breastfeeding help

Dani - posted on 10/03/2009

The tea worked great for me! What herbalist did you order from? I loved Pam at www.herblore.com

Jessica - posted on 10/03/2009

Snacking and comfort feeding are very natural and the best thing for supply. Go with the flow and let baby eat when he decides. Trying to regulate his feedings can only hurt your supply.

Ruth - posted on 10/03/2009

do you pump at the beginning of the feed? take a couple of oz at the begining of the feed and then let your baby finish off the feed and then his sucking will encourage your breasts to let down more milk. drink plenty of water and rest with your feet up when you can.

how often do you feed your son? do you demand or routine feed him?

My advice would be to structure his feeds, so that he had a good feed regulary, rather than snacking and comfort eat every couple of hours, which can wear a mother out. mum's need some rest too and if you find the right balance between feeding and not feeding etc it can work really well. I routinely feed my twins

Amber - posted on 10/02/2009

My son also had/has trouble with weight gain. He had trouble staying on his growth curve. I have worked with his doctor, lactation consultants and other moms to get/keep him healthy. Use all of those resources as well as your instincts.



The best advise I got was to feed him frequently and then pump as soon as he was done eating to continue stimulating the breast. Do this at every feeding so your body thinks the baby is still hungry and has to increase the output. You won't get much milk, especially in the beginning but it will help increase your supply. If you give formula (which I do at times because he gets frustrated when he is hungry and the milk isn't flowing or isn't fast enough) I give 2 ounces then offer the breast. He will usually latch on and finish at the breast (this is important for baby to make the full tummy/breastfeeding connection.) If he just won't latch on I give 2 more ounces of formula and try again at the breast. Keep repeating as many times as needed. Just remember to pump so the breast empties as much as possible when baby doesn't eat.



Drink lots of water, limit caffeine, keep a food journal for you and baby (along with diaper output) & go over it with your doctor and lactation consultant. Sometimes it seems like they are not eating enough but when you add it up they are fine.



If these things aren't helping you can ask your doctor to do a weigh, feed and weigh test. It takes several hours but it will give you more insight as to whether you are making enough milk or if the baby might have other medical issues that are causing weight problems. Good luck.

Mokki - posted on 10/02/2009

supplementing can cause you to lose more milk, its all about supply in demand. i would let your baby breastfeed as often as possible. my daughter is 6 months now and i went through a stage where i felt like i didnt have enough milk, but i just fed her more frequently and sometimes when i was finished breastfeeding i would express more milk. the more stimulation for it the more it will bring in too. it is also important to drink lots of fluids i drink lots of milk each day to help give more nutrients, then just water. and if your baby has a paci you could take it away and let him latch on you also. i always go by if they look milk drunk then im pretty sure they have sufficent amount of milk. but try to reduce the supplementing and just stick to exlusive breastfeeding and it should all be ok.

Jessica - posted on 10/01/2009

BTW in very rare cases does stress lead to supply issues. So long as you breastfeed exclusively without a schedule, you're fine. Talk to a lactation consultant. Count his wet and poopy diapers. How old is he now? What's his usual mood like? How often does he eat? Remember babies like to suck for comfort.

Jessica - posted on 10/01/2009

You can't determine how much you're making by how much you pump though. I could only pump an ounce or two but my exclusively breastfed baby was huge. No matter what kind of pump you have, it's no baby. It can't stimulate or express like a baby can. So you could have hyperactive let down but still not pump much. It's a common misconception. Just nurse baby on demand and drop the pump. There's no need for it.

Kameron - posted on 10/01/2009

Drink TONS AND TONS of water and get more rest... if you are doing too much your milk supply will decrease. Good luck!

Christine - posted on 10/01/2009

I've got a medela pump n style and the right size shields that the lactionist gaave me but it doesnt seem to help

Randi - posted on 10/01/2009

I had the same problem..but I bought a better pump -- the medela Swing: it has 2 modes a stimulation mode and a pumping mode...after using it for about a week, my supply almost doubled. I was and still am exclusively pumping...nursing wasn't working out for us.

Aimee - posted on 10/01/2009

Make sure you are drinking lots and lots or water. I can always tell that my supply goes down when I am not drinking a lot of water.

Christine - posted on 10/01/2009

because before I started supplementing I was just breastfeeding and he lost the pound so to get it back up I started to pump and was only getting 2 ounces so I feeding him formula to bring his weight back up. I pump so that I know how much he is getting I don't think that Im producing enough

Jessica - posted on 10/01/2009

Why do you think you have to supplement with formula? The best thing to do for supply is just nurse at the breast. Supplementing can actually hurt it.

Christine - posted on 10/01/2009

Well Im having to supplement with formula and I really don't like it

Jessica - posted on 10/01/2009

Totally Lisa =) If the only reason you think your supply is down is because of what the pump gets, then there's really o reason at all. As long as he's gaining fine now and having enough wet and poopy diapers, you're good.

Minnie - posted on 10/01/2009

Pumps are not efficient at draining and stimulating your breasts. If you want to maintain good milk production you'll get baby on your breast.



If he IS on your breast frequently- what you can pump is no indication of your supply. You produce a lot of milk at birth and then your supply regulates to the point where you produce only what baby is taking.



Minimize use of bottle, perfect baby's latch (may have been the cause of your son's weight loss), and nurse baby as often as he wants it.