Mild Supply down from Mastitis

I think there are more herbs you can take than Fenugreek to help milk production that is just the most common. There is a tea called Mother's milk tea that will help you to produce more. Just keep trying, I hated it when my daughter stopped at 6 months. I wish I knew then what I know now. Keep trying!

A. -

I had terrible mastisis on one side (I couldn't miss that it was an infection, since the breast in question became red and swollen, and hurt so much it made me cry.) After the infection passed, my milk production was down. And I found a lump in my breast.

The doctor sent me for an ultrasound, where they found I had a blocked milk duct that had filled with milk and swollen (and gotten hard, as the milk sort of curdled), and it was blocking additional flow. It was quite big. The doctor at the ultrasound place was able to use a fine needle to drain that, um, stuff. I'm not sure it would have come out on its own (hot compresses had not made a difference), and it was affecting my milk supply. (It was also on my heavy-producing side, I wonder if that's a coincidence?)

After that, my milk came back over a week or so (and I didn't have a scary lump in my breast.) The problem didn't recur. It was probably related to the infection.

So, please do a breast exam! Your situation might not be like mine, but just in case it is, you should check your breasts for hard lumps, possibly have an exam by your doctor.

I had mastitis 5 times last year. The second time they gave me an antibiotic that didn't work and my mastitis worked into an 8 cm abscess. It was horrible. I couldn't feed my daughter or pump, it hurt so bad. I almost lost my supply completely. I started taking Fenugreek, eating oatmeal (I hate oatmeal) and doing anything I could think of to up my supply. And it did, it took almost a month to get back to normal. After my 5th bout of mastitis, the doctor prescribed a hospital grade pump and it was amazing...I felt the mastitis come on and I just pumped it right out. Anyways, the best thing I did was lay in bed with my daughter and let her nurse on demand. It was a wonderful experience and it really helped a lot more than pumping to get my supply back. I did pump in between but she loved being able to cuddle with mom and have a snack anytime. My daughter is almost 18 months old, but at 16 months old she gave up breastfeeding (I was so sad...but my supply diminished because she just wasn't interested anymore.) Good luck. I know it's frustrating now...but keep up with what you are doing and your milk supply will come back. I almost gave up and totally went with formula because I felt that I was never going to gain my milk back, but it came back with full force.

Hi A.. I read your post and I felt compelled to answer. I had twins in January 2006 and while they were in the hospital, I thought I came down with a horrible flu. I freaked out thinking that I was going to give it to the babies who were born premature and in the NICU. Well, I called my lactation consultant and told her how awful I felt. Then I said "oh yeah, and my boob is killing me." She kind of laughed and said that I probably have mastitis and I wasn't going to infect my babies with the flu. I ended up having a pretty rough time with recurring mastitis and I think I had it about 26 or 27 times by the end of that first year. I got to be somewhat of an expert on how to get rid of it. I never had to go on antibiotics and I was able to clear it up every time within a 36 hour period. Yes, this did affect my milk supply and I never really had enough milk for my twins despite pumping 6-7 times every day. Can you tell that I'm pretty stubborn and didn't want to give up? My saving grace was a woman named Pam Caldwell who is an herbalist who owns Herblore (www.herblore.com). She did a few phone consultations with me and worked with me a lot to help build my supply and help me through the mastitis. She has some wonderful products and her fenugreek capsules are really high quality. They even sell her stuff at Stanford Hospital's pharmacy (this is where my twins were born). Anyway, with the fenugreek, you have to build up to taking the maximum which is 24 capsules per day. You start off by taking 1 capsule 3 times per day and then take 2 capsules 3 times per day and so on until you get up to 8 capsules 3 times per day (24 capsules). You will smell like maple syrup but there are worse things to smell like, right? You also have to be careful that the fenugreek doesn't make you or your baby too gassy. I always took the tummy tincture along with the fenugreek to help with any gas and my twins never had a problem. She also has a nursing tincture with some other great herbs. Anyway, you should check out her website and seriously give her a call. She will call you back and talk with you for free. She is truly an angel. I do remember her recommending Poke Root for the mastitis which is a very powerful lymph cleanser. You only need a couple of drops of this stuff and I started taking a couple drops every day just to try and stay clear of the mastitis. Also, you can take echinacea for the mastitis and it will help your immune system to fight the infection. I have such a heart for women who go through this. It is sooooo hard and so painful. I get frustrated with people who don't understand what it is like to struggle with milk supply. People would always say "I hear you can produce enough milk to feed 6 babies if you have that many." Well, I guess I wasn't one of those people despite everything I tried. I felt wonderful about every drop of breastmilk that I was able to provide to my kids even if they were only getting it half the time. I truly did the best I could. Hang in there and blessings to you and your family.

