Producing very little amount of expressed milk:(

Geminaa · Aug 30, 2014

Hello,

My 2 month old baby is still not latching properly and therefore I am expressing milk every 2-3 hours. However, the amount of milk produced every time i pump is only 1-2 oz. I have tried all medications such as fenugreek, garlic, tons of water etc. But, there is no improvement. due to this, I am forced to feed my baby with formula since birth. I feel quite helpless and not sure if I will ever be able to increase breast milk quantity. Please can you all pour in your suggestions to produce more milk?

Thanks!

oysterzzz · Aug 30, 2014

I also used to have the same problem. The more the baby takes the milk, the more it will be produced. I got tips of trying green papaya. Never tried, though I took the ripe one. I used to eat oats mixture with milk and this really worked for me.

anika987 · Aug 31, 2014

U need to relax dear.Also, breast milk is best BUT formula is ok too these days.Baby will still be healthy and intelligent.

Anyways,u need to take rest.Irony? motherhood and rest?But..that's the fact.U need to rest in sense..u need few hours of good sleep,relaxed mind so that body can relax.Just one or two days go ahead with formula.take things easy.ask hubby to help and order food from outside.take rest and relax.

continue with water,fenugreek and eat foods like rice,roti with lots of ghee ( ur inner womb will also heal) lots of milk.your milk production WILL increase.

Keep calm.It is a tough phase.U can definitely do it it dear.Take and ask for help as much as needed.

anitalovesyou · Aug 31, 2014

RELAX !! U wont believe how imp this word is ! I have exp of BM getting low when in stress and very high when relaxed. Continue doing what u are doing. Just give formula when u think the baby is still hungry. Dont take tension and dont think much about it. Just try to breastfeed every 2 hours, BM will definitely increase by the 3rd month. By that time baby will also latch perfectly. Enjoy this breastfeeding phase of life

hrastro · Aug 31, 2014

Keep trying for baby to latch on !! If baby drinks milk directly, BM will increase to keep the baby full.

Also, you can try Shatavari - an ayurvedic preparation that you can mix with milk and drink - that will make a huge difference!
Try satavarex from zandu

Methi - if you soak and sprout for 2-3 days, is more palatable and easier to digest for you and the baby (who will get it thru the milk)

Gauri03 · Aug 31, 2014

How are you expressing milk? Are you doing it manually or using an electric pump? It's often best to use a combination of both. Start with the electric pump and then manually express using the technique shown here.

Hand Expression - Stanford University School of Medicine

You will find yourself able to manually express milk even after pumping because pumps are simply not as efficient as babies in extracting all the milk.

I am not sure whether you can find them in the UK, but these supplements helped me a lot when I was having supply issues.

Motherlove More Milk Plus
MotherLove Goat's Rue

With the More Milk Plus tincture I went from 1oz every 2 hours to 3oz every 2 hours within 3 days of starting the supplement. Goat's rue is a herb that helps increase breast tissue, so it is very good for moms who have supply issues due to insufficient glandular tissue.

If you are really concerned and want to try pharmaceuticals, you could ask your OB to prescribe Reglan (generic name: Metoclopramide). It is a gastric reflux drug that has the side effect of increasing lactation. It is FDA approved for lactating mothers. However, it does have a serious side effect of causing depression in a small percentage of women. My OB refused to prescribe it to me since I had PPD, but it works for a lot of people.

Besides these, eat a large bowl of oats for breakfast and drink at least 120oz of water everyday. If you are eating fenugreek, eat enough to make your urine and sweat smell like maple syrup. If they don't, then most likely the fenugreek isn't working for you. I ate tons of it and never smelled anything, and it didn't do anything for my supply either.

Geminaa · Sep 1, 2014

Thanks for your response ladies! very helpful and more importantly very encouraging...yes, I have been bit tensed as I was not getting milk. I need to relax!

I am also going to try all your suggestions one by one. Let me get back soon with some improvement..

@Gauri03: I have been expressing milk using an electric pump only. Let me also try that video technique.

Thanks!!

Laks09 · Sep 1, 2014

I had a terrible time pumping for my preemie in the NICU. I had a Medela Pump in style advanced and even with that had a hard time. It took ten days for my milk to even come in. The thing that helped me the most was getting enough of sleep. Skipping one night time pumping helped a lot.
I used Mothers Milk tea with my older one. I lived in the US then. It helped build supply.
Drinking tons of water helps.

I was in India when my DS was born. I did get the lactating meds but they didn't help at all. I stopped taking them within a few days of starting.
Fenugreek in the pill form didn't help me. The methi Dosas that mom made helped a lot. The minute I ate a few, I could feel a let down. I ate that at least once a day!

Oatmeal is a lactogenic agent. So are saunf leaves apparently. I was given all that. I was also given beetle leaves and coffee(common practice after delivery in south India). Not sure if it helped but I loved eat the beetle leaves after lunch and dinner! Later I realized the practice stems from the fact that the Sunna added to the beetle leaves is a rich source of calcium and is important for nursing moms. Now we get calcium supplements by the dozen but mom still gave me that.

Papaya in all forms helps a lot. I ate a lot with both kids. In fact, I think methi Dosas and papaya were the two things that helped me with my lactation needs.

Btw, I don't think I ever responded well to the pump. I always could hand express a lot of milk after pumping. Since my son was a preemie and didn't need much at the time plus I didn't have it in me to hand express, I didn't sustain it. After my DS started latching and nursing is when I actually started producing more and having a lot of over supply issues.

Even after nursing him for 27 months and having a lot of milk, someone wanted pumped milk for an infant whose mom couldn't lactate and I couldn't pump any milk with a pump at that point. Had to hand express for that mom. So don't worry if your response to the pump isn't great. We are built to respond to babies not pumps. That's probably the reason. Just hand express until your baby can latch well. Mine latched only at 3 months but I went on to successfully nurse him for a long time so don't lose hope.

Hth,
L