Hi-I have a dumb question. What can you do to increase your breastmilk production? I've been drinking plenty-but it just seems as though I'm not producing that much. She seems like she gets satisfied and is putting on weight---but I just want to make sure I produce enough for her. I had to quit breastfeading at 8 weeks for my ds because I didn't produce enough and 12 weeks for my oldest dd and I really want to keep up with this one.

TIA

:)

I'm sure others will have better answers for ya, but all I can think of is pump and breastfeed if you're nervous about 'drying up'. But, if she seems satisfied and is gaining weight, things are probably ok. Hope things work out for ya!

*Edit: avoid things like some meds that may dry you up. Like allergy, cough, sinus meds. Also, isn't caffein dehydrating??*

I think as long as you are eating, drinking, and getting plenty of rest (if that's possible with a newborn) then your supply should be good. I think only like 2% of women don't produce enough milk, you might fall into that category. I'd say if she's satisfied and putting on weight then you are producing enough. sometimes paranoia sets in bcuz we can't see how much milk they are taking but as long as she putting on weight you should be fine.:-D

Ditto what both Kate and Eva said. Feeding more/pumping will increase your production, but if she's satisfied and gaining weight, then she is probably getting exactly what she needs.

Found this for you:

There are no specific foods to eat that will stimulate production of breast milk, but there are things that can help with milk production. More important than what you eat is how your baby (http://parenting.ivillage.com/newborn/nbreastfeed/0,,456z,00.html#) eats. When a baby is properly positioned, well-attached and sucking effectively, the longer a baby nurses at your breast the more milk will be produced. This is the single most important way to increase your milk production.
From a diet and nutrition standpoint, there are two important factors critical to producing milk. The first is drinking enough fluid. It doesn't have to be milk; water or juice is fine. You may be producing from 20 to 40 ounces of fluid a day, and that's quite a lot. Thirst is a good indicator of need, but may not do the whole job. It's a good rule of thumb to drink a bit more, past being quenched. It is also a good habit to fill a glass of water for yourself to drink while your baby is nursing. Drinking sufficient fluids won't make you produce more milk, but is important in replenishing lost fluids.
Nursing requires about an extra 500 calories per day. Women that go on restricted diets in an attempt to lose weight while they are nursing may be eating too few calories, which leaves them fatigued and without the energy necessary for optimal milk production.
Beer has been touted for years as being a stimulus to milk production. However, research shows that babies don't like alcoholic breastmilk, and actually drink less of it, resulting in less stimulation to the breast. Ultimately, this means a decrease in milk production.
Stress can negatively affect milk production, but reaching for a beer is not the best way to relax. Find an alternative way to rest and de-stress. Have a sitter come in so you can nap. Join a car pool so you can rest or sleep on the trip to and from work. Find ways to eliminate unnecessary chores, or perhaps relax your standards for tidiness and instead, sit down and close your eyes for a moment or two!
Caffeine (http://parenting.ivillage.com/newborn/nbreastfeed/0,,456z,00.html#) stimulates milk production, but it also stimulates your baby. Caffeine finds its way into breast milk and large amounts can act on your baby as it does on you. Caffeine stays in baby's system longer than in an adult's, which will prolong its effect. Also, caffeine can make your baby irritable, as well as interfere with his sleep. One cup of coffee or a soda will not be a problem, but in large quantities (five or more cups of a caffeinated beverage a day), the levels of caffeine in breast milk can reach amounts that affect your baby.
The best prescription for maximum milk production is effective and frequent breastfeeding or milk expression, plenty of fluids, adequate calories and rest.

Ditto what everyone else said. You could also look into an herb called fenugreek.. it is suppose to help with milk supply.

at our health food store there is an organic herbal nursing tea that is supposed to help milk supply.

(...finding it in pantry...)

Ok here are the ingredients: Fenugreek seed, anise seed, fennel seed, caraway seed and lemon verbena leaves.


maybe your health food store would have a similar type item??

I will just say too...that sometimes no matter WHAT you do...you can't produce more! I was in that boat and did everything I could find to try for a long time and never could produce more than an ounce or two....so if you just can't get more, that's okay too...good luck!! Hope it works for you since you want to continue so bad!

Nursing frequently, on demand is generally the best/easiest way to get your body to produce ample milk for your baby. Yes, staying well hydrated, plain ole water is best. And ditto looking into Fenugreek and Mother's Milk Tea. I have no personal experience with those, but have heard they have worked very well for others.

