Question on Reestablishing Lactation

Something similar happened to me (I just never had time to eat or drink so my supply diminished) but I used this tea called "Mother's Milk Tea". You can go to organic markets like Wild Oats or Sunflower and get it in their tea section. This worked great! If it wasn't for me not having time to take care of myself nutrionally, I would still be breastfeeding. I was also told by a lactation specialist that you need to pump for at least 120 minutes a day to produce enough milk to breast feed exclusively. I couldn't keep up with that schedule and gave up, but the tea worked wonders! Try it out! And it doesn't have that bad of a taste. Add a little honey and it's drinkable. Good luck!

Oasis Prolactation Tea this was the key to my success with my third baby when she was around seven months old and i was losing my milk. also i took fenugreek pills that stimulate the milk glands. some people say they don't work but they worked awesome for me.

Hi Megan,
I would eat regular oatmeal, not instant. That is suppose to increase your milk supply. Also try fenugreek, you can usually buy it at any health store/vitamin store. It increases your milk supply. The directions say to take one pill a couple times a day, but my lactation consultant at the hospital told me to take about 2 or 3 in morning and the same in afternoon. There is also a tea called mothers milk that has fenugreek in it, but not as much, and it says you have to drink a lot of cups a day. For more check out www.babytalkhomemaker.blogspot.com
there is a lot about breastfeeding in the archives for August. Comment me or ask me more questions there, I would be glad to help further. I am still breastfeeding my 16 month old boy and it has been a struggle.
Lisamommy
www.WellnessFamilyBiz.com

Megan,

I had to reestablish my milk with my daughter because of her allergies to formula. I used a supplement called lactate support, brewers yeast, either in capsule form or sprinkle the real stuff on popcorn, and a gallon a of non-caffeinated fluids a day. when your baby is hungry let her latch and suckle for as long as she will before she gets frustrated that she is not getting enough. Feed her after with the bottle. Between that stimulation and using the pump while you are working, you should get your milk supply back up within a week.

K.

The best way to get your supply back up is to nurse, nurse, nurse. Also make sure you are eating properly and more importantly getting enough fluids to drink. At least 72 ounces (it doesn't have to be all water, decaf tea is great too). You can look into Mother's Milk tea and also fenugreek tablets. Good luck to you!

K.

Megan,

I just want to say that you are doing a great thing trying to exclusively nurse your baby. You have had enough of good advice but I would just add one recommendation, Dr. Jack Newman. He has a website www.drjacknewman.com
He is really good, the BEST. You can find all the help you need for free for ANY issues you may have with breastfeeding. Just so that you know, he is really ANTI Formular (when possible). So he works really hard to get mothers to nurse their babies. Anyhow he was of a GREAT help to me when I had a lot of problems and when EVERYONE (my Ob, Breast surgeon specialist, family, etc...) suggested, told me to stop breastfeeding. Thank God I did not. My baby is now 15 months old and still nursing! Your milk is a lifetime gift to you baby.
ALL THE BEST to you and your family.

i wanted to do that with my son and so i called his pediatrician and asked for advice, she recommended to start either pumping or nursing every 3hrs to get milk to come back in-i ended up pumping and it worked.hope this helps, M.

Meagan,

When my milk supply was not keeping up with my son's appetite, I used a natural herb called fenugreek. It is easily found in the natural section of Safeway or any other store that sells herbs. GNC would probably have it too. There is also a tea called "Mother's milk" that is also too help milk production. I bought both but only needed to use the Fenugreek. It was more than enough. It only took about a half a day to start working. And I took it only for a few days at a time. Whenever I noticed my milk decreasing I would just take it again.

It will make you smell like Maole syrup. But that's not so bad. Also the more your baby feeds from you the more milk your body will supply milk. You will want to add a feeding or puming to your day.

I breastfed both my boys til they were 10 months old. They've never had ear infections. Rarely very sick and they are 2 and 4 now. You are doing a great thing for you and your daugther. I know it is a lot of work!

Best wishes,

S.

Feed her more frequently when you are home from work. or let her feed longer until she falls asleep. You don't have to use the pump if she is willing. As long as you still have a supply it can be stimulated to your previous level and more. Make sure that you eat well, and increase your fluid levels also. I loved it when they didn't get sick, and didn't have to worry about ear infections etc. My kids were much more healthier- even when they got much older! Stay with it if you can and good luck.

