Help super low milk supply

[lovevictoria]

My 10 months old baby is already eating solids. She breastfeed before getting up from bed and she eats cereal in the morning , 4oz of my milk at 9am, 3 jars at lunch time, 4oz of my milk at 3pm, three more jars at dinner and breasfeed at 10pm, 2am and again at 5am. I pump at work but I used to pump the amounto of milk that she'd consume the next day. Now from last week, my supply got really low. Im pumpin 3oz or less. I never had a big bank but tonight it is 3oz only. All this make me stressfull and worried because I dont want to go on formula after all this time struggling with breastfeeding and winning. Please tell me if it was normal for you to have that little amount of milk when your baby started growing.
PS. My baby is not fat. At 10 months her weight is 15pound because she has metabolic problems so her ped told me to keep on feeding her with food and cereal and give her the milk I can get.

[Shaunsmom]

That is not normal for me (and DD just turned one).

The amount of food your LO is eating seems like too much. The more solids that the baby is eating (without nursing and/or pumping), the less milk your body may make.

Someone more knowledgeable will come along. I'm not familiar with metabolic problems or how to address that portion.

FWIW, Our DD just started experimenting with more solids around almost 10 months. And not large amounts. Enough for her to try solids every now and then. Not at every meal and I nurse her fully before offering any solids now.

We have skipped infant cereal (low/no nutritional value and just yucky) and infant jarred foods.

[madelsmama]

Hi, Lovevictoria! Welcome!

Your milk is much more nutritionally dense than any solid food you're giving her, and it struck me, too, that she's eating so much solid food but only getting milk 4 times during the daytime (if I counted correctly :)).

It's possible that since she's been taking in so much solids during the day and less milk, your body has responded to that and now produces less. That said, has your menstral cycle returned, or could it be on the way? That affects supply (temporarily) as well.

How often do you pump at work?

You should consider nursing/giving a bottle while at daycare prior to offering any solid, making solids the priority for the first year. I would probably stop the cereal since it is pretty much calorically pointless and try higher calorie solids such as avocado, adding a little olive oil to her veggies, possibly a whole milk fat yogurt like yobaby.

To increase your supply, try nursing more often when together, and if possible, pumping more often during the day and after nursing the baby (increased demand=increased supply). Eat oatmeal and drink plenty of water.

[lovevictoria]

Thank you for the advices. I did not know about the yogurt and we will look for it ASAP. I do think she is eating too much solids but since 8oz is the best amount I can get to daycare for the day, not more than that and Im afraid that next week it could be even less, the ped thinks that it may help her sustain. And for the pumping. Yes Im pumping 4 times a day. Before going out, midmorning, noon, afternoon and night. But my work as an accountant is very stressing.

[MaLeah]

you can also can fenugreek to increase ur supply...i take it now and it works great

[Shaunsmom]

Aww! Stress also adds to a lower pumped amount. Is there anyway to try and relax before pumping?

Look at pics of your baby, bring something with you to work that smells like your baby...do anything to really just try and relax before pumping. That may help.

[Amy_G_]

and if focusing on baby doesn't help, try covering the pump with a towel and reading a book or magazine that isn't about babies, or watching a tv show or movie that interests you. if you usually nurse at home in front of your computer while nak, then try to take your laptop to the pumping room and surfing while pumping too. little things you do at home when you nurse, try doing them at work when you pump, whether it's a particular chair (or kind of chair), going to the bathroom, getting a drink of water and a snack--try to think of what you do at home while nursing and see if any of them you can do at work to help with the let down which is often psychological

[bedeilly]

I'm really glad to have found this thread, since I'm having the same issues. My DS is 9 and ahalf months old and nurses immediately upon waking, then cereal at 7am, usually 4 oz bottle in the am at daycare, 1 jar food and yogurt for lunch, and he somehow gets another 8-10 ounces of milk down in the afternoon (in bottles) before I get him at 5:30, 1 jar food and some finger foods for dinner at 6:00, then nurses again at 7:00 amd 9:30. I'm usually able to pump between 12 and 15 ounces per day, but this has dropped dramatically in the last week.

I'm doing the fenugreek again, since I had good luck with this when re-establishing my supply earlier in the year. Can someone please remind me of recommended dosage?

[Amy_G_]

http://www.kellymom.com/herbal/milksupply/fenugreek.html

[Bumpy]

This may not help you or the other post with the problem, but check the horns on your pump, make sure there are no hairline fractures or things like that, and you might need to make sure that your membranes are changed. this may help or maybe not, but it can make you pumping harder. this is what happened to me. I suddenly dropped from 16 ounces all the way down to 7 ounces. I just got up to 14-15 ounces now, after I bought new horns and membranes. I thought I could just share.

[bedeilly]

Dear bumpy - Thanks for the advice, very helpful. I started taking Fenugreek on Wed, so we'll see if that helps. I've had good luck with it in the past. But perhaps I should do as you and others suggest and get replacement parts for my pump. I have certainly gotten my money's worth out of it, but it's only logical that pieces need to be replaced after 9+ months of daily pumping.

Some other potential factors - I went away for 4 days in early August and left DS with my parents. I pumped 4x each day, and was able to stockpile about 70 oz of milk, but then soon after I returned, I noticed that I was unable to keep this going at the same level. i don't know if perhaps only pumping and not breastfeeding - the latter being more effective at maintaining supply - someone caused a drop in milk production. Seems rather dramatic, though. I've also heard it's possible that maybe I may soon begin menstruating again, which has not happened since before I got pregant. Who knows, but am willingly taking any and all advice. Neither my DS nor I are ready to hang up the horns yet, though he has more and more interest in solid food and won't finish all the bottles I send to daycare (14 oz).

[samiam]

6 jars a food a day sounds like a lot of food for a 10 month old. I would try upping your supply with the ideas listed here. I would also bf your baby as soon as you get home from work, that will help in and of itself and she will eat less food for dinner as well. I know you can add a bit of water to the bm itself to make it go a little furthur but by no means would I recommend this on a daily basis.

Remember too that pumping is not as effective as actual bfding and you will not get as much with a pump as you would if she were nursing. I would increase sessions or times if at all possible. If you can I would feed before you go to work and after she has woken for her morning feeding if time allows. When I did this with my kids before work they usually didn't even get hungry again until 10-11am. They would then have a bottle and maybe one more around 2-3ish and would then be hungry when I got home. You can ask the daycare to try and hold off on that last bottle till you get there as well.

[neha_nanda80]

Hi, Lovevictoria! Welcome!

Your milk is much more nutritionally dense than any solid food you're giving her, and it struck me, too, that she's eating so much solid food but only getting milk 4 times during the daytime (if I counted correctly :)).

It's possible that since she's been taking in so much solids during the day and less milk, your body has responded to that and now produces less. That said, has your menstral cycle returned, or could it be on the way? That affects supply (temporarily) as well.

How often do you pump at work?

You should consider nursing/giving a bottle while at daycare prior to offering any solid, making solids the priority for the first year. I would probably stop the cereal since it is pretty much calorically pointless and try higher calorie solids such as avocado, adding a little olive oil to her veggies, possibly a whole milk fat yogurt like yobaby.

To increase your supply, try nursing more often when together, and if possible, pumping more often during the day and after nursing the baby (increased demand=increased supply). Eat oatmeal and drink plenty of water.


suggest u to pump more, take fenugreek, sleep without stress, try spending more time with ur daughter