But baby to breast OFTEN is the best/easiest bet. No bottles or pacifiers. All of baby's sucking needs being met at the breast.
HTH :)

Nursing frequently, on demand is generally the best/easiest way to get your body to produce ample milk for your baby. Yes, staying well hydrated, plain ole water is best. And ditto looking into Fenugreek and Mother's Milk Tea. I have no personal experience with those, but have heard they have worked very well for others.

But baby to breast OFTEN is the best/easiest bet. No bottles or pacifiers. All of baby's sucking needs being met at the breast.
HTH :)

ITA to all that Tara mentioned!

Plus, I've heard that Oatmeal (not the microwave or 1 minute oatmeal, but the longer cooking stuff) is also really good at increasing milk supply.

Also, if baby is nursing frequently, and is wetting and dirtying diapers and meeting milestones, then it would also probably help your supply to relax and trust God.

God designed our bodies to produce milk, in the right quantity for our babies. I won't kid you, breastfeeding is alot of work, and I'd guess that every woman who's ever breastfed her children will attest to some bumps along the road in some way, however, the Stats are something like 95-97% of women can breastfeed their babies. The % of women who really can't produce milk, or pruduce enough milk are very, very small.

And remember, its not necessary to pump to keep up your milk supply. Pumps are a modern invention, and they do really help in situations where a Mom needs to boost her supply, but if all is going well, you don't have to pump to maintain your supply. All that is needed is to breastfeed the baby at the breast as often as baby needs to nurse. It's all supply and demand.

You can gets lots of good breastfeeding info at www.kellymom.com and www.lalecheleague.org. Laleche league also has a mother to mother forum.

One more thought... I don't know how old your baby is, but sometimes a baby will be a REALLY good sleeper right away, and with some babies, they'd rather sleep through the night than nurse initially. Now you'd need to check with your ped to be sure, but with my DS#1, he started sleeping 8-9 hour stretches after the first couple of weeks, and my ped. cautioned me to nurse him after a max of 4-5 hours at night until he was at least 8-10 weeks old or so. She advised me to make sure he nursed every 2 to 3 hours during the day and that he didn't go longer than one 4-5 hour stretch at night for those first couple of months. Now not all kids are the same, some can probably maintain a good milk supply even if they do sleep that long at night, but that was one of our ped.s cautions, that to really establish a very good milk supply, that I should only let DS go one 4-5 hour stretch during the night for the first couple of months. Oh, and BTW, baby doesn't have to wake up all the way to nurse if they are good sleepers, generally, if you bring them to the breast, they'll latch on and nurse...sometimes you might have to tickle their feet or whatnot, but if they're near it, they usually can nurse without actually waking up all the way.

Nursing frequently, on demand is generally the best/easiest way to get your body to produce ample milk for your baby. Yes, staying well hydrated, plain ole water is best. And ditto looking into Fenugreek and Mother's Milk Tea. I have no personal experience with those, but have heard they have worked very well for others.

But baby to breast OFTEN is the best/easiest bet. No bottles or pacifiers. All of baby's sucking needs being met at the breast.
HTH :)

ITA to all that Tara mentioned!

Plus, I've heard that Oatmeal (not the microwave or 1 minute oatmeal, but the longer cooking stuff) is also really good at increasing milk supply.

Also, if baby is nursing frequently, and is wetting and dirtying diapers and meeting milestones, then it would also probably help your supply to relax and trust God.

God designed our bodies to produce milk, in the right quantity for our babies. I won't kid you, breastfeeding is alot of work, and I'd guess that every woman who's ever breastfed her children will attest to some bumps along the road in some way, however, the Stats are something like 95-97% of women can breastfeed their babies. The % of women who really can't produce milk, or pruduce enough milk are very, very small.

And remember, its not necessary to pump to keep up your milk supply. Pumps are a modern invention, and they do really help in situations where a Mom needs to boost her supply, but if all is going well, you don't have to pump to maintain your supply. All that is needed is to breastfeed the baby at the breast as often as baby needs to nurse. It's all supply and demand.

You can gets lots of good breastfeeding info at www.kellymom.com and www.lalecheleague.org. Laleche league also has a mother to mother forum.