Hi Megan. I currently have a similiar issue: after a severe cold and the use of antihistimines my milk supply decreased...anyway, after speaking to a lactation consultant she suggested several things: nursing and/or pumping regularly throughout the day. since milk supply is a supply and demand thing the more you demand, the more likely your supply will increase. she also suggested trying some herbal remedies including "mother's milk" tea and an herb called fenugreek. PLEASE PLEASE speak to your physician and your kiddos pediatrician before beginning it because there are health problems that if you have them you shouldn't take it (including but not only diabetes and certain allergies) and i'm definately NOT a doctor and can't advise you take it or not but...I was advised to take it for a least a week. again, please make sure to talk to your physicians before but you can get the herbs at whole foods or wild oats. it was suggested to me to try the tea first. hopefully that will be helpful and good luck! K.*

Do whatever you can to increase the milk production. My milk supply diminished for various reasons like yours. I let it go because I thought my son was healthy. Now he has a lot of allergies and sensitivities. I'm not sure if breastmilk would have helped, but I sure regret not trying harder to breastfeed longer.

Hey, I am soo happy for you, what an awesome thing you are doing, most of today's moms would give up...kudos!! I have heard of a contraption that you fit around your neck and it supplies milk from a pouch, it tapes to your chest and is a thin flexible tube that runs right alongside your nipple, the child then nurses and will get milk from the tube but it also will stimulate the milk production from your breast.. I wish I could tell you the name of this thing but I just can't remember, I suggest you go to LLL.com (la leche league) and see about it. God bless you, I hope it helps. T.

pump often and drink tons of water...good luck!

My experience is that you have to be really dedicated to increasing your supply. For me it was extremely time consuming (and ultimately frustrating), although my circumstances were a bit different.
First, get thee to a lactation consultant. If you have a good one, they will be able to give you the best "prescription" for increasing supply. You can check out www.kellymom.com - Certified L/C's moderate their message boards and offer very good advice. Pump often - after every feeding, before you go to bed at night and when you wake up first thing in the morning - all in all, about every 2 hours or so. When I was trying to boost my supply I was pumping a good 10x per day. It sucked (no pun intended). "nurse in's" are good for supply - have a weekend where you just hang out in bed or on the couch with your baby and nurse constantly. You can try different herbs (good to check w/ your LC or midwife/ob), co-sleeping helps, babywearing helps.

I did all of this stuff and I was never able to get my supply up where it needed to be. I kind of drove myself crazy with it (I nursed my son for almost 2 years so I felt like a failure for not making it as long with my daughter). You just have to decide how much effort and time you want to put into something that may or may not happen.

Sorry if this sounds melodramatic, but sometimes it's good to hear from people who have been there.

Hi Megan,

I am sure there are some herbal teas that can stimulate milk production. I would check the reference section at Sprouts, or even online. Sprouts should carry some tea that could help.
I hope everything slows down a bit for you, good luck,
E.

Hi, i had premature twins and was pumping my milk to have them fed through a tube. It was hard to keep up with feeding two children using a pump and the stress of them in hospital. A nurse told me to go to a health store and ask for Finigrin, i am not sure if that is spelled right. It a root of some kind i believe and it is by far the nastiest tasting stuff you ll ever have but it works least for me it did. But i think the most important thing is the stress you seem determined to breast feed so heres my advice work will always be there so when you are home with your little one forget work find ways to stay calm and quiet, a dimmed room with soft music helps. In time you will get your milk back. I hope this helps some.

Congrats to you for trying again. I know you can do it! I highly recommend you attend a Le Leche Leaugue meeting in Parker or call one of the leaders. They are great to talk to for help. See their info in Parker below...

All breastfeeding mothers and mothers-to-be interested in breastfeeding are welcome to come to our meetings or call one of our Leaders for breastfeeding help or information. Nursing babies are always welcome at our meetings.Meeting Information
LLL of Parker meets on the third Monday of every month at 10:00a.m. At Southeast Christian Church 9650 Jordan Rd. Click here for directions.Leader Information

La Leche League Leaders are experienced mothers who have breastfed their own babies and who have been trained and accredited by La Leche League International to help mothers and mothers-to-be with all aspects of breastfeeding. They are available by phone whenever you have breastfeeding questions or concerns.

Alice ###-###-####
Renée ###-###-####
Call the Denver Metro Referral Line ###-###-#### for breastfeeding help or Denver Metro Area LLL meeting information. Visit the Denver, Colorado Area Groups page for meeting information and web pages for other LLL Groups in the Denver metropolitan area.

Good luck! We are on our 6th week of breastfeeding and it has been rough, but I'm determined to plug away at it. I'm going to attend the next Parker Le Leche meeting. Maybe I'll see you there.

J. McLeland
Mom of 5 week old

If it were me, I would call my OB. My friend had that same problem, and she called the Dr. He gave her a prescription for a medication that increased her milk flow and allowed her to feed exclusively from the breast.

Pump often. It's not about how long you pump/nurse, it's about how often you pump/nurse. It will take a bit for the supply to come back, just be patient.

Check out www.motherlove.com

They provide herbal supplements that do exactly what you are needing. They have even marketed their product to adoptive parents as well as praternal parents.

Hope it helps.

Supply and Demand! That's what it's all about--the more demand, the more supply! Pump as often as possible and let her nurse as often as possible. It is best to nurse--your baby is the ultimate pump!

Good Luck!!!