Breast Milk drying up?

Question

I have a 2 month old preemie and I am pumping breast milk for him because I still have to fortify it because he is VERY small. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about how much milk I should be producing and how I can get my supply up. Any help would be appreciate. Thanks

Answer 1

A hospital grade breastpump and call a Lactation consultant.


Here is a good web site to start reading:
http://www.lalecheleague.org/FAQ/prempump.html

Answer 2

Don't drink alcohol. Who would you blame if something goes wrong? The bright person that said it! I know you wouldn't do it, I'm just saying... So if you feed your baby every two hours. You should make sure you drink a glass of water every 3 hours. Also try to pump extra... Pump when it's time for your baby to eat. Then pump about an hour later. After a day or so it will bring your supply up. At 2 months my baby was still being breastfed consistently. But I know she was eating about 4 ounces. I was a milk machine so I always had to pump. Every women is different and so is their child. So you will get different answers to that specific question. Well, I hope this helps. Congrats on your newborn.

~Proud Mom of a 6 Month Old Baby Girl~

Answer 3

Using a breast pump alone doesn't always work as it isn't the same kind of stimulation as breastfeeding a baby.

A GP can prescribe some medication that might be able to assist, but a lot of GP's now are hesitant to do so because of side effects and such...

Beer only works if you drink the right one. From memory it has to be a heavy stout or a milk stout as not all beers work.

You can try a herbal supplement called Fenugreek... For best results the naturopath I consulted while breastfeeding said to take 6 tablets 3 times a day. You can also take it in conjunction with a herb called Blessed Thistle (2 tablets 3 times a day). Blessed Thistle can be hard to find though.

Brewers Yeast is one of the best things... A lot of people put it on cereal or in a glass of juice but I found that the taste was absolutely positively wretched on it's own and I couldn't handle the thought of drinking it... but I found this recipe...

***************************************************

* 1 cup butter or marg
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 cup brown sugar
* 4 tablespoons water
* 2 tablespoons flaxseed meal*
* 2 large eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 2 cups flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 3 cups oats, thick cut if you can get them
* 1 cup or more chocolate chips
* 2 tablespoons of brewers yeast* (be generous)

Preheat oven at 180 degrees C. Mix together 2 tablespoons of flaxseed meal and water, set aside for 3-5 minutes. Cream (beat well) margarine and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, mix well. Stir flaxseed mixture and add with vanilla to the margarine mix. Beat until blended. Sift together dry ingredients, except oats and chips. Add to margarine mixture. Stir in oats then chips. Scoop or drop onto baking sheet, preferably lined with parchment or silpat. The dough is a little crumbly, so it helps to use a scoop.

Bake 8-12 minutes, depending on size of cookies.

Serves: 6 dozen cookies

Preparation time: 15 minutes

*can be found at any local health food store. Don't substitute brewer's yeast for anything else... that's what makes 'em work!

***************************************************

I made those when my milk supply was dropping and I would eat one or two cookies a couple of times a day and in less than a week I was having to pump to get rid of the excess again... I added heaps of choc chips and even my husband ate them... I just didn't tell him what they were for ;-)

There are always some really good support groups around as well... some links for you to check out are:

www.kellymom.com
http://www.lalecheleague.org/
http://www.lrc.asn.au


Most of them have forums with some really friendly people who are happy to offer advice online, though some of them are very passionate about what they talk about!

Good Luck and I hope everything goes well with your little one!

Answer 4

Pumping will be a full time job. It will seem like all you do is pump, wash the bottles, get a drink and then its time to pump again. You need to pump every four hours to keep your milk supply up. To increase it or pump enough for baby, you will need to pump at least every two hours. Drinking plenty of water and eating well helps. Resting when possible and being with the baby when you can will help too. Talk with your doctor or the baby's doctor about herbs or medications to help you get the supply up if you are really worried.
It is really hard to pump and deal with visiting the baby when a baby is in the NICU. My oldest son was born early. It was all worth it when he grew faster and stronger than expected and was able to come home sooner than expected. The best thing you can do is to keep it up. Don't let the nursing staff chase you out of the NICU. If you want to stay all day, only leaving to eat, pee and pump, go for it. You have my support and my heart. I know what you are going through. Best wishes.

Answer 5

I haven't personally been in your position, but I've at least done some research. You should be so proud for giving your baby what he really needs right now. It has been proven that premature babies grow faster and healthier on breastmilk than on formula. I know it must be very hard work keeping up with him, hooked up to a pump all the time. He's very lucky to have you for a mom!

I highly recommend you get in contact with your local La Leche League. They are friendly, knowledgable, and best of all free. They've been very helpful to me over the last few years. You can find your local group online at http://www.lalecheleague.org/WebIndex.html.

You've already gotten some good websites, but I have a few more that might help.

