Diminishing Milk supply--HELP!

Hi J.----I'm not sure, but it seemed to me that pumping never produces as much milk as your baby actually nursing. Of course, there is no way to know, but that's how it felt to me.

Another way to make sure your body is working the best that it can is to pay special attention to your diet as a whole. No supplement or single herb/nutrient can make up for the totality of the diet. Be sure your diet consists primarily of fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains, legumes (beans), nuts and seeds. Minimize animal protein, and that includes cows milk, as well as negative ingredients such as chemical additives (artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, MSG), HFCS (highly processed so it's not real food), simple carbohydrates (anything white).

These guidelines come from a Naturopath that I work with. She has her PhD in Nutrition and bases her work on long-term research. Please read The China Study by T Colin Campbell and explore www.pcrm.org. Drs. Bill and Jim (ABC The Doctors) may also have some useful advice for you at www.askDrSears.com. I have the honor of working with both of them as well.

When you optimize your nutrition, every cell in your body works better. Please understand that I am not suggesting your diet is bad, but rather, because you are demanding more from your body, your body demands more from your diet. Besides, eating this optimal diet will reduce your risk of degenerative diseases as you age.

I am amazed at what I am learning and what is NOT being taught by the professional that are supposed to keep us healthy. Medicine today is very good at fixing things. I'd like to see us get to the point where prevention is the norm and we only have to use doctors in emergencies.

Sorry about getting on my soapbox, but this is really important. If you would like to learn more, I would be honored to answer your questions. Good luck. Have fun with that baby. In health, D.

From my own experience... I have breastfed five and had this issue with the first really. I wish I had known then what I know now... (Turns out I was pg and since I didn't realize it or know how to compensate my first was my shortest time) First of all, the pump really isnt as efficent as your child is. Encouraging your baby to nurse as often as possible is one of the easiest ways to increase your milk supply. The stimulation signals your bobdy that the milk is needed. (One reason for the over fullness when she goes through a growth spurt) :) Another thing is Oatmeal, I used to eat lots of oatmeal cookies and milk products like icecream. But don't give up. You are doing something wonderful for your child. I still regret not trying harder with my first and will never regret the time I have had with all of them bonding. I wish you luck.

Worst case, see a lactation consultant. They can do wonders cause they have strategies, tools that may help. Your baby nursing is much better than a pump, but a good pump helps - hospital grade has the most suction.

I had low milk supply since the birth my baby with c-section. I tried hard to put my baby on formula but he didn't agree to take bottle. After researching a lot on the net I found Healthy nursing tea and decided to try the product. Wow! it worked wonder and stimulated my breast milk production.

Are you pumping for at least 5 minutes after the milk stops coming out. We have a good 250 medela pump and it is so worth the $$ I have to solely pump so save us big on formula. I pump for a good 15-20 minutes during the day every 2-3 hours and then go about 6-7 hours at night without a pump. I make just a tad over 1/5 ounce on each side every hour which is a little more then she actually needs a day right now she is 8 weeks old.

If you are really worried you can go into the hospital and have her weighed before and after a feeding to see how much she is getting

This reminds me of my breast feeding with my daughter... Around 9/10 months, I was getting only about an ounce at each pumping. I really wanted her to keep nursing, but she had other ideas and self-weened. I often think back on it and think that it must have taken her a lot of sucking to get that... She realized the bottle didn't take as much effort... Plus, she was probably able to get a full tummy after an 8oz bottle. And one evening, she was done with the boobie. It was as if she said, "Mama, put that away! I don't want to see it anymore!" I tried again and again...her little lips pursed tightly together. And than sat there a minute while the end of that chapter occured.... I had some frozen breastmilk and would mix it with formula for as long as possible. But she moved more readily towards more solid foods.

I have friends who were 'super breast feeders' and nursed for 2-3 years... I've realized: I don't have that kind of breastfeeding gene. I don't think it has anything to do with your pump or type of pump.

Sorry, I don't have any recommendations on how to increase your supply. But wanted to say, yep after 9/10 months, I was there too.

