Hellobee Boards

I pretty much started off with supply issues, so I feel your pain!

Something I wish I had done differently, and will do with #2, is to feed every 2 hours from the beginning. I think it would have helped me establish a better supply. It doesn't work for me now because I'm back to work, but if you could fit it in, and your boys would eat that often, I'd start there?

I also started taking MMP, MMT, Fenugreek and Blessed Thistle, and was able to increase my supply by 8 oz after only 9 days, and it's still climbing.

Good luck!!

I have had about a 4oz increase each day by eating oatmeal for breakfast and taking a double dose of prenatal vitamins.

Since I don't like hot oatmeal here is my cold oatmeal recipe although you could eat this warm/hot too.

combine in a bowl and let soak in the fridge overnight:
1/2c thick or steel cut oats
1 c skim milk
1 soup spoon of flaked sweetened coconut
1 soup spoon of raw sunflower seeds (add a little crunch)
1 soup spoon of either dried cranberries or blueberries

Drinking lots of water and eating oatmeal worked for me

Drink lots of water. I had to supplement when my twins were really little because they just ate non stop. I had to supplement until they started eating rice cereal at six months then I had enough. Keep it up you are doing great!!

I pumped for half an hour after they ate during the day, and it really helped!

to establish my milk supply, my LC recommended that i rent a hospital grade pump and use it for 10-15 minutes after *every* nursing session (well, i was allowed to skip pumping once every 24 hours) for around 2 weeks. my LO was a very sleepy nurser, so his nursing wasn't enough to stimulate my milk flow. it was a lot of work, especially in the middle of the night, but it got my supply up and eventually i had an oversupply.

LLL recommends at least 8-10 nursing/pumping sessions per day to really get a good supply going and whilst night wakings are a pain, the extra nursing is really good for supply!

As I understand, breastfeeding one baby requires an extra 500 calories per day so I imagine twins would require even more calories. For me personally, I gave to eat outrageous amounts of food to maintain supply, I also drink a fair amount of water. You want to be eating good, nutritious and calorific foods, plenty of fats, carbs and protein. You could try adding a smoothie or protein shake into your diet in addition to your normal meals and a good multivitamin could be helpful too.

Skin to skin can be really helpful for encouraging supply, it's even more effective when combined with a "boobymoon". Basically everybody gets topless and jumps into bed for the weekend! Forget about chores and the housework and just concentrate on nursing on demand and resting up with your gorgeous babies

Lactation tea and cookies are great and as pp's have said, oatmeal is a well known galactalogue.

My last recommendation would be to contact your local LLL or Multiple Birth Club so you have some good, knowledgeable ladies / families on hand to support you and help when needed.

You're an absolute rock star for breastfeeding twins, keep up the great work!