Breastfeeding the premature infant:
http://www.parentingweb.com/lounge/premature.htm
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/preemie/preemie-links.html
http://www.lalecheleague.org/NB/NBpremature.html

Types of pumps:
http://www.deleons.com/Pumpinginfo/types_of_pumps.htm

Increasing milk supply:
http://breastfeeding.hypermart.net/supply.html
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/2/T022800.asp
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/low-supply.html
http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/baby/babybreastfeed/8487.html

Establishing and maintaining milk supply when baby is not nursing:
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/maintainsupply-pump.html

Lactogenic foods and herbs:
http://www.mobimotherhood.org/MM/article-diet.aspx

Answer 6

Congratulations! You are giving your son the most precious gift by breastfeeding him-- he is a very lucky little guy!

Is he nursing straight from the breast yet? Or are you pumping & fortifying all of his feedings still? It's possible for some women to maintain a full milk supply while only pumping , but many women find that their supply begins to decrease over time when their breasts receive no (or little) actual suckling stimulation from the baby.

My first suggestion is to contact a local La Leche League leader. You can go to http://www.llli.org and search for a nearby leader's number to call for information and support. LLL has the most current, up-to-date information on breastfeeding, pumps and other technology, management tips, etc. You can also call a Lactation Consultant, who are also generally a very good source of help. But LLL leaders are free. ;)

If the baby is already nursing from the breast, it should be fairly simple to nurse more frequently and maybe try pumping off of the opposite side *during* a feed. You may need help from whoever is available until you get the hang of that. But it's a great way to take advantage of the natural letdown, and the baby will be able to nurse off of the pumped side afterward for as long as he wants; the suckling will give even more stimulation, and will help train your breasts to have multiple let-downs when baby is suckling at an "empty" breast (although the breast is never truly "empty").

Both the Mother's Milk Tea and fenugreek mentioned can be highly effective in helping increase production. Oatmeal is reported to have a milk-boosting side effect, as well (yes, just plain ol' Quaker oatmeal!). Brewer's yeast is another home remedy, although I never resorted to trying that one. I have used the MMTea and fenugreek with good results, personally. I never ate oatmeal intentionally to increase supply, but it's harmless to try that one at least. ;)

Another big question is, how is he receiving his supplemental feeds? If he is getting them in a bottle, you may want to look into a Supplemental Nursing System, like Medela's SNS or the LactAid.

http://www.medela.com/NewFiles/specialtyfdg.html#startersSNS

http://www.lact-aid.com/prodcat.htm

These will allow you to feed the supplement while the baby is actually suckling at the breast, so that all of his needs for suckling can be met by you. This gives you a huge increase in nipple stimulation to help increase milk supply.

One more thought-- if baby isn't nursing from the breast at all yet, but *is* feeding from bottles, you may want to talk with your doctors about getting him started at the breast. Generally, once baby can tolerate bottle feedings, they should be able to tolerate breastfeeding as well (if not better-- feeding skin to skin has extra stabilizing and calming effects on babies' systems, according to several studies).

It sounds like you are committed to helping your son get the best start he possibly can, especially considering his special needs due to his prematurity. You should be very proud of yourself!

Best of luck to you, and congrats again!

Answer 7

In my country, Latin America, better yet the Caribbean. Woman that want to produce a lot more milk, they put sesame seeds in the blender add two cups of water and let it set for like two hours. After the time lapse, you blend it throughly and use a colander. Drain it and drink it at least twice a day. And in a week you will see a difference. It worked great on me, sisters, mother, grandmother, aunts, and other friends.

Answer 8

Dont do the beer thing. I had the same problem and i asked my gyno, she told me to go buy this tea called Mother's Milk from Traditional Medicinals. It is really good, drink as much as you can all day! It really helps lactation. Then she also told me to buy Fenugreek pills, I found both of these at a herbal store. They make u smell like maple syrup but thats ok. And she also said to keep the baby at the breast ALL DAY! as much as i could becaue if you dont, nothing is going to help the lactation . These defenitly worked for me! Good luck! Oh yea, LOTS AND LOTS OF WATER!

Answer 9

You must be having such a rough time with that! Hopefully, this info will help. My son wasn't preemie, but I got very interested in breastfeeding, and found some really good sites.

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/maintainsupply-pump.html

and

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/pumping_decrease.html

are good places to start -browse through kellymom, they've got lots of amazingly good, evidence-based (as opposed to old wives' tales and urban myths) advice.

Also, contact La Leche League . Go to 'help' on this page, find a contact person in your area, see if they can assist you.
http://www.lalecheleague.org/resources/assistance.html?m=0,0

Best of luck!

Answer 10

There's a tea called mothers milk that a mid wife recommended for all her patients when i worked in the health food store. All the women that used it had great results . So you might visit your local health food store and find out.