suggested I snack on Fiber One bars - the peanut butter & chocolate ones are delicious.

Another reason milk might decline is if you are not getting enough calories in your diet and lack of rest. I wonder if drinking so much water might dilute the fat content of your milk? 120 oz. a day is a lot of water! If it could dilute the fat content then maybe your breast milk isn't as filling as the solid foods.

Good luck and hang in there... I know it's hard not to stress out about your milk production as I've been there myself.

Depending on how much you want to nurse, you willneed to be pumpin alot more at work. WHen I am nursing/working my schedule follows like this: nurse before we leave then I pump while driving( always secretly wanted to get pulled over just to se the shock!) I get to work at 7:30 so I pump every 2 hours all day along with 1 nursing at lunch( my daycare is close) then we co-sleep so the night nursng is frequent.

Now, my cycles come back very early and I have a hard time maintaining a suply anyway, but pumping is not as effective as baby nursing so you will ee a decline when pumping more than nursing.

I also wonder which pump you are using. For my clients ( i am a doula and childbirth educator) I reccomend at least a MEdela pump in style. Its what I use, and a car adapter makes it more efective. A quality pump can make a world of diference.

IF the herbal suppliments arent doing the job then you can move on to the pharmaceuticals. I personally use Domperidone which I order from New Zealand bc you cannt get it easily in the US.Sometimes you have to take a very very high dose of herbals to start the supply, but unless you are nursing regularly, they really wont do any good. But you mighttry, Mothers Milk Plus tincture ( at Simply Moms inside Baylore Hospital) or Mothers Milk Tea from Traditional Medicinals.

Fel free to pm me if you need more help.

K