Posted by
Gabriella
19 yrs ago
My breast milk seems to run a little low in the late afternoon / evening. I read that if you pump after breast feeding that this will increase milk supply. Is this case?
Does anyone else have any advise of how to increase supply? I have just fed my babe and pumped afterwards which only yielded 40mls from both breasts.
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anada
19 yrs ago
G-if your just started breast feeding that normal, it takes time to get your supply goin but if you nursing for quit sometime now, maybe you can see how's your diet,normally its demand vs supply. make sure you have a lot of water ,soup will be nice to.
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crj
19 yrs ago
It is normal to have the most milk in the morning, and the least in the late afternoon/evening. You will ALWAYS have enough for your baby, but just less to pump at those times.
Some things that can help:
Drink lots of fluids
Pumping DOES help - as the more you 'demannd' the 'supply' goes up
Feeding regularly helps the most
Fenugreek capsuls are AMAZING...
BTW, how old is your baby now? At 8 months I was able to pump much much less than before.
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The more your baby feeds, the more you pump, the more milk you will have.
Have a look at the kellymom web site. Very good info and easy to read. Breast massage can help...look up the massage done with the Marmet Technique. I used to get 1/3 more milk using it.
And do drink more liquids in the morning and have a filling lunch with protein or oatmeal. It can help
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yes i think fenugreek is great too - i don't know about the supply and demand thing working in the afternoon and evening though. my baby used to have a hard time nrsing in the afternoon and the evening was worse becasue he was sleepy. now i pump in the morning so he gets a bottle of expressed milk in the afternoon (i'm also away at work- so this works out fine for me) and has a nap so he's awake and i have more milk for the evening feed.
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i'm not confident of my milk supply. PD put me on fenugreek caps and some tea. i pump btw 3-4oz a time. is that little, lot or average? how soon does the breast fill up again? i try to pump every 2.5 hours.. too much?
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Thanks everyone. What is Fenugreek and where can I buy it? Is it prescription only?
I pumped after 2 feeds this morning and managed 40 mls and 20 mls. I then pumped this afternoon after the 5pm feed and managed about 5mls. Should I pump every feed or only in the mornings to increase milk supply.
Mommybee what kind of tea are you on?
*My breasts seem to take about 3 hours to fill e.g. dripping milk so I guess they are fill.
My baby is 5 weeks old and I was bf her 8 times over 24 hours. However, it's not as clear cut as that e.g. she cluster feeds (continuous sucking on the breast) most evenings frm 7-10pm when I seem to have the least milk (my breasts are soft). She then is hungry and gets frustrated, so there's tears (her's and mine). I tried supplementing this feed with some formula but that just makes her more upset. She simply won't take formula from me.
Tonight she wouldn't even take the expressed milk after being on and off the breast for over an hour. I think she was hungry because when I tried to soothe her she tried sucking my hands and then my shoulder. Finally she exhausted herself and went to sleep. I am on again in about 2 hours, that's if she sleeps that long given that the poor thing seemed so hungry.
I'm drinking over 2 litres of water a day and my diet is good - veggies and fruit mostly (bit of chocolate is my only vice).
My milk is plentiful for the 2am, 5am, 8am and 11am feeds but diminshes from the 2pm feeds onward and by early evening my breasts are soft and even when I try to squeeze milk out there is nothing.
This is our first baby and I am very much still learning the ropes. So any advise on how to ensure the baby is getting enough mily would be appreciated.
* I should also add she is gaining weight, but its the fact that she seems so hungry and agitated that I am concerned.
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Nula
19 yrs ago
At the end of the day she is gaining weight so you are on the right track! Are you managing to have a sleep/rest every afternoon? I found that if I did I noticed an improvement in my milk supply in the early evening. You could try feeding her lying down when you rest. Milk changes over the day so although you may not have the quantity you have in the am you will have better quality in the pm. Also frantic sucking can be a sign of wind (esp. if your baby is gaining weight). Try to get her to expel wind when you change her (ie lift her legs up like you are putting a nappy under her but a little higher and more scrunched up and open her bottom cheeks, then put her legs down and then up again until you have no more). Babies also have a growth spurt around 6 weeks and do tend to be ravenous at that time. The more she drinks from you the more you will produce. I had to give up chocolate for this one (my third) as it really made her unsettled. I still eat curries etc and they don't seem to bother her! Have you tried giving her a pacifier? I didn't use one for my first two but this one needed it in the early days.
Sorry a little rambling!
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Thanks Nula.
She has put on weight - birth weight was 3.25 kg which dropped to 3.05kg in the first few days. She is now 4.6kg and 5 weeks old today. So I think she is ok.
