My supply is dropping, from several factors that I can think of, but I want to boost it again.
There are sooooo many things to try... I'm just curious what worked for you? Did anything NOT work for you?
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I tried reglan, fenugreek, milk tea, pumping extra, and more milk pills. Nothing worked. The fungreek/pumping more may have upped it a little (like a ml or two) but not that much.
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Domperidone and increasing water intake
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Fenugreek did not work for me.
The only thing that really worked - time after time - was using my manual pump for a few minutes after every single feed for a weekend. That seemed to tell my body to make more milk.
But you should consider what might be causing this dip. There were a few times when my baby was telling my body to make less milk (as she ramped up her solids intake) and I got super stressed about my supply. Next time I am not going to spend so much of my baby's first year stressing about pumping/supply. That is my second baby promise to myself.
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adding a pumping session and waiting until the second letdown during each pumping session (even if it meant just sitting there pumping with nothing coming out for 10 minutes) worked me for after a couple of weeks.
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@NurseMommy: More Milk Plus has been working for me....its giving me a small increase.
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Dom does the trick for me ... but it needs to be a high dose. I've had a bit of luck with MMP and nursing tea and I tried Goats Rue capsules (from Motherlove) but without the Dom, it was pointless.
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Adding additional pump sessions and the biggest help of all: power pumping!!!
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@Adira: what's power pumping??
@septca: there seems to be a few reasons that I can pinpoint: dd doesn't drink much during the day as she's too distracted, period came back, and I started counting my calories as I haven't lost any weight since having dd (I'm still eating 16-1800 a day, so not restricting). I know dd is getting enough but when I return to work in 2.5 months I don't want to start wcm d/t an intolerance. I won't have the time/space at work to pump, so want a stash for her to draw from so she can have bm as long as possible. -
More milk plus, drinking lots of water, and adding a nursing and/or pumping session worked for me.
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For BFing you probably need more than 1,600-1,800 calories per day. I would up that count by a few hundred with lots of protein and oatmeal and lots of water. Add a few pumping sessions.
Also, what helped for me was do a mid-pump break. So typically I would have a big let down around 7-8 minutes but it would slow by 12-15 minutes. Around 15 minutes I would take a minute or two off the pump to run to the bathroom or get some food, and then come back and pump again. Usually I would get a second let down and way more than I would have gotten then just pumping straight for 20-25 minutes.
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I haven't had any noticeable dips in supply, but I do notice I feel more full and pump more when I eat oatmeal. I know that's a pretty small thing but since it's so easy to do, may as well add it to the mix.
As for the distracted baby, sometimes I have to go into her room with the lights dimmed to help her concentrate. Can't even look at my phone, it gets kind of boring, but she eats at least.
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I did lots of oatmeal and lactation cookies
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Herbs made the biggest difference for me. Fenugreek and blessed thistle, 3 capsules of each, three times a day. I also drink a cup of fennel tea when I pump and I've seen a marked difference since I started doing that.
ETA: oh, and caloric intake and protein. Every time I lose the five pounds that would get me down to my pre-pregnancy weight my supply plummets. My body puts them back on in a miraculously short amount if time, and then my supply jumps back up (this has happened about 3x now).
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@NurseMommy: Power pumping is essentially where you pump for an hour, doing ten minutes on and ten minutes off and alternating. It's amazing!! I used to do it at night after Xander went to bed while watching TV.
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@Adira: At night, thats a great idea!
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Adding a pumping session every night before I went to bed increased my supply. When I started doing it, I would only get a couple ounces, but after a little while I got 4-6 oz just from that one pumping session.
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More milk plus, drinking tons of water, and adding an extra pumping session before bed.
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Brewers yeast and fenugreek seed tea, plus making sure I got enough food/water and rest.
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Domperidone (900 mg/day), mother's milk tea, lactation cookies, LOTS OF WATER, calcium when on my period, pumping and power pumping. Oh, and sleep (ha, it's hard to come by!)
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Fenugreek works for me. I notice that when I forget to take it for a day or two, my supply takes a big hit. This morning I got about 2 oz total. It's usually 4...
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Things that did work: Oatmeal, lactation cookies, almond milk, eating more calories, nursing more often
Things that didn't work: Domperidone, fenugreek, alfalfa, pounding water
Things that may have helped but I didn't see a drop when I quit: More Milk Special Blend, pumping after nursing
Looking back, I think fenugreek may have actually suppressed my supply. It does that for a small percentage of people. I took it off & on from 5 days PP. My supply has steadily increased since I quit all supplements but I still don't EBF.
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adding pumping sessions, more milk plus, staying super hydrated,
the second time around i had to work harder and also took fenugreek and mother's milk tea.
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Drinking lots of water and eating extra food. It seems like I get more output if I eat about an hour before pumping.
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Thank you everyone for all the input. Think I will try increasing my pumping first, maybe try a power pump!
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