my boobs are letting me down

[kellylou]

Am so upset have been struggling to bf for the past week or so we have been away since monday and i bought some aptamil to top up his feeds at night but as a suprise hubby booked me in for massage on tues but it meant i couldnt bf for 24 hours as it contained fennel so poor alex hd day on formula and us now constipated. I hand expressed yesterday nd got four ozs and today tried to feed him several times but it resulted in screming and he took hardly anything and had to hve formula agin i really want him bk on the boob but today ive only got one oz expressed and i dont know what to do.

Have i messed it all up nd my milks gone? Can i get it bk? Any experience and advice? I feel ao down i never thought i was that bothered but i really am

 

[titch]

My breast feeding specialist told me that even if you only have a tiny drop of milk you can build the supply up, it would have to be completely gone before you would have to give up.

There is a drug called domperidone your GP can prescribe, or you can take fenugreek supplements from a health food shop which increase supply for some people. What I used to do was make a feed ready and then try to encourage LO to breast feed. If he got wound up like you describe I would give him half the bottle feed to calm him down then try again. You need him trying to feed often to get your supply back. your milk responds to changes very quickly as youve found out, but it comes back very quickly too. See if you can get to see a breast feeding specialist sooner rather than later. My health visitor referred me.

 

[kellylou]

Thanks will call when i get home tomorrow got aching pains now and stomach cramps just hope i can sort it out.

 

[Sam's Mum]

The amount you can express isn't really an indication of how much you've got in there, so don't let that worry you too much. The best thing you can do to build your supply back up (also worth trying fenugreek as tiny suggested) is get him on there as often as possible if you can - even if there's less there than usual, if you can get him to feed that will stimulate production of more milk. Instead of waiting until he's due a feed and very hungry, you could try feeding him an hour before you think he'd usually need to so that he doesn't get frustrated when he has to wait for the let down x

 

[kellylou]

Thanks ladies i managed to feed him at about 3.50am this morning and again at 8ish so am hoping to keep going have ordered fenugreek so hopefully it should be at home when i get back

 

[Minchin]

Hey hon
Good advice fromt he girls. Fenugreek is amazing and works fast. Good lluck xx

 

[Rayoflight]

Fenugreek is the schniz and oats too!

You mentioned not bring able to feed for 24hrs after the massage because of fennel. I've never heard this. Made soup with fennel and a curry with it in this week. I have fennel tea and a tea specifically for new mums with fennel in.

Why did they say you couldn't feed?

 

[ZMD]

i went threw allot of stress and Fenugreek got my supply back great! its buy one get one half price in holland and Barrett xx

 

[xxbeckyxx]

Glad things are starting to improve with you Kelly. I found that with hand expressing I wasn't getting the let-down reflex so it wasn't at all relevant in terms of how much milk I had for baby

Lizzie has had a couple of bottle feeds recently and she's always reluctant to suckle on the boob properly afterwards so maybe he just got used to getting lots of milk really easily from a bottle?

 

[kellylou]

Fenugreek is the schniz and oats too!

You mentioned not bring able to feed for 24hrs after the massage because of fennel. I've never heard this. Made soup with fennel and a curry with it in this week. I have fennel tea and a tea specifically for new mums with fennel in.

Why did they say you couldn't feed?

Well she said she had checked with her manager and its not nice for baby and as the treatment was a dwtox one it wasnt suitable to give baby breastmilk but i have read that mothers milk tea contains fennel. Hubby has suggested investing in an electric pump as i have a tt manual but dont want to invest if i still can express today is a nigjtmare feeding again he suckles for 10 mins max then comes off crying and the scrscreaming i camt cope with as he is now constipated too. My mum keeps ushing me to top him up with bottle so hes getting enough but surely if hes that hungry he will go bck on breast argh roll on tues when i can get to support group

 

[kellylou]

Will be so annoyed if the advice given to me was wrong and caused all this unnecessarily