One more thought... I don't know how old your baby is, but sometimes a baby will be a REALLY good sleeper right away, and with some babies, they'd rather sleep through the night than nurse initially. Now you'd need to check with your ped to be sure, but with my DS#1, he started sleeping 8-9 hour stretches after the first couple of weeks, and my ped. cautioned me to nurse him after a max of 4-5 hours at night until he was at least 8-10 weeks old or so. She advised me to make sure he nursed every 2 to 3 hours during the day and that he didn't go longer than one 4-5 hour stretch at night for those first couple of months. Now not all kids are the same, some can probably maintain a good milk supply even if they do sleep that long at night, but that was one of our ped.s cautions, that to really establish a very good milk supply, that I should only let DS go one 4-5 hour stretch during the night for the first couple of months. Oh, and BTW, baby doesn't have to wake up all the way to nurse if they are good sleepers, generally, if you bring them to the breast, they'll latch on and nurse...sometimes you might have to tickle their feet or whatnot, but if they're near it, they usually can nurse without actually waking up all the way.

as a mom who has STRUGGLED with her milk supply from day one here is what I have learned from my lactation specalist. Mothers Milk tea is awesome you can find it at a health food store in the tea isle it is made by traditional medicine. There is also tinctures (I usually do tincture in with my tea every once in a while) drink WATER WATER WATER. You need to get in most of your water by 2 pm otherwise you will have a lower milk supply in the evening when babes are usually hungriest. Have a "pump day" where you pump and feed constantly! those days stink but they will fluff up your milk supply as my lac. specialist says. Oatmeal can help, along with A dark beer with hops..not a commercial beer since they process them so much but a local beer if you have any (if you drink....feed your lo then drink the beer it will be out of your system in 2 hours, just around when your lo will want to eat again) putting a heating pack on your chest or shoulders helps you relax and helps you let down. I think that's all the tricks and tips I know, but mostly relax if your baby is gaining weight and not acting like they aren't getting food you are are fine.

Ooooo, me, me (jumping up and down waving arm)...since returning to work, I've struggled keeping up my milk supply. I nurse and pump.

I do the whole fluid and diet monitoring speal too.

Oatmeal and pineapple juice was also recommended by my lactation nurse. To be honest, I didn't notice much change.

I did pray over my body and that helped.

I also counseled with my lactation nurse and she recommended "Mother's Milk Plus". An herbal capsule that contains the herbs mentioned by others here already.

IT DOES WORK!

I've noticed the milk takes a few days to be as "hearty" but it does help increase the supply and has turned into more hearty milk now that my body is acclimated to the herbs.

I love breastfeeding!

ditto everyone...

water, relax, and good nutrition. I've also heard good things about mother's milk, fenugreek, and oatmeal. Don't worry too much about the ounces. Overall weight gain is what dr's usually go by for bf babies. My ped said that the baby was getting way more in his belly than I ever pumped at a sitting.
One new? thing - maybe try another kind of pump? I had a mini electric and it did nothing but cause me pain and anxiety. I got the Isis hand pump, and got way more milk with that one. I got a lot with the hospital one, too but those are $$$. I used it while Bobert was in the special care nursery. (could not bf him for several days cause he swallowed a lot of blood). At that point, I was impressed anything came out. LOL. I think I was getting an ounce or 2 at the end of a week.

**hugs**

we're cheering for you!

The other ladies have given you great advice. I would ditto the bit about nursing on demand and nursing at night. Sometimes moms are so thrilled to have a baby that sleeps that they don't get in that night nursing that helps the supply SO much! Prolactin levels (the hormone that boosts milk production) is highest between 12 AM and 6 AM. My DD has nursed almost constantly since she was born--when she was only a few hours old, she was nursing every hour on the dot, basically! And at 19 months old, she still asks me for nums all day long if she has nothing else to do, lol!

Basically, what I'm saying is that you have to forget about schedules and forget about advice to only nurse every 3 hours or whatever. Many women simply can't produce enough milk with only nursing ever 2 1/2 to 3 hours....my mom was one of those moms. Back in the 1980's they were pushing schedules harder than they are now. Fortunately, she didn't stick to spacing the feedings out as much as she was told to, and as a result I was breastfed for over 13 months. :)

Don't worry about the clock, just relax, enjoy that precious baby and nurse, nurse, nurse! LOL.

Thank you ladies for your advice. I checked with our local healthfood store and they will have some of that Mother's Milk tea in next week. I will give that a try. Up until last week I hadn't had any problems-I'd go 2 hours without nursing and I'd be so swollen and leaking. Then I went for my PP check with my OB and she prescribed my Micronor as birth control and since taking that my production really went down--I haven't been swollen or leaked once so I'm wondering if that may have something to do with it too. But I really want to try that tea and have high hopes it will work. I really want to continue to breastfeed Delaney for as long as I can. Thank you again for all your wonderful advice. You ladies are wonderful!!!! :D

HUGS

Thank you ladies for your advice. I checked with our local healthfood store and they will have some of that Mother's Milk tea in next week. I will give that a try. Up until last week I hadn't had any problems-I'd go 2 hours without nursing and I'd be so swollen and leaking. Then I went for my PP check with my OB and she prescribed my Micronor as birth control and since taking that my production really went down--I haven't been swollen or leaked once so I'm wondering if that may have something to do with it too. But I really want to try that tea and have high hopes it will work. I really want to continue to breastfeed Delaney for as long as I can. Thank you again for all your wonderful advice. You ladies are wonderful!!!! :D

HUGS

Oh, okay, that little bit of info helps. Did you take birth control pills after your other two kids (even the minipill)? Because some women can't take any hormonal birth control at all while nursing without having supply issues (others can, it really depends on the woman). There are other great birth control options that don't affect supply or milk production, maybe your OB could help you with that if needed?