I'm currently nursing my 5th baby. This last baby, he's now almost 6 months old, has a tongue tie and my milk supply greatly diminished early on. It's a long story, but at 4 weeks old he only weighed his birth weight. I couldn't understand as I had nursed all the others and this baby seemed to latch on just fine, but I felt he never could get the milk out and I would have to squeeze it out into him. Well....by the time I realized all this my milk supply had greatly diminished and I had to supplement with Formula and work hard to get my supply back in. I took Fenugreek, which really helped me have a stronger let down; however I will be totally honest with you. When he was 10 weeks old we went to Steamboat for a ski trip. Because we were in the mountains I allowed myself to have pancakes and white flour products and sugar products that I normally never eat. I was also keenly aware of drinking bountiful amounts of fluid. Well, low and behold did my milk supply come flowing in. I had so much that I was able to start stocking up on milk. We brought formula with us as we were still supplementing, but that was the very last time we had to use it.
When I got home I went back to eating healthy again, but I started to eat more whole grain carbs with EVERY meal and snack. I'm still losing weight. In May we went to Vegas and Grand Canyon. Again, I allowed myself the white flour carbs and my milk supply came in strong again.
So...as I usually never advocate a processed diet with white sugar and flour, I must say that it works well with bringing in your milk supply.
I'm a "clean eater" 95% of the time, but this issue taught me a lot!
Also, if you can get ahold of an electric Medela pump, I think you will be much happier. I use a double electric pump that is 13 yrs old and it's works great. I have their new hand pump too,and it works well, butI like the electric one for time saving reasons.

Good luck to you and good for you for sticking with it. The benefits that your milk has for your baby is beyond measure!

I had some problems keeping up my milk supply, too. The way I kept it going was to eat a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast and drink a glass of milk (both wives tales but seemed to help), took 6 Fenegreek capsules a day (two pills three times a day), and pumped after every time I nursed (when I had the energy). On days that my milk seemed to be lower than usual, I would make more of an effort to pump. Of course I barely got anything, but it really helped, too. Since it is all about supply and demand, the more you demand from your body, the more you supply.

The trick however, is not to supplement even though you are pumping. If you supplement, then you aren't demanding any more from your body. Freeze all the milk that you pump and set it aside for when someone else cares for your baby, like if you go back to work, if you have a baby sitter for the evening, or (my personal fave) if your man wakes up with the baby so you can sleep in.

I have never had to use it, but I have been told that there are medications your doctor can prescribe that will help your milk supply. You can always ask your doctor about that, too.

I'm not sure about the different qualities of pumping, but I used the Medela Pump in Style (as did two other friends) and LOVED it! It worked really well for me. However, it is not a great way to tell how much milk you are producing. Babies can pull a lot more milk out of you than a pump can. The best way to tell how much you are producing is if you can go somewhere with a baby scale, weigh your baby before she eats, nurse her, then weigh her after. It is sometimes hard to find the time to visit the doctor for that, but I had to do it a couple of times. My daughter could always get more than I could pump.

Good luck and I hope it works out for you!

I would also look into Mother's Milk Tea. I've seen it at walmart along with the rest of the tea. Another supplement I've heard of is blessed thistle that you can talk to your doctor about trying along with fenugreek.

Another thing I have seen ladies talk about, but never got a chance to use were laction cookies.. http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Oatmeal-Chocolate-Chip-L...

The cookies have brewers yeast in them which is what is supposed to help along with the oatmeal. I've heard that they are actually pretty good too.

Good luck! Stick with it!

Do NOT judge your supply on how much you pump! You will NEVER be able to pump what your baby can nurse out, so never ever judge your supply on what you pump out. Your baby is getting nipple ocnfusion and 'lazy' because a bottle just pours the milk into her mouth... so she doens't have to work at it, just swallow. So of course if she gets too many bottles she won't want to nurse to work for the milk.

Enough bottles, nurse only. I was never able top ump more than 2oz, and that was when I was engorged and obviously I had more milk than that. But relax, only offer the breast and get her to nursing every feeding again. Your supply is fine, don't let anyone tel you any different. Just keep nursing, be persistent, and RELAX.

my NP who is also a lactation consultant had me eat steal cut oats (something about the STEAL CUT not regular oatmeal) to help with milk production. You can also drink Mother's Milk tea . I did breastfeed for over 2 years! Also try contacting your local La Leche leauge they have wonderful information or see if you can see a lactation consultant through your health care provider. Good luck!

