Is it really worth it?

[JCM]

I am ready to stop nurseing. I have been mostly pumpimg and just nurseing in the morning when I am most full. But my supply had been slowly dropping for a while now and - the most I pump in a day is about 2 oz maybe a little more if I am lucky. If I pump in the morning when I am "full" i get about 1 1/2 oz . I know flu season is here and I want to give her all the protection I can but I have tried everything and its just not increaseing. My dd is 10 months old now. I have been taking the More Milk drops for about a month without much differece. I drink 13 cups of water a day. (which is soo hard to do) I have a PISA pump. I just dont know what else I can do. I know nurseing her is the best way to increase supply but she wont nurse if she cant get anything out. Im sooo upset.
Oh I wanted to add the I was pumping every 3 hours then I thought every 2 hours would be better but that didnt do much either.

[whitnessforhim]

I exclusively pumped for DD for the first 4mo. before finally getting her back to the breast. I know how hard and time consuming pumping can be. At 4mo. my supply had dipped because pumping wasn't sufficient in keeping my supply up so it was a challenge getting DD to nurse when it wasn't flowing like the bottle. What really helped me is I picked a long weekend where I could stay home from work and spend all day nursing and pumping. I would offer my breast, nurse her for as long as she was willing and then I'd pump 10-15mins after she nursed. I did this for a 48hr period (excluding middle of the night) and this gave my supply a great boost.

Fenugreek and drinking lots of water never helped with my supply issues. I hope this helps!

[Sweetbabs]

Ditch the pump and nurse, nurse, nurse.

[debsmooth]

Ditch the pump and nurse, nurse, nurse.


Agree 100%. Get into bed with a bare chest and a baby in just a diaper and nurse all day. Get into it. Think "YES! I can do this! I have milk. I can nourish this child with just my body." Invent survivalist scenarios where the world ends and you have no choice but to nurse that baby. There IS no formula. I tell you it works. I went from producing no more than you are now to a nearly 15 pound 2.5 month old using the technique described above. If you want this to happen you gotta make it happen.

[JCM]

What should I do if she wont nurse?- she will latch on suck for about 30 seconds then pop off. I even insisted one time and she bit me! You dont think its too late to get her on the breast often at 10 months old? Should I give her less solids? She eats homemade fruits and veggies and cereal.
I really wanted to give her breast milk for as long as I can. I was wondering how often the tubing should be changed on the pump? I know nurse nurse nurse and I will try that but I was just wondering about the tubes.

[debsmooth]

What should I do if she wont nurse?- she will latch on suck for about 30 seconds then pop off. I even insisted one time and she bit me! You dont think its too late to get her on the breast often at 10 months old? Should I give her less solids? She eats homemade fruits and veggies and cereal.
I really wanted to give her breast milk for as long as I can. I was wondering how often the tubing should be changed on the pump? I know nurse nurse nurse and I will try that but I was just wondering about the tubes.

I think this is a job for a certified lactation consultant. I think you can get her to nurse but you will need a specialist and you will need to live through some frustrating moments. The bottle and the breast act very differently in the mouth of a baby. She probably does not get what she's supposed to do. Get someone in for a day to help you. I have no doubt you can relactate with some determination.

[Sweetbabs]

I changed my tubing at like 5 months you can find it on amazon.com. I would change the tubing and inspect the rest of the parts as well if you feel you are not getting good suction. If you still feel the pump is not working properly call the company. I got a new pump over night shipped when mine was not working right.

I have also heard of setting aside a hour a day to do what is called power pumping. I have never done it though. Also cutting back on solids could work but might not. I also agree with the above poster that your baby probably likes the fastness of the bottle and is not sure how to breastfeed anymore. Remember that breastfeeding takes work from your baby and bottles are much easier to suck from.

[Nipple_nectar]

I think replacing the membranes would be more beneficial than the tubing, on your pump. Drinking that much water may actually interfere with production, you should really only drink to thirst, don't force yourself.

These more milk drops, is it a tincture? Tinctures work best.

Try not to be consumed with how long baby nurses, can you get her to nurse for five uninterupted minutes? You say she can't get anything out, did you know that your breasts are never empty? She may just be objecting to the flow.

Have you tried a nursing necklace?

[JCM]

When you say membranes do you mean the yellow piece with the white flap? Oh and it is the tinture from Motherlove.
she will nurse first thing in the morning for about 5-6 minutes. She woke up at 5 am today and I nursed her and she was on for 30 min! I dont think she was sucking the whole 30 minutes but she was on anyway. she was kinda sleeping while she was on.

[Teresa64]

Good! Yes the membrane is the little white flap!!! I heard eating oatmeal 3 times a day helps boost supply as well. Good luck!

[Sweetbabs]

Good! Yes the membrane is the little white flap!!! I heard eating oatmeal 3 times a day helps boost supply as well. Good luck!


Oatmeal totally works. Try it.