Breast Feeding - Rochester,MN

The breast milk herbs work. Get some mothers milk tea and drink it. But RELAX. My supply always decreased with stress. Get as much sleep as you can. Drink TONS of water.

If you want your milk to come in and to be plentiful then nurse baby as often as she needs it. Your milk doesn't normally come in at 48 hours in. If she's acting hungry nurse her! You won't get much colostrum when you pump at this stage in the game and you really shouldn't be pumping it anyway. She needs to get it directly from you. That is truly the liquid gold.

It is perfectly normal for you to feel like she might be hungry all the time at this point. Breastfed babies will nurse every 1.5-3 hours. You start timing when you start nursing not when you finish. So if you start at 1 and it takes say 30 min she might want to eat again at 2:30 when you feel like you just finished at 1:30. Perfectly normal!

Also, the more formula you give her the less milk you are telling your body to make. Breastmilk is supply and demand. More demand=better supply.

Just be confident in your ability to feed your baby and follow her cues and you won't go wrong!

first of all; RELAX

second, your baby is "so hungry" because she is stimulating your breasts to get your milk to come in. the key to getting your milk to come in is your baby nursing. DO NOT interfere with this process right now. no formula, no pumping. you will have enough milk to start pumping later. do not worry!! you want to get into the routine and habit of NURSING her, not pumping not feeding her a bottle. if you are serious about nursing, you will focus on getting her nursing ON DEMAND, not on schedule.

whenever your baby is "so hungry" that means that she is trying to increase (or in this case, start) your milk supply. it is VITALLY important that you allow her to nurse, regardless of whether or not you think she is getting anything. and really, pumping right now is unneccessary.
remember; NUMBER ONE most important piece of information; your pumping or manually expressing milk is NEVER a good estimation on how much milk you are producing or have. you will NEVER be able to get milk out as efficiently as your baby. and your breasts are ALWAYS making more milk, even if it seems as if you are "empty". and if you think shes not getting anything, it is still VITAL she nurse because thats how your body gets cued to make more milk. nurse nurse nurse! right now, yes, you ARE supposed to be a pacifier for her.

contact a local or nearby la leche league leader. www.llli.org
she will be able to help you further. but seriously, nurse, on demand, no bottles, no pumping. you will have time for this later. the first month is the establishment time, and your baby is the only thing that will properly stimulate your milk supply. if you dont put her nursing first, your milk supply is going to be affected.

www.askdrsears.com is a great resource. go to amazon; the womanly art of breastfeeding is a GREAT book that has EVERYTHING you will need.

just nurse, and nurse first! good luck! you can DO this!

It took 4-5 days for my milk to come in with both kids, just be patient it will happen. Be sure to drink plenty of water, and I would nurse first and if she is still hungry then give a little formula after. I pumped in the Hospital after my c-section, and fed the baby colostrum, all the stimulation will help your milk come in faster.

Nurse as much as possible... every time she licks her lips or puckers her face up stick your nipple in her mouth. The stimulation, and lack of supply to meet demand is what causes your body to bulk up the supply. The more she nurses an "empty breast" the more milk your body will produce and the faster it will produce it. It typically takes 24-72 hours for your body to match supply with demand.

Ditto, drink yourself sick and tired of drinking. You've just lost a LOT of fluid from giving birth, but have to be well hydrated in order to nurse. The goal: peeing once an hour, every hour, and each time having it be clear. Don't wait until you're thirsty to drink. Thirst is the first sign of dehydration. If you're thirsty, you're already dehydrated.

Milk doenst normally start till the 3rd or 4th day post birth, so you are right on track. Dont stress about giving her formula -- its ok.

I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to store ur milk in the 6 weeks that u'll be home. From what i understand, the breast works on supply and demand -- so the more demand, it willl supply.

Its always stressful, esp with first baby (we;ve all been there). Stress can be counterproductive to milk supply -- try to relax. As long as baby has wet diapers and poopy diapers, she is getting adequate nutrition. Remember that each child is different -- also normall for newborns to lose weight during first 2 weeks, then they gain it all back.