My husband is constantly telling me to have a rest when the baby sleeps - but we either have visitors or my phone goes or I am so over tired and irritable that I can't sleep.
Our amah took the baby off me yesterday afternoon and insisted I sleep I managed an hour and did notice an increase in milk for the 6pm feed. I'll try it again today.
I read somewhere that chocolate wasn't good when bf but wasn't sure why and having a slight post partum addiction I haven't been able to kick the habit. However, if it means the difference between her being unsettled and settled, I will give it up.
She won't take a pacifier from me but did take one from our amah the other day and happily sucked on it for an hour or so.
She does seem to have a lot of wind - but it seems at it's worst between 6 - 9pm, which also coincides with the frantic need to be bf even when I don't seem to have an abundant milk supply.
I do put her over my shoulder and sit her up to burp her but maybe it's not for long enough (5-10 minutes)? I will try the legs up in the air maneuvre today also.
I love curry also - but wouldn't dare eat one at the moment. I love hot / spicy foods but can only imagine the dramas if I ate some at the moment given I've been eating a fairly healthy, bland diet and she still has quite a lot of gas.
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crj
19 yrs ago
If you supplement with formula you will have LESS supply - so don't do that if you want to continue full time breast feeding. If you don't then no problem.
The reason to avoid chocolate is the caffeine content.
Many babies have an unsettled period in the evening.
Fenugreek is available at many health food shops - Natures Village, Health Gate, etc...
I strongly suggest you look at this site, it will really answer all your questions and provide excellent easy to understand information:
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/index.html
Good luck!
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have some fish soup it also increases breast milk supply.
my baby also refused breastmilk in a bottle from me : try to get your husband to give it to her.
I read that soft breasts doesn't mean that there's no milk - actually mine are soft most of the time and rarely drip - but i breastfeed baby without too much problems.
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was drinking 'milkmaid tea' from 'earth mama angel baby'.. it's organic.. i'm gonna try another one from my new PD's office.. german made.. i'm sure there's a variety in HK..
my PDs have always advise me to pump as often as i can to maintain and/or up the supply. and this has pulled me through feeding my soon-to-be four months old baby my milk. i was exclusively breastfeeding him until 6 weeks then sadly started supplementing with formula cause he was not putting on weight. however, i've just started trying to exclusively breastfeed him again.
oh, my mom made me papaya soup which i definitely saw an increased supply during my confinement period.
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Just bought some Fenugreek today and will try this.
We have been supplementing 2 feeds with formula, so I'll try to reverse this and go back to exclusive breastfeeding and expressing when necessary. The reason we included formula was that I was not expressing enough so on the odd occasion I couldn't feed the baby we gave her formula.
So should I pump after every feed or just the morning / day feeds to increase supply?
Also, my baby feeds only for about 10-15 minutes each breast. After which I try to pump yesterday and today which really didn't yield much.
She's only 5 weeks today so maybe this will increase.
*I've checked the Kelly site which is excellent. I haven't had a chance to read it fully but will do so later tonight.
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crj
19 yrs ago
read about fennugreek on kelly mom - you need to take like 3 tabs 3 times a day to make it work - they give the amounts that are needed.
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smsm
19 yrs ago
Just dont do anything....ur baby is gaining weight so everything is just fine...i too have a 5 week old baby...my second one..and went thru exactly the same thought process as u...took her to well baby clinic to fig out whether she was gaining proper weight or not after those cluster feed sessions in the evening as i too got insecure about my supply...they gave me a printout from kellymom site which explained things very well..
babies do cluster feeds in the evenings coz they want to stock up for the night..ur breasts will feel soft but that doesnt mean that they are not filling up...cluster feeds often coincides with babies fussy time...she will take the nipple..nurse for few mins, pull off cry and this can go on and on..but dont let that ruin ur confidence..
babies sometime simply need to nurse more often at this time rather than consume milk.
If ur baby is windy...u can try infacol drops...they worked in case of my baby...i am giving occasional gripe water too and its really soothing for her..
for increasing milk supply and help with her wind...i am taking around a litre of water boiled with one tbs of cummin seeds and carom seeds(its also called bishop's weed)...cummin seeds for lactation and carom seed for wind...it really helps..
and lastly dont supplement with formula if shes gaining ok..supplementation will only tell ur body to decrease milk supply..
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hey hon
i was told not to eat too much fruit and veggies as it may give an upset stomach to the baby. i ate more carbs and protien than usual - pasta, rice, cheese, eggs, breads etc
just keep going and it will all work out fine, try to have naps in the day and you will both find your rythm
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