You won't like my story. So here's the positive news first:

1) You can go in and see a lactation consultant, who'll be able to weigh your son after feeding him to find out how much milk he's getting, among other things. I always found that the few times I went in I got a lot more help (or at least I understood better) then when I called.

2) La Leche League

My story is that I actually lost my milk supply due to mastitis @ 9mo. I was producing enough for a whole nursery prior to that. My son was a big eater, over 20oz per typical feeding. I'd planned on nursing through 2 years, but after the infection, my milk turned neon blue (no joke!), and then *poof* was gone and there wasn't anything we could do about it. If you've still a supply, you've still got a VERY good chance of getting it back up there, though.

Good luck!

I have not had Mastitis but I have been plagued by supply issues since I started law school (lots o' stress). Someone forwarded this cookie recipe - I kid you not - and eating them did appear to up production. The recipe uses brewer's yeast, which is why some lactation specialists will actually recommend drinking a beer, as in one beer, not a six pack ;). Here's the recipe:

Lactation Boosting Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip & Flaxseed cookies

Ingredients :

- 1 cup butter or marg
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons flaxseed meal (healthfood store)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups oats, thick cut if you can get them (steel cut will be too dense)
- 1 cup or more chocolate chips (if you like a lot of chips, add more)
- 2 tablespoons of brewers yeast (be generous) (healthfood store also)

Directions:

Preheat oven at 375 degrees F. Mix together 2 tablespoons of flaxseed meal and water, set aside for 3-5 minutes. Cream margarine and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, mix well. Stir flaxseed mixture and add with vanilla to the margarine mix. Beat until blended. Sift together dry ingredients, except oats and chips. Add to margarine mixture. Stir in oats then chips. Scoop or drop onto baking sheet, preferably lined with parchment or silpat. The dough is a little crumbly, so it helps to use a scoop.

Bake 8-12 minutes, depending on size of cookies.

As for the drugs, Reglan can have some potentially not fun side effects but those are reported to come via large doses taken for a long period of time. You might speak with your doctor if nothing else is working. Taking a few pills to get your production started could be very helpful and is highly unlikely to harm you.

Hi A.,
It seems that bringing back the milk supply takes much more work than losing it unfortunately. However..if you are diligent it should return. I had a drop in milk production once (was lax about pumping and feeding for just a couple of days) and I think it took me maybe even longer than 2 weeks of diligent pumpig etc to get it back. It did come back though so keep it up and hopefully your will too.
Good luck

Hi! I had an issue with supply a few weeks ago, don't think it was full blown mastitis but got really really low. I did the fenugreek (be sure and not drink a bunch of fluid 20 min before or after according to my bottle at least), did tons of mothers milk tea (iced/luke warm seemed to be more palatable for me -- we iced it after it brewed), and just pumped the fluids and RESTED! I know how do you rest with two kids but that really seemed to be what got me back on track. If I started to run around too much, it would get low again so I just laid low for a few days at home like I was sick and stayed in bed, napped ect until I felt my supply was back. I also started feeding every hour/ hour and half and got up severals time in the night too. And last but not least it did take about a week/ week and a half to get back on track. I still fed my daughter more often for about another week just to make sure I was keeping supply up. For me at least the rest and hydration really seemed to be the key and the tea and fenugreek were supportive of boosting supply. Hope that helps. T.

