(advice: breastfeeding - how to tell if milk supply is established)

[lawrain]

Dear fellow mothers, I need advice re milk supply. My bb is in his 8th wk already but I think my supply is not established yet. Previously I've blocked ducts which I've cleared w the help of lac consultants. And I took domperidone n fenugreek which help to boost my supply but ive yet to reach the adequate stage cos when I pump, the milk doesn't flow out in streams but in drops, Max I can collect is 110ml before feeding.
Currently I'm on tbf but faced a few prob:
- bb likes to suckle v long, sometimes as long as more than an hr of active sucking n yet doesn't goto sleep after tt
- bb doesnt sleep long..sometimes wakes up 1hr or 1hr + from last feeding

I should keep supplementg w ebm to help establish supply? Becos my bb wakes up so freq I'm afraid if I pump regularly ive not much left for him to suck.

Would love to hear experiences n advices fr mothers out thr. Thks!

 

[carababy]

Hi,

During my maternity leave at home, I pumped every 3 hrs and only latched her at night. Now my bb is 11 mths, I latched her at nighT, during her day nap and also when we are outside. Pump regularly and supply will come in. My supply kicked in within a week. Now 8 hrly I pump about 400ml. Per day yield is about 1200ml. My gal is drinking 210ml now. I get to freeze every day and due to lack of space in my chest freezer, i clear my stock once every 3 mths.

 

[ble55ed]

Serene, that is very nice. I had the same situation like lawrain. My son is going 3 mths and my supply is only 50ml every 3 hourly pump. I breastfeed and express every 2-3 hours and he can latch on up to one hour. Until, I had to pull him out and he will cry for more milk if I didn't supplement with formula milk. Sometimes, it is really tiring to breastfeed him for an hr and it is still not enough. Guess I am not so fortunate but I will not give up. I will continue to breastfeed and express till my supply is established and I just hope that day will come soon.

Lawrain, u r much fortunate than me that ur express milk is 110ml every pump. I even took fenugreek and still the situation does not improve to my expectation. May I know what is domperidone that you are taking?

Does your baby feed enough? This is the common question that mummies ask. If you didn't feed enough, your baby will not have long nap or sleep. Maybe u should start supplement with formula if ur ebm runs out so that you and ur baby will hv enough rest. Pls pump all ur breast milk and do not keep for your baby to suckle. Your supply will come when comes to feeding time, maybe not much, u can supplement with ur ebm later. Hope this help.

 

[carababy]

Initially after each latched i will pump again to fully empty the breasts. Empty breasts = more milk . Now i got over supply n fast flow when i latch. It will shoot at my bb at times after she detached.

 

[lawrain]

Thanks for sharing, Serene.
Does your bb fall asleep immediately after feeding? When she is fussy, what do u do to calm her to sleep?
In my case, I tried to walk arnd carrying him or let him comfort suck at my breast. But many times he'll wake up once I put him down to sleep or after 10mins Or so.

 

[lawrain]

Thanks Rainbow for the encouragement and advice.
Oh no wat I meant was Maximum 110ml. Most other times only 40 to 80ml.
Domperidone r pills that have to be prescribed. My gynae said can also get from guardian pharmacy.

 

[carababy]

No she doesn't as she gets bigger and even ic she does she will continue to suckle. She will continue to sleep on the bed after putting her down. Normally when she is fussy mean she is tried so i will latch her n let her sleep. U can try sacred tea to increase supply. I took immediately in the hospital and breast engorged on the 2nd day. I stopped taking tat after a week coz supply is too much.

 

[ble55ed]

Thanks Serene. May I know where u buy the sacred tea and how much and what brand?

 

[ble55ed]

Thanks Lawrain, jiayou!

 

[lawrain]

Thks Serene

Hi Rainbow, I did a search n found out tt original jamu massage sells it online. Check it out here http://www.originsjamumassage.com/Sacred-Tea.html

Yup let's Jia you tog!

 

[ble55ed]

Thanks Lawrain. Yes let's jiayou!

 

[rae_tan]

Hi, I also had milk supply problem with my first kid. Now just delivered second baby on 28 Oct, hope to hv better results.

Thanks for the link. Will give it a try

 

[mocha_c]

Hi, now I am in my 2nd week. I only manage to pump out 40-5ml each time despite pumping every 3 hours, even after eating funugreek, still the same. How long it take for your milk supply increase to 100ml per pump? Also, how long do u all continue the 3 hourly pumping?

Can advise? Thanks!!

 

[carababy]

My supply was already like 150ml within a week every 3hrly. I changed to 4 hrly and then 6hrly 2 weeks before i go to work. Then slowly i increase to 8hrly. Now i still pump 3x a day. Each time i got abt 400ml. Per day abt 1200ml. I latched her on weekend and at night on weekday.

