Not Able to Pump!

The main issue of you not having much to pump now is that your supply has matured and become tailored to your child. The best time to pump and get stocked up is the first 4 months.

After saying this... try these things, and it should improve.

1) oatmeal!

2) keep very hydrated and eat at least 500 calories more than usual of healthy foods

3) Either add Blessed Thistle, or get the Fenugreek/Blessed Thistle compound. They work with each other to boost properties of both herbs. With fenugreek - you should be taking enough so that your sweat and urine smells like maple syrup. If that isn't happening, you aren't taking enough.

4) pump pump pump - pump a lot more than you usually do.

One of the things women need to remember is that eating is also a VERY important part of nursing. Not only do you need a MINIMUM of 32 ozs of water per day you need to be sure you are eating around 500 additional calories per day of GOOD food, not junk. Without your body being properly nourished it will have a hard time producing no matter how much water you drink. Another thing you can look into doing is pumping for 5 minutes per side each time you nurse. I did this with my 2nd and it increased my milk supply substantially. Keep in mind that pumping after you nurse will not give you much milk until the supply comes in more.

Good luck to you!

Inadequate nutrition and stress are the most common causes of being unable to pump. First, make sure you eat and drink enough. Second, relax, rest and do whatever you can to be calm, peaceful and happy when you pump. Some people find that smelling their baby's clothes or looking at a picture of their baby helps them get let down and pump. I personally found reading a magazine, talking on the phone or watching something funny on TV helped. Anything that took my mind off pumping and missing my baby while at work helped. But when I was constantly looking to see if I was getting any milk or thinking about pumping, I never got any. When I totally forgot that I was attached to an obnoxious breast pump, the milk would flow like a river. The stress of the holidays or knowing that you will be working a lot soon might also be the problem. So relax, keep pumping and you will get milk. Good luck.

My co-worker taught me the coolest trick... and it worked every time for both of us. Drink a hot cup of cocoa right before you pump. It must warm you from the inside and I always got WAY more milk when pumping when I did this at work. It seems so simple and kinda silly but it worked for me!

Oh I've so been there! I pumped in the beginning like a madman and then tapered off as she was exclusively b-fed and I was at home. Then around 4 months her weight range dropped from 20% to 5% and her pediatrician wanted me to start measuring how much I was producing by pumping (a bad metric I learned later) and I was horrified to see that I could only produce .5 ounces max from each side. I was desperately worried that this was why my baby wasn't gaining weight on the same curve and pumped and measured and took all of the herbals and then started her on solids early. Nothing worked to increase my pumping amounts and I finally learned that pumping just doesn't work for some women after 4-6 months when supply gets firmly established. I drank TONS of water, ate healthy extra calories, Fenugreek, Mother's Milk Tea, Mother's Milk supplements, Organic supplements....none of it worked for me - and I tried for MONTHS. I finally stopped pumping all together and just stopped worrying. My daughter nursed successfully for 25 months and is still in the 5% for weight, so now I realize that that is actually her normal range and I was fretting over nothing :)

Now if I have to pump because I'm working, and I might be after #2 arrives, and I'm suddenly not able to keep up, I will definitely talk to my Ped about Reglan and Domperidone. Reglan is an anti-nausea medication and Domperidone is a GI/intestinal medication and both have proven to be effective for milk production. They're commonly used by mothers of multiples to help keep production up. Here's more info on Domperidone http://www.breastfeedingonline.com/domperidone.shtml Good luck, Mama!

I don't have a lot of suggestions for increasing supply -- I did the fenegreek and mother's milk tea, and saw marginal results (but marginal was better than nothing!).

My doctor recommended mixing cereal with tap water for the floride, and we also did a small amount of apple juice to add taste and help with the constipation that the cereal brought on.

I pumped three days a week from when both my boys were 3 mos. - 13 mos., and at six months I was pumping about 10-12 ounces. My oldest wanted more when he was as daycare and I had to send extra frozen milk or a couple of ounces of formula; my youngest never drank more than 9 ounces while away from me. I'd guess that you're making the amount baby drinks normally, but his habits change when mama's not around:)

One last thing -- I never tried this, but if baby sleeps well at night, you could try waking up to pump. I knew a mom who did that once her baby was sleeping well at night -- even though baby slept, she pumped at the times baby used to wake up at night.

Good luck. I constantly worried about milk supply with my first!

are you stressed? i mean, who ISNT a little stressed this time of year. its likely that the stress is preventing let down. have yourself a relaxing day. dont do any chores, just read, watch movies, relax with your chlidren, whatever you need to do to get some relaxation will help you. just keep doing what you have been doing.

and remember, even though hes starting solids that does not mean he needs less milk. breastmilk is still the sole form of nutrition for all kids under a year. breastmilk comes first. solids come later - basically for infants solids are for texture, tastes and fun, not for nutrition or food. so just relax - nurse nurse nurse on demand, and put breastfeeding first. you are going to be busy, you are going to be tired, but its WORTH it. :)

get ahold of la leche league in your area. www.llli.org. they will have a lot of help for you, both in the form of "information" and mom tested experience. :)