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Advice Needed

dannii87

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Hi ladies!

Hope you and your LOs are all well :hug:

How do I build up my milk supply? I've not been satisfying Evie since I started expressing and I made a big mistake by giving in to a bottle of formula the other night, the next night I gave another bottle and the next night I gave another :( So she's had 3 bottles over 3 days and OMG she was sooooo satisfied afterwards and GULPED it down.

I really wanted to avoid this, but I was at the end of my tether and feeling down about my sore nipples etc - Oh, and not to forget a screaming, hungry baby :roll:

Anyway, she's getting her tongue tie cut tomorrow so hopefully in a few days when my nipples have healed we'll be able to start afresh with the breastfeeding.

In the meantime, I think my supply is decreasing A) because of the formula I've been giving and B) because I'm expressing and not getting as much from my boobs as Evie would if she fed directly from them...

HELP!! :pray: Thanks ladies :hug: xx
 
:hug: :hug: :hug:

Ok are you eating healthily and drinking plenty. Defo get some oats into you as i find that they increase my supply. Others will recommend fenugreek but i have no experience, so others can advise on that.

TBH the best way to increase supply is to let baby suckle, but if you feel that you cant do this until the tongue tie is taken care of then keep up with the expressing in the meantime.
How often are you expressing for, maybe increase the time you spend expressing to get the supply and demand up.
 
as charlie says, up the amount of times you're expressing. let evie suckle on you if you can bear it, failing that make sure you have lots of skin to skin time. rest lots! drink plenty of water and eat well. try taking fenugreek, fennel tea and/or blaackthorn juice. and eat oats. and try not to give her formula... if you do, use a cup rather than a bottle.

:hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:
 
hope u don't end like me.. this was the beginning of the end for bf for me and I easily gave up! expressing worked for almost a month. then i started to give more formula and less milk was produced. 1 month and 3 weeks was the amount of time my LO had my milk! not exclusively though :doh:
any way I am happy that i didn't give up immediately I tried my best. but tbh. i wasn't able to increase my supply at any point. i didn't follow the advice as i was too tired :? and my LO is soo demanding .
 
Have you thought about trying nipple shields whilst your nips heal up? This might also help with Evie's latch. I used them and they were an absolute godsend!
 
I am soooo determined. I'm not going to give up until I've tried all angles. To be honest, my HV and MWs are really suprised I've lasted this long what with all the feeding problems we've faced.

I can't let Evie suckle because it's not giving my nipples a break & they're just recovering at the moment lol. Because she can't latch yet, she's damaging my nipples with each time she feeds.

I'm probably not expressing as often as I could tbh. :think: After reading your replies, I'm going to express every 1.5 hours... Well, 1.5 hours after I finished expressing the last lot iykwim.

Thing is, would I be cruel to JUST give her what I can express and not give her any formula? She'd still be hungry though? :think:

Where do I get fennel tea & fenugreek from?

Nipple shields are still hurting slightly because I have quite big nipples and I have blisters round the sides where Evie has chomped lol. So they rub against the sides of the shields :(

:hug: thanks girls xx
 
dannii87 said:
I am soooo determined. I'm not going to give up until I've tried all angles. To be honest, my HV and MWs are really suprised I've lasted this long what with all the feeding problems we've faced.

No offence, but so am I. You've had a nightmare with it and I would've cried a lot and given up. I was curiously looking at thrush pics today (don't ask - lol) and it looks horrible you poor things.



I can't really comment on whether it's cruel to give her only what you express, my guts says I would. But, you'll have to deal with her crying. It is only one day until her procedure (do they anaesthetise for it?), and can only be a short amount of time until you heal enough right?
 
I wouldn't necessarily try to express every 1.5 hours as that is a bit of a killer, every 3 hours should be OK. Double pumping maintains supply better than single pumping and you should pump for 20 minutes. You should definately keep pumping after your flow has stpped as this sends the signal to produce more milk. Also you need to express at least once overnight as this is when prolactin levels are at their highest. Good luck.

If you need more advice on increasing supply and reducing the amount of formula that you give have a look at Kellymom.
 
