Ok mommas, I have a 2 week old preemie girl, 5 lbs 13 oz. She is having a growth spurt so she is nursing every 1-2 hours. After 2 days I expected my milk supply to pick up to support her, but it has not. I have had to give her a few oz of formula today to fill her up. What is a safe and natural supplement to help increase my milk supply?
Thanks for all the great advice. Adding more water did the trick. She is back to sleeping two 5 hour stretches at night and then nursing every few hours during the day.
WATER & FENUGREEK worked for me. Also La Leche was a great help! Good luck, don't give up. I had a premmie too. Just keep feeding her...
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drink lots of water and a beer a day. I know that sounds retarded but that is what my dr told me after my daughter was born. Beer has yeast in it and yeast will make your production go up and milk be thicker. No more than 1 though or it will leave your milk with a funny taste. It worked for me (although i hate the taste of beer.)
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If you enterin breast milk increase on your search engine, it will give you several sites for a tea that helps produce more milk. I just drank tons of cranberry juice and it worked. My nurse in the hospital told me to drink it and chocolate milk. I thought she was crazy. But it really works. Just drink a ton of fluids!!! Try to pump in between too. That may also help you.
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blessed thistle buy at store or prescription for regulin or something like that
Drink a lot of water.....
WATER, WATER, WATER!!! Drinks lots of it. Your body will turn it into milk!!
cut the formula = supplementing will not allow your body to catch up, the way i increased my milk was by doubling my protein intake - it makes your milk richer and more satisfying
Congratulations A. on your baby!
First of all, most bf'd babies I know nurse every 90min to 2hrs on a regular basis and then get more frequent during growth spurts... Breast milk digests in 90min so this is completely normal!
Lots of ways to increase supply:
First I want to say: La Leche League is a phenomenal resource! LLL has awesome leaders that are always help and I know they do (free) phone consults. I don’t see any meetings in your area, but a phone call can accomplish a lot. http://www.llli.org//Web/Texas.html
http://www.lllusa.org/AROK/oklahoma.html
Pumping: If you pump at home, you could try pumping after you nurse, as well as pumping while nursing. Put your baby on one side and the pump on the other side. This will take advantage of the letdown that happens for your baby and help you get more pumped out. Your baby is much more efficient at getting your milk out than a pump will ever be, so don't freak out if you don't get much out.
Also for milk supply:
- Nurse on demand. Don't try to schedule your baby. The more you nurse, the more milk you’ll have. Breast milk is a Demand and Supply type thing – baby Demands it so your body Supplies it.
-DON'T supplemment with formula unless absolutely necessary. Your local LLL leader can help you determine this.
-Water! Make sure you're getting at least 64oz daily and then drink to thirst after that. Anything less will not be enough!
-Traditional Medicinal makes a "Mother's Milk" herbal tea - it's really great for boosting supply. You have to drink '3 cups' or more a day. Since I'm not a tea drinker, I made a half-gallon pitcher of it and drank it cold with a little xylitol/sugar in it. It’s not the most wonderful tasting tea, but I’ve had teas that are much more bitter than this one!
- Blessed Thistle and Fenugreek work wonders for a lot of mamas. When it comes to Fenugreek, you know you’re getting enough when your body fluids smell like maple syrup. Fennel, alfalfa and chamomile can also help – but those have gotten more mixed reviews among my friends.
-Stay close to your babe. Wear him. Do you have a sling? If not, I would recommend getting one from somewhere. You can find them on e-bay for about $30+shipping. My recommendation would be for a fan-tail style so that you can use the same sling as your baby gets older/bigger. Wherever you get yours from (craigslist.com, e-bay, me), if you want help figuring out how to wear your baby, there are videos online to show you how other moms do it.
My personal opinion - I recommend against the bjourns - they put most/all of the baby's weight on the crotch/groin area and spread little baby hips unnaturally, both of which can cause damage.
-Co-sleep if it's safe for you to do so - you can nurse him more, thus increasing your supply. It is safe to co-sleep with your baby unless you are very overweight, smoke or have consumed much alcohol. Even if it’s just naps on the weekends…the closer, the more often, the better.
. -All the 'staying close' you can do will help your body hormonally to produce more milk.
- There are certain stretches and pressure points that you can do before nursing/pumping to aid the let-down reflex.
1.) Roll your shoulders around to stimulate between your shoulder blades and spine. 2.) Cross your arms at/near the wrists and, using your knuckles, rub your chest. 3.) Take 3 deep, cleansing breaths. Remember, you will be able to nurse/pump more if you are relaxed.
Something I think my working mom friends would suggest: When arriving home on Friday, change into a button up shirt and sling/wear your baby skin-to-skin. Your body will respond to this closeness by increasing certain hormones that aid milk supply. Wear your baby as much as you can the whole weekend (and weeknights, too if you can). The more you can be skin-to-skin (or close to it), the better.
I would recommend trying all the things listed here before getting your doc to prescribe Reglan. Anything you take will have side effects. Reglan has fewer side effects than some other Rx galactagogues that
I’ve also heard that certain beers are handy for increasing supply, but I don’t know anyone with personal experience with this. I don't know how much of it is chemical, and how much of it may be the relaxing effect alcohol invariably has :-)
Also, kellymom.com has some good articles and helpful advice
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/index.html
I know this was long, but I hope that you find some of it helpful!
K., mama to
Catherine, 4.5y
Samuel, 16m
things ive heard mothers milk tea, oatmeal, pumping in between feedings, fluids.
I have never breastfed any of my 3 children but I have heard that the best thing to do is wash with warm water. What might be able to help you is applying a warm cloth over your breast for a few minutes and then pump right after.
Good luck...
The best natural remedy to increase low milk supply is healthy nursing tea. It increased my supply when I was low on breast milk production.