U need to rest and heal, congrats on the new bundle of joy -- and hope u have help to get u started when u are home =)

First of all, congratulations on your baby!

Second of all, congratulations on a successful start breastfeeding!

Third, try to relax a little bit. I know 6 weeks is a really short amount of time to have off, and I understand the urge to stock up, but your body is really trying to figure out what the heck is going on right now. I think getting her used to the bottle is a good idea (I started doing both at about day 3 with both kids), so giving her one bottle per day of either expressed breast milk or formula is fine. But if you want to get your milk supply going, just nurse her as much as possible. In about a week when your pattern is really established, you can try adding in an extra "feeding" or two in the form of pumping. But right now you want to make sure that the baby is getting as much milk as you've got. She'll be more effective at building up your supply than a pump anyway.

Finally, we all know breast is best. But I also know how very tough it is to have to go back to work (I had longer than 6 weeks and it still felt very short). You are not, and will not be, a failure if you have to supplement with formula. Whatever breast milk you can give her is wonderful. If you can store up, that's great. If you have to pump at work and supplement after that, that's fine too. Don't ever let anyone beat you up about how you feed your baby, because that is the most important thing - that you're feeding her and she's thriving.

Good luck!

My sons both used breast milk and formula from birth, and had no problem switching back and forth, so do not worry about that. Make sure you keep trying if you do want your milk to come in. My doctor said to breast feed first, and than top it off with formula if the baby was still hungry.

With my first baby, my milk did not come in for two weeks. I remember using the pump to see what was coming out, and lifting up the bottle and crying when it was not even a quarter of an ounce. We supplemented with formula until the milk came in.

The good news is that once it was in, it was in and we were off and running.

For the second baby, I immediately asked the nurse for a hospital grade pump and immediately started pumping to increase my supply. It worked!

With my third, I never had a problem.

So you are doing what you can. You just need to relax, enjoy that baby, drink lots of water and sleep when you can. Congratulations!

My milk came in at about 4 days both times. I would just nurse every couple hours and give it a couple more days. I don't think colostrum is something you can really express, so just nurse a lot and see how it goes. If she seems satisfied between feedings and she is urinating frequently she is good. If her diaper stays dry too long, then yes, do supplement. I don't quite remember how many we diapers she should have, but I am sure your paperwork from the hospital will give you more instruction. My paperwork had this little chart and I would check off each time my little guy went to the bathroom. It eased my mind so much, so I would let that be my guide if I were you. Take care and I wish you all the best, congrats!!

Okay. Here's the big factor: water. You need to up and drink plenty of water. Every time you pump. Grab a cup or bottle of water. Your body needs it to replenish. Your milk supply will come in- but don't allow your body to dehydrate.

Your milk will come in. For some women, its a few days. For others, it can be up to a week. The colostrum you are giving is essential though. Your body is transitioning. Its okay to give the formula while your body is making this transition.

I learned this in nursing school (and also through nursing my 4 kids- it works, believe me).To help with let down of your milk when it comes in, take a hot shower and let the hot water fall on your chest or place hot, warm wet cloths on your breasts.

Pumping is necessary, even if its frustrating at this time. Your milk will come. Drinking lots of fluids is ESSENTIAL though to having a plentiful milk supply.

Keep nursing. It will come it in time. If you supplement with formula, your milk will not come as well so don't do it. It always took me 3-4 days before my milk would come in and the doctors would always rush me because my babies were usually in NICU and they would say that their blood sugar was too low etc. But you can't rush that sort of thing...LOL I never supplemented and I had plenty of milk once it did finally come in.... Congratulations!!!

Just nurse as much as you can this first week...it will help get her all the nutrition she needs and will really get your supply going. Then you can start pumping and saving/freezing.

Do make sure you introduce a bottle (sounds like you have already, yea!)...I didn't with my second child and she ended up refusing to even take one (I tried every nipple/bottle/etc under the sun, but she only wanted the breast...*sigh*)

Anyways, don't worry about supplementing with formula a bit. My son ate about 60% breast milk and 40% formula. He was my first and he is the healthiest of my 2 children.

