Hellobee Boards

with the benefit of hindsight (LO is almost 2 and we BF for 18 months), i would just replace a feeding with formula to make up the difference if the oatmeal, fenugreek, teas, etc didn't work. i would rather replace one feeding with formula and try to stretch my stash out!

way to go mama, you're doing great!

I would do a bottle of formula a day or formula mixed with bm.

I EPed - a domperidone prescription worked well to boost my supply - I just supplemented with formula if I was ever low on BM in the fridge. I didn't mind combo feeding because EBf was never a goal of mine

I couldn't keep up and had no freezer stash when I first went back to work. I added a early morning and late evening pumping session every day (and pumped on weekends) to et enough. After a month or two I didn't need to do that anymore.

When I ate more I made more and I also added in pumping sessions. If I wasn't making enough I would use up my stash and look into a milk bank, if that wasn't possible I would supplement. Good luck!

I supplemented with formula a bottle of formula a day.

I'm in your situation now and trying to figure out what to do. 7 months old, back at work for three weeks. So far I've been taking fenugreek until I smell like waffles, drinking Mother's Milk teas, lots of water, and using hospital grade pump to boost supply. I've been pumping on the weekends and in the evenings to try to cover the shortfall. If it gets really bad I'll start waking up at 5 am to pump when I'm fullest. Today is the first day we had to dip into the freezer stash. I'm trying to just relax, stress only makes supply issues worse.

I supplemented. I did pretty much everything u knew with DD 1 to up my supply to no avail.

With both of my children I was never able to match their demand so I pumped what I could during the day and would supplement with formula. Thankfully both of my kids didn't mind taking formula.

I ended up adding pumping sessions. I added one after he went to bed and would do that session even on weekends when I otherwise just nursed. I would power pump at that session when I needed to get my supply up too. I would sometimes try to power pump for a session at work for a few days to get supply up when needed, but that's not always possible. You've done a great job keeping up, there's nothing wrong with supplementing if you decide you don't want to pump more.

Ditto add some formula. LO is ready for solids anyway. I ended up always using both BM and formula and pumped for 11 months. I was happy to give him BM for that long...rather than being upset I have formula.

I went through this recently. We decided to supplement with formula and it was a great decision for my mental health and stress levels! LO is 6 months now and we started supplementing around 5 months (I went back to work at 3 months). I tried eating more oatmeal, drinking lots of water, avocado... nothing really made a difference and I couldn't even match her intake even with an evening pump. I decided that my sleep was more important than waking up in the middle of the night or super early to pump more.

I struggled with it because I wanted it to be all EBF but I am so much happier now that I am not stressing about it. She gets probably 6-8 oz of formula during the workday on top of the 10-12 oz of breastmilk that I pump at work, and then I nurse in the evenings and all weekend. Works out great for us! Good luck!

I would just add in some formula. From all I've heard of, pumping can be miserable, and I wouldn't want the extra stress.

@CakeLady: if you're using a Medela pump, have you changed the membranes lately? I had a supply dip and I think it was because my pump wasn't getting great suction. Once I got new membranes, things got much better within a couple days.

@CakeLady: even if the membranes aren't ripped, they get thinner and don't create as tight a seal after being used for awhile. I was ticked that they cost like $7 for a new pack (the company must make a killing on those, I mean seriously, they're tiny!) but I could feel the difference in thickness and stiffness between the old and new ones.

@CakeLady: I noticed a big difference in my output when I drank tons of water and ate avocados. Have you tried adding flaxseed to your oatmeal? Also, it's really bitter, but try adding some brewer's yeast to your oatmeal too or making it in Oatmeal cookies.

@CakeLady: I agree with the others about renting a hospital grade pump if you can swing it. My supply dropped around that age, and I think that renting a Medela Symphony was the reason we were able to make it to 12 months EBF.