Try breastfeeding very often - every 3-4 hours and then pump. Your dd may not eat a lot but it will help get production up. Also breastfeeding during the night will help increase your supply. Sleep with your dd or set your alarm - again every 3-4 hours.

I agree--encourage your little one to nurse as often as you can (even if she doesn't ask, offer it every 3-4 hours or so) because she is far more efficient than any pump. Also, relax--your breasts will adjust, but there is a little bit of lag time.

Interesting tidbit: your breasts try to maintain enough milk that your baby only takes out 80% of the milk in your breasts at any feeding. When baby is growing, baby will eat more, right? So baby starts drinking 80-95% or so of the total milk in your breasts. Your amazing body will then increase the quantity of milk produced so what used to be the 95% "mark" becomes the new 80%. That's why it's not an overnight thing and why your breasts need more stimulation, so don't stress. Just nurse as much/as often as you can, and let your body do it's thing.

And keep taking the fenugreek (it can't hurt!).

Sounds like you're doing great with the fluids!
Pumping is always going to be much harder, time consuming (for you) and produce less milk than a baby sucking would.
It has to do with the milk letdown and the way nothing can really mimic a little mouth's sucking power. :)
So keep drinking the fluids, maybe up your calorie intake for a week or so (also helps with milk production) and breastfeed as often as possible- just to get the milk flowing again and in a week or two you should see results.
My trick whenever I had to pump was to sit somewhere quiet where I could close my eyes and imagine my baby sucking instead of the pump while stimulating my other nipple- it always produced a strong milk letdown and I was able to get four times as much as I would if I was to just pump while keeping my mind occupied elsewhere.
If you can't breastfeed often, maybe give that a try. :)
Good luck momma! :)

When I was bfding, I was lucky to get more than 1 1/2 oz out, however, my baby was able to get out a lot of the milk, I know because my breast would be deflated after he breastfed, you cannot rely on a pump to be the best judge on how much milk you have, keep on breastfeeding your child and you will produce the milk. Also, what I helped me was the "mother's milk tea" which contained fenugreek, for whatever reason, this was more helpful for me than taking the Fenugreek tablets. Give it a try it's worth, it, you can get it from amazon.com. Also, I bought so many different pumps but always was only able to get around 1 1/2 oz every few hours, I found out the hard way that the baby can get it all out and the machine always is not able to do it although some moms are able to get it a lot out from a pump, not all moms can. Good luck and good job with your breastfeeding!

The fenugreek worked for me but you need to take A LOT, like 5-6+ tablets morning & night.

I have a medela pump in style & love it. My dd is 9 mths & I recently tried to pump & couldn't get a single drop. Figured out there was a hole in the tubing. When I replaced the tubing I was able to pump an acceptable amount. Might not be your problem but it's worth a look.

the first thing is this; its hard to get milk to let down when you are pumping. none of the same hormones are really reacting to a pump like they do to your daughter. i had problems pumping too, but i never had to pump either (my son self weaned at 20 months).

anyway, what i would recommend is get ahold of the la leche league. find a group in your town or in a town nearby. send a message to the leaders, or attend their meetings. you will meet other moms like you who breastfeed long term, who might have been through the same thing as you!

one thing you can do is while you are nursing on one side, pump on the other. that way, usually, the hormones are there, cuz your daughter is there, so it is probably easier. another thing is a picture of your daughter, or what seemed to work for me was my son crying... so a recording of that maybe?

dont stress though; like i said, not getting a lot when you pump is not a true reflection of how much milk you have. this is important. just because you only get an ounce out, that doesnt mean that you only are making an ounce. however, your milk supply is surly affected by not getting the milk out; full breasts tell the brain "ok we have extra milk, make less this time" - so it is important to get your pumping situation worked out, or just limit any time you have to be separated from her.

another thing to think of; if things arent working out, you can do both. your milk is determined more by demand than water supply, or other things. the amount of milk your daughter drinks is what determines how much milk you make. pumping helps, and is a good substitute, but it doesnt work for long periods because of the hormonal impact of your daughter being right there you know? im kinda blabbing and repeating because im trying to make sure you understand what im saying :P :P

try pumping when you are nursing. i have 2 friends (in a breastfeeding support group!) who did that and it seems to work really well. :) :) so thats your best bet there. :) :)

good luck! and i hope you can get ahold of a la leche league! :)
www.llli.org