So back to the advice I am trying to give you...take this first week to let her nurse and build your supply...give her a bottle with some formula if she seems still hungry after nursing (and don't worry about it)...and try and enjoy your daughter and your time off.

Keep pumping regularly, that helps your milk come in faster, and fuller too. Your body will respond, for it knows what to do. Just be patient, sometimes it takes a little longer than usual.

You can take fenugreek which is a pill and or the mothers milk tea. You can find both at like a whole foods store. Also lots of fluids. She is supposed to loose a bit right now don’t stress if she is still loosing weight at her one week check up try giving her a bottle after she nurses. Or if you have the money and the patience bc it takes a min to learn buy a supplemental nursing system that way you get the stimulation and she gets the extra calories. I have 2 babies neither of which I was able to exclusively nurse due to poor supply. With my first I fought and fought for 2 months with him loosing weight and neither of us sleeping until he finally rejected me and would scream every time I tried to nurse him. With my now 7 month old I started giving him a bottle after he finished nursing and he is still going strong he takes a couple bottles a day. I don’t know if the way things happened helped. He used the breastflow bottles they make them open there mouth wide to get the milk. He started out with the Playtex but they ruined his latch.

http://www.breastfeeding.com/all_about/fenugreek/all_abou...

http://www.amazon.com/Natures-Way-Fenugreek-Capsules-180e...

http://www.amazon.com/Traditional-Medicinals-Organic-Moth...

http://www.medelabreastfeedingus.com/products/breastfeedi...

http://www.amazon.com/Medela-00901S-Supplemental-Nursing-...

http://www.target.com/First-Years-Breastflow-Bottles-9oz/...

an old fashion thing is drink a small amount of beer, not whole can just a few sips.

The more you nurse, the faster it comes in. Nurse at least every 1.5 hours, even if it is just 10 minutes (I would ditch the pump for now - baby is best). And make SURE she is latched on DEEP enough to stimulate the milk flow (a shallow latch won't work very well). Basically park your butt in a chair for long stretches and catch up on tv or a book and just nurse, nurse, nurse.

Also, if you go on milkshare (http://milkshare.birthingforlife.com/

or Eats on Feets http://www.eatsonfeets.org/
and you can get breastmilk from moms in your area FOR FREE. We breastfeeding moms really stick together and they will happily help you out :)

Remember - nurse, nurse, nurse. Baby is the best pump of all! If you do feel you need to supplement, use an SNS system to keep stimulating those boobies. DO NOT GIVE HER A BOTTLE YET!!!! This can REALLY confuse her ability to latch!!! Here is the link to SNS systems: http://www.medelabreastfeedingus.com/products/breastfeedi...

Peace :) Contact me if you need anything - I run a huge breastfeeding club and am a peer boobie counselor

I totally agree with the response about demand feeding. I let my newborn son nurse whenever he wanted as often as he wanted and my milk was in within 48 hours and he had regained all but one ounce of his birthweight by the time we left the hospital. He knows what to do......just let him do it all as often as he wants.
Good luck.

She is probably cluster feeding. It may seem like she wants to nurse non-stop. That is what will bring in your milk. For me that was the worst part of breast feeding. It should only last a day or so. Nursing follows the laws of supply and demand. The more you nurse, the more you will produce. Keep at it. Until your milk comes in, you probably won't get much at all when you pump. At this point her little tummy is just the size of a marble.

If she is wetting enough diapers (don't worry about how much she is pooping, that's not important right now) she is eating enough. You can't really express colostrum, as it is so concentrated.

Please don't supplement with formula (if your doctor suggested that, stop asking that doc for bf advice and find a good lactation consultant, that doc doesn't know what he/she's talking about having you supplement so early in the game!) it will only inhibit you from making milk, as the baby needs to be at your breast to cue your body into making what she needs.

It takes 2-3 days for the milk to come in, be patient, the pumping you are doing right now is cuing your body to make more milk, but you won't get much to freeze until the 4th or 5th day. Nurse on demand, as often as she wants. If she's not nursing at least every 2-3 hours, then put her to the breast more often. She is getting everything she needs from the small amount of colostrum you are producing.

Congrats on your new baby!