Give your self time and tons of credit -. So --16 month- 4 months - means you had your little treasures exactly one year apart- which means you were 3 months postpartum with #1 when you got pregnant with #2 -. Your body had not even recovered from the physical stress of delivery- much less replenished itself from your first pregnancy when you said ''' oh, by the way body of mine-do it again'''. ( how long did you nurse #1?) --

You are doing a marathon- not a bad thing- but be 'honest' with yourself about how much you need to be taking care of YOU. So-- Old Moms' advice is : never, ever do chores when the little guys are resting- lie down and chill- w/ a book - or something soothing - . Add NOTHING - no puppy, no part-time project at church- if neighbors or family ask '''would you mind driving me to ---''' the answer is ''''' I can't right now- once the baby is weaned and I've had a couple of months to build up to '''full throttle'' I'll let you know.

Keep on w/ what you are doing and be VERY sure to take extra care of you- or both those little darlings will feel it.

Blessings,
J.
aka
Old Mom

Hey this sounds like a problem for you!! I am a huge breast feeder and would totally be freeking out as you are. There is an herbal tea called "mother's milk" that works very well for increasing your milk supply. I hope this helps. Good luck!

Hi, You've had a lot of good advice already. I would go see your ob/gyn or primary doc as you might need antibiotics. I also was a low flow gal initially and hated supplimenting with formula, but even a little breast milk is better than none. Don't give up!! Trying not to stress about your supply might help. Don't watch when you pump, distract yourself with reading etc. Get PLENTY of rest. Hot showers are great before pumping to work out any blocked ducts. Good luck to you!

A.-
You CAN get your milk back after Mastitis. It will take about 2 weeks to get it fully back. My suggestion is to nurse more often. Your body knows the difference between pump and baby. So, lay off the pump and just feed your baby. I have nursed 8 children 7 of which for at least 1 year. I have had Mastitis several times and I always knew if I did not get enogh sleep and ran myself down poof I had mastitis. So think back if you were over doing it some how and if you were not getting enough rest? My suggestion is GO to bed with the baby and stay there all day just rolling over to nurse on each side for a day or 2 it had always helped me in the past. Good Luck and don't give up.

A.

Feed more, pump more, and take more fenugreek. It worked for me. :)

The standard dosage on the fenugreek bottle is low. I wound up taking twice as much (under doctor's orders) to finally get my production back up. It took about two weeks.
Good luck!

As a nurse, and a mother of a recently weaned 18 month old son, I can say with all honesty that this is quite common. I wonder if your infection has gone away??? My advise to you: continue to nurse on your right breast at the beginning of each feeding and continue w/ the hot compresses to the breast. Mastitis if often due to a clogged milk duct. If the infection hasn't gone away, and you still are feeling ill, you'll most likely need antibiotics. Good luck!

Ok, so after I had mastitus I only had trouble with pumping and producing enough. The normal action of nursing produced enough for my daughter to eat with. I still proceeded to nurse and pump in order to help aid in getting the infection out, but you may be producing enough for your son to actually eat and sustain just fine. Continue pumping and nursing and I think everything should be fine.
Good luck!

I feel for you, as I had a similar situation when my son was three months old. Fenugreek tea is great, but it isn't necessarily enough. I also used an herbal tincture by HerbPharm called Mother's Lactation Tonic and therapeutic grade Fennel essential oil. (MUST be therapeutic grade.) I also saw a homeopath and used a constitutional remedy to aid the situation. The thing I noticed that helped the most was when I was relaxed. The more stressed I was, the less milk I produced. The more relaxed I was, the more milk I produced. Do everything you can to relax...a tall order with a four year old and a baby, I know. When you do produce a lot, make sure you freeze whatever you can to help with the down times.

Best of luck!
B. W