Best wishes!

Oh, okay, that little bit of info helps. Did you take birth control pills after your other two kids (even the minipill)? Because some women can't take any hormonal birth control at all while nursing without having supply issues (others can, it really depends on the woman). There are other great birth control options that don't affect supply or milk production, maybe your OB could help you with that if needed?

Best wishes!

YES! You really do need to look into that. Many women have probs with hormonal birth control, even estrogen only pills.

Yes, come to think of it-I did. The same birth control pill too--maybe that does have something to do with it. My OB only put me on this until she puts the Mirena IUD in-but still it operates the same way; by progesterone. That pretty much is the only birth control method we have to go off of-dh does not want to use 'his only' method and with 3 kids now it's hard for me to remember to take the pill at the same time every day :o
Do you ladies think that even taking Micronor or using the IUD that the Mother's Milk tea will help?

Thank you again,
Bethany :)

Yes, come to think of it-I did. The same birth control pill too--maybe that does have something to do with it. My OB only put me on this until she puts the Mirena IUD in-but still it operates the same way; by progesterone. That pretty much is the only birth control method we have to go off of-dh does not want to use 'his only' method and with 3 kids now it's hard for me to remember to take the pill at the same time every day :o
Do you ladies think that even taking Micronor or using the IUD that the Mother's Milk tea will help?

Thank you again,
Bethany :)

Hmmm, well I hope that something works for you in the birth control department. Birth control while nursing can be a tricky thing. In addition to what was mentioned already, there are female barrier methods such as the diaphragm and natural methods such as LAM and Natural Family Planning. DH and I personally have used NFP successfully while nursing, but it does require specialized instruction and takes daily observations and attention to detail.

Some women use a barrier method such as the diaphragm while nursing then go back on their usual method after weaning.

I think that the Mother's Milk Tea is an excellent idea, regardless of the birth control situation. Also, Fenugreek can help. And if your supply got really low, there's a medication called Domiphederone (sp?).

I hope that you figure out something that works for you. Feel free to PM me if you ever have any questions or want to chat about anything.

I was on domperidone, and it helped me. The only thing is not all drs. know about it because it is still not mainstream and a little "experimental" and some insurances don't cover it. Mine thankfully did so I just had a co-payment, but I have heard many others didn't and it cost $70. Also Raglan can help but if you are prone to depression it can cause ppd.

Hi-I finally got some of the Mother's Milk tea. I was reading the box, though, after I got home and it said to call your doctor before drinking. So, I called my doctor's office and talked to her nurse and she said that she cannot approve it or disapprove it. So I'm unsure of what to do. I really want to take it to see if it helps my milk supply-but since I do not have the doctor's approval--I don't know....

What about you ladies that have used it? Did you ask your doctor before or just take it...or what?

Thanks again :)

On another board I frequent I heard about Marshmallow root. The gal to whom it was recommended was having a SERIOUS problem with her production. Her babe was dropping weight, all that nasty stuff. The usual Mothers Milk Tea and Fenugreek were recommended. Someone else piped in with Marshmallow root...the gal tried it and she said the results were simply amazing! Her production greatly increased, was richer/thicker and her babe was soon gaining weight and doing better.

I'll go back over there and check on the dosage/usage and post back.

here's the reply that gal posted about her use of marshmallow root

I don't know who it was but someone here suggested that I take marshmallow root to enrich my milk. Well, for the past 24 hours I have been taking one fenugreek and one marshmallow capsule every eight hours. My milk supply has increased, but before my milk was almost like water. Already not only can I easily express drops of milk, it is so thick and creamy! It looks like I've got half and half coming out of my boobs!

teehee

Marshmellow root?? I didn't know such thing even existed! I think I might have to try that too. I hope something will help--I really want to continue to breastfeed for as long as I can.

Thank you for the help :)

yup yup
apparently it is available in capsule form ??
I hadn't ever paid attention. I remember seeing marshmallow root at the health food store, in the bulk herbs section, but never thought about it already being ground/dried and in capsule form.

I can look/ask for more specific dosage if needed.