More Milk Please

You can also take goat's rue as it will actually encourage your body to make MORE glandular tissue for milk production. Google "lactation cookies", make and enjoy. Can you encourage your little one to nurse more frequently than 3-4 hours? The more she nurses the more you'll make.

Just out of curiosity, how do you know you are loosing your supply?

Look at your daughter not at the pump! The pump is not a good judge of milk supply as your daughter will be so much better at getting the milk out. Is she gaining weight? Happy after a nursing session? Meeting all her milestones and having plenty of wet and poopy diapers? Some babies are just fast nursers. As long as she is happy then I would not worry about it. Are you nursing on demand? Is she nursing at night at all?

I didnt' read the other replies, but oatmeal can help too. Anything with oatmeal-cookies, etc.

The absolute best thing is to nurse to increase your supply. If you can get skin-to-skin contact with her and nurse nurse nurse, your supply will increase.

Make sure you aren't taking cold or allergy meds that might decrease your supply too.

I would call a lactation consultant (IBCLC) if you still have decreasing supply. There is one, Peggy Healy, who is really amazing, in the Chicago area.

Kudos to you for nursing!
M.

Just a few suggestions....maybe you're actually drinking too much water? Drinking too much will actually flush extra fluids from your body. 64 ounces is plenty = 2 litres. Also, co-sleeping can help....if that's somewhere you're willing to go :) I'm currently nursing my third and have found that extra protein helps me when I've felt like my supply was dwindling. You could ask your doc for a prescription for domperidone (sp?) Mostly though, just relax and make sure you're getting enough sleep.

I found almonds and almond milk to help my supply. Also, lots of moms mention milk supply dropping between 8 and 12 months, and inevitably when I ask them if they're trying to lose weight, they almost always say yes. Make sure you're eating enough! Dieting is a sure-fire way to reduce your supply.

Since nursing her in a dark, uninterrupted place isn't working great (which is a great idea, btw), try doing the opposite. Let her nurse while sitting up and looking around. Try reading to her while she nurses, or giving her a small toy to play with (something new and different from the nursing necklace). My daughter went through this too around the same age and I just kept nursing her constantly for two minutes at a time, but it regulated itself eventually and I nursed her until I decided to stop at around 15 months.

I think you are probably ok. Remember every child is different and may have varying milk needs. With my first, I was lucky to pump 4 oz. But with my second my supply was through the roof. Also, remember once you introduce solids, their demand will dip, even if you are nursing before meals. The best thing you can keep doing is simply nurse her on demand and don't get fixated on the numbers game. Trust that your body is making the amount that your baby needs. You should be able to make it to 12 mos no problem! If you are still nervous, my lactation consultant recommends More Milk Plus, which you can find at Whole Foods or on Amazon. I've heard good things. Good luck and keep up the good work!

i guess it wold be helpful to know why you think you are loosing supply? its common for you to no longer feel "full" or a let down as they get older. also they nurse far more efficiently so they dont need to be on a s long. also with teething they may go on more frequently to sooth their gums. also if you are getting your cycle back youll have a dip in supply right before you get it back usually makes you a little sore since they tend to suck more to get a faster flow. why do you think you are losing your milk? that is actually pretty rare without some sort of hormonal factor

Wow! You are amazing in all that you are doing. My grandma completely lost her milk but brought it back with huge amounts of liquids including lots of soups. I know someone else that helps her milk by drinking a beer occasionally...she's had 6 kids and nursed them all. I hope that something works for you b/c you are trying so hard and that's super commendable. :)

Wishing you the best,
H.

Just wondering, are you dieting. You can dry up your milk supply if you cut too many calories out of your diet. You should be eating at least 1500 calories and preferably 1800 while breastfeeding.

Hi there! I haven't read all the responses, but a couple quick tips:

-Solid foods can interfere with the baby's desire to nurse. Give solids at this age as an after-nursing "dessert." Your milk is full of the calories, good fats, etc. that your baby needs!
- Lots and lots of nursing...no need to watch the clock.
- Try to give lots of chances for baby to nurse when she's relaxed and cuddly, perhaps in a quiet room. Or take a bath with her. Or just spend a lot of time at home with baby in a carrier with your shirt off, making nursing readily available and enticing.
- Sage, parsley, and peppermint (think: Altoids) can hurt supply.
- Have you had your hormones tested?

I HIGHLY recommend the book "The Breastfeeding Mother's Guide to Making More Milk." It helps you figure out where problems might be (with the baby vs. with you) and work through things. I read it and loved it...aside from helping with problems, it made me feel not so abnormal for having supply struggles!
http://www.amazon.com/Breastfeeding-Mothers-Guide-Making-...

Also, you can look up a La Leche League group in your area and attend a meeting where you'll find more support. Way to go trying to work through this!

When my milk supply was starting to stop (mine only lasted 3 weeks), my doctor told me to drink a beer a day (1 can) and after I drink the beer, I pump and dump for 3 hours and then my milk would be good. They said it works for alot of people, but it didn't work for me, they also put me on a prescription that was suppose to help, called Reglan. That didn't help either, but they said it helps alot of others. My body just wasn't made to have babies or produce milk. But, I'm extremely with the one and only I have.

As a mother of 2, nursed my daughter for 21 months and my son now who is 20 months and still nursing, I would recommend More milk plus capsules from Mother Love. It contains Fenugreek, Blessed Thistle, Nettle and Fennel Seed. I always saw a significant increase in milk supply within 36 hours.

This might be out there but have you taken a pregnancy test? Another reason why milk sometimes goes down could be if you were pregnant again. Also, my milk supply definately didn't last as long with my second as my first. Not sure why...it just seemed to dry up qucker with the second. I pretty much had to stop nursing after 6 mths with my second, and at about 9 mths with my first since I got pregnant again. Just a thought. Good luck!

Please don't do Reglan. This can cause irreversable damage to your CNS, AND it can surely cause problems in the child. Reglan inhibits the action of dopamine which allows more prolactin. Yes, it will cause a person to produce more milk, but now you have an increase in a gonatropin circulating in your system. High gonatropin hormones (hyperprolactinemia) cause infertility , shrinking breast, absence of menses,agression,hair loss,osteoporosis,heart disease,and loss of smell. In the male, in can cause low testosterone. Low testosterone can cause ALL kinds of disease and is linked to mental decline just for starters. You do not want to mess with your hormone levels which will affect your child's hormone levels. If you are taking this drug it wil be in your milk, I don't care what the doctors say. This drug is still not even really approved for anything but a real short term.

I study the endocrine system and there are reasons why children do not suckle as they should. It is more likely that you are not producing more milk because the child has a weak suck reflex or weak desire to feed, (and your body is responding accordingly to diminishing demand) rather than you having a defect in your "ability" to milk. Your goal then should not be to induce more milk but to get the child to be able to feed. A lack of desire/ability to eat/suckle/thrive is related to LOW CORTISOL hormones in the child. Low cortisol has become quite common, about epidemic I would say, although doctors will go out of their way to avoid diagnosing it.

I just responded to a mother on here last week with children who were not gaining weight or eating and indeed when she had the cortisol tested- it was LOW.

The best home remedy which helped me increasing my low breast milk supply was Healthy nursing tea. This is an organic herbal tea supplement with no side effects.