Dannii... when you look back at this...all this suffering... you will realise that you did something amazing and will only ever feel pride for what you have done. So you have given formula for a couple of days. Once she has her procedure and can latch on better, you will be able to wean her off the formula to exclusive bfing.

tbh you probably aren't expressing enough. Expressing is an art and its not as easy as whipping a boob out... but... as NickyB said, tomorrow is the procedure and you can start to try and get Evie back on the breast. :) You may encounter nipple confusion, but if you persevere with lots of skin to skin, and only resorting to the bottle at the end with the same grit and determination that you have shown over the last few weeks you will succeed and you will feel so proud of yourself. :hug: :hug: :hug: You've already done amazingly well, you should be proud of that alone. :hug: :hug: :hug:
 
You can get Fenugreek from Holland and Barrats. My lactation Consultant said to take 3 capsules 3 times a day. I used it and it really helped me. The other thing that helped was lots of skin to skin and letting him suckle whenever he wanted. It was hard work and I felt as if he lived on my boob, but it didn't last forever.

I also expressed between feeds. My lactation consultant suggested expressing 1.5 hours after a feed and at least once during the night as she said that you tend to make a lot of milk during the night. It doesn't matter how much you get (I didn't get much when expressing) as it will help stimulate your supply. Just save it up and keep it in the fridge or freeze it.

I went from 5 bottles a day down to 1 within a week. You can do it girl! You've already been through so much and have gotten this far. It will eventually fall into place and be much easier.
 
I just wanted to say that keep up the good work :hug: :hug: :hug:

You truly are doing an amazing job and your baby is getting the best start possible. I am sure you can drop the formula when your nips are healed.

I sooooo look forward to hearing when your BF:ing becomes trouble free. I hope that you have managed to enjoy some of the intimacy and bonding already though.

:hug: :hug: :hug:
 
i've had to increase my supply too and found the following worked for me- gone from barely covering the bottom of the bottle to getting 4-5 oz

drink lots and lots of water- don't just drink when you are thirsty as this is too late. keep a 2 litre bottle by your side and have more if poss!

make sure you eat really well- oats or bran flakes in the morning- have a big bowl. sandwich and soup for lunch etc etc.

i'm taking 'milk plus' formula which seems to have helped me so i'd recommend something similar or fenugreek

express as often as you can manage until evie is able to get back on the boob- i always did it until all milk was out and then some more. Also when I express I compress the boob to make sure it all comes out- as recommended by some breastfeeding guru!

I now get lily on the boob as much as possible and then express if I have to give her a bottle- shes still a very fussy eater and its a bit of a slow process for us unfortunatley :(

Good luck though- you're doing so well! :hug:
 
Thank you so much for the advice ladies!!

She fed at 1pm after her tongue tie being cut, then again at around 7pm, and she's fast asleep still!? Could it just be the trauma from today and the fact she was a grotbag yesterday and didn't sleep!? :think:

She must be starving!! :shock: xxx
 
She may well be tired from all the goings on today hun, but if you are concerned about her lack of feeding either wake her or you could try a dreamfeed.
 
Hiya Dannii,

Haven't been on here that much recently, just read your thread about the tongue tie procedure - really glad it went well, it must have been quite traumatic for you (probably more for you than Evie).

You're doing really well especially as expressing is such a pain in the neck (I've got no patience with it whatsoever). I was going to suggest nipple shields as they were a godsend for me but obviously you've tried those. I expect you're already using the Lanonin cream - that's really good stuff. I definitely agree about eating the oats - I nearly always have either oat crunch cereal or porridge for breakfast (with cream and honey of course) and I find that really makes the milk go made. I find personnally that I have to eat quite a bit more than usual to keep up the milk although I've put on a little weight - arrghhh!!

It will get better - just stick with it and you'll be fine.
 
Hi Dannii,

The nurses told me to drink a can of larger a day and eat mars bars or any other chocolate if i didnt fancy them.
I believe it takes around 6 weeks to get a good milk supply going and then expressing might be alittle easier.
When my supply started to drop the hospital told me to take donpridone tablets (think i've spelt it wrong!) its an anti sickness tablet, but the side affects are lactating!
Good luck and hope it gets easier soon for you.
 

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