 

[jacelyn_c]

Hi,my problem is a bit different. My milk supply is enough as my girl only needs to latch on to one side for 10-15mins and it can last for 1.5-2hrs,there is let down everytime when she suckle.im having problem expressing out.i feel tat my breasts dun react to pump.i can only express out total 30-60ml each time for both sides.but if i latch on one side and express the other side simultaneously, then can express out as much as 80ml.any mommy facing the same problem? im afraid tat when i go back to work my supply will drop...

 

[susane5098]

Hi, I'm also facing the same problem. I'm in 3rd week n i have stopped my breastfeed and change to pump...
I'm reluctantly to do so but everytime when i latched my baby girl, she keep crying and cause her stomach got a lot of wind. She always cry at night bcos of stomachache. So I dared not to latch now.. I still pump every 3-4hrs n I also take fenugreek. Everytime I pump abt 90ml. . Still below my expectation.. hope the milk supply can be improved..

 

[scratchhead]

Jacelyn, i had the same problem as you. If you feel that you r not reacting to the pumps, you might like to consider another brand of pumps. Or possibly a different size of the flanges that suits your breast size.

Serene, I am impressed that you can pump 400ml every 8hrs.i am afraid that if I drag the duration in between each pump, milk supply will drop.

 

[jacelyn_c]

i tried both manual and electric pump both give same result.im now trying to pump regularly after every latch on hope to get used to pump asap.will be using hospital grade pump when returning to work (provided by company) so hopefully it will make a difference.what pump were u using to make it better?

 

[estellyn]

Hello all! I'm a new mummy to my three weeks old baby girl.. I'm having some supply crisis I dunno what happened! I have been expressing milk for my girl as she forgot how to latch on after being hospitalised for jaundice & after introduction of bottles (in our desperate attempt to get her to feed). My supply in week one was pathetic only abt 20-40ml both breast each side. I started taking More Milk Plus from TMC pharmacy and supply improved drastically, until about 5 days ago I was expressing about 900ml per day (highest I have ever gotten) & I was really pleased with it. But SUDDENLY like overnight it's as if my supply has been cut! I'm e pressing less than 90ml each pump & it definitely cannot support total breastfeeding that I'm trying to give. I dunno why, I've been taking more milk plus continuously. The only reason I can think of was that the two days before this happened I skipped one night pump cos I my nipples were hurting from pumping, I was really tired from colicky episodes hence I wanted to give myself a break. Anyhow, I'm trying very hard to get the supply up again, increasing pumping to 2.5hours interval but doesn't seem to help. How long does it take to increase supply by incresinv pumping frequency, anyone knows?? Does anyone experience the same thing too??

 

[geri2012]

Hi, saw that some mummies have concerns over milk supply. I too was struggling with low milk supply during my confinement as bb refused to latch and I didn't pump due to exhaustion from looking after bb. When bb finally latched on, I only managed 20-40ml which was insufficient.

Subsequently, I began to double pump every 3 hours without fail even waking up in the middle of the night to do so. I would also empty my breasts after every feed. It was tiring but after 2-3 weeks I began to see results. Now I am able to pump 150-180ml every 3 hours, depending on the time of the day.

So mummies who are facing this prob don't give up!

 

[geri2012]

Forgot to add that as bb began sleeping through the night from 6 weeks, I stepped up my pumping frequency to 2-2.5 hours at night to boost my milk supply.

Now that my supply is sufficient for bb's needs, I only pump 4-5 hourly interval at night.

 

[jacelyn_c]

im back to work 3wks ago and since then was manage to pump out 120ml every 3hrs.my gal doesn't sleep well recently and thus im also couldn't really sleep. i guess becoz of this my supply start to drop to 90-100ml.i started pumping every 2.5hrs and each pump only give average 80ml.im tired but will continue pumping every 2.5hrs and start to take fenugreek again.hope my supply will increase soon!by the way anyone can help with baby keep crying at night?? she's crying everynight at around 11-12midnight, already change diaper, feed, room temperature ok,but she would wake up from sleep at this hour irregardless of sleeping position.we tried putting her to sleep on her tummy as she used to sleep like tat but she would cry even lauder.pls help!!

 

[scratchhead]

My kid's 7 weeks alr and still waking up in e middle of the night. I can't wait for the time when I can sleep longer hours..... Is there anyway to accelerate this process?

Btw jacelyn, my elder kid used to cry at a specific range of time nearly everyday. There is no hard and fast rule to calm my kid down. Sometimes, I sing soothing songs (in low, monotonous voice), other times I will carry and walk around the house, or juz patting the baby( tho this is apparently no a gd method according to many Internet sources). Eventually, my kid outgrew it at about 3-4 months

 

[jacelyn_c]

she only started this waking pattern since 2wks ago,getting better as i could calm her down quicker than before.my #1 did not have this problem at all, she could sleep throughout the night when she's 4wks old.hope it will get better soon...