What do you do to increase "milk supply" ?

[farmmom4him]

I have a 6.5 mo nursing and a 20 mo nursing. It seems in the heat, I am not quite keeping up. ;) The mother's milk tea, gave my digestive system a rumble, so I quit it. :glare: I know, oatmeal, and beer help, but beer does not agree with me, and I would rather find something better. I eat oatmeal most mornings.

 

I am out of prenatal vits right now, and suspect that has a lot to do with it. We got rid of our cc and now I am not sure how to get them. :confused::001_huh: Hind sight is 20/20. ;)

 

So, if you have a vitamin suggestion that is easy on the tummy and can be paid through paypal, Hit me with it...

 

THANKS!!

[hornblower]

I'm a retired LLL & an IBCLC.

 

Is it possible that you're simply dehydrated? You really need to drink an insane amount of fluid to keep up with making milk on top of your own body's needs, esp with tandem nursing. And with the heat your babies need more too so it just feeds into the loop.

 

I'd suggest starting off with just making sure you're drinking at least 4-8 oz of water each waking hour. Most people I talk to are not.

 

Offer your 20 mo old water in a cup. Sometimes they're nursing because they're thirsty & don't really 'need' the milk. I tandem nursed my own guys & I'm all for it so I'm not suggesting weaning the older one - just suggesting that sometimes b'milk is not always what they actually need. Of course offer for comfort & continuing nutrition :-)

 

Pedialyte for YOU. If you can stand the flavour, try to drink a couple glasses a day. You can also use gatorade or make your own oral rehydration solution: 8 tsp sugar, 1 tsp salt to 1 Liter of water. You can flavour it with a bit of lemon or lime juice.

 

I wouldn't bother with other things until you're really sure you're well hydrated. One way to check is that YOU need to be peeing at least q. 4h and your urine should be clear and abundant.

 

After that I'd move onto some herbals & any good mulit-vitamin. It doesn't need to necessarily be a prenatal IMO. For some idea on herbals:

http://breastfeedingpcos.blogspot.com/2007/04/beyond-fenugreek-guide-to-herbal.html

 

The last thing is to make sure your babes are staying on the breast long enough. Sometimes with heat babes (& you!) get uncomfortable and sweaty and sticky and a feed stops prematurely. Try putting clean thin layers of cotton between you and the babe, something to stop the sweaty skin on sweaty skin feeling.

 

best wishes ~

[lisasaysto]

The best way to build up your supply is to nurse more frequently.

 

May I ask how you know you aren't making enough? I'm asking because sometimes women pump and think that is all they are making, but a pump is not nearly as efficient as a baby.

[Dirtroad]

Nursing frequently does help but if you do it more often than every 2 hours... you never adequately replace the milk (get thin watery milk) ... your body has to have time to make more.

 

The 20 mos is old enough for water & spritzers.... some have even moved to dairy (goat/cow) by then. Also, the pureed/solid foods should be providing most nutrients for 20 mos old and you should only need to breast feed a little.

 

Hydration & rest are big issues.

 

You can cut back on the 20 mos old to be sure the 6 mos old is getting enough. The 6 mos old needs it much more.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

I've noticed that my milk supply goes down after I use up all of my extra pregnancy stores. What helped me was to drink a LOT of water and eat snacks every 2-3 hours. The specific foods that seem to be helping the most are yogurt with ground flax seed and fresh fruit and I have a big handful of walnuts (in addition to a few other things) before I go to bed. If I stop eating the walnuts for a few days my nighttime milk supply goes way down. Oh, and I take a big glass of water to bed with me to drink when I'm awake at night.

[creekmom]

My friend's doctor prescribed a medicine for her that helped her produce more milk. I think it's something cancer patients use, but they discovered it helps nursing women produce milk?! Anyway, it really helped her. If you're interested, send me a message and I can find out the name of the med.

[Peri]

Almonds!

 

Just a handful everyday ... raw and unsalted.

 

There are also some herbs that help alot: blessed thistle. Your supposed to take enough to make your sweat and milk supply smell like maple syrup lol.

 

Here's a site that has been very helpful to me: http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/low-supply.html

[farmmom4him]

The reason I suspect that my milk is a little low, is the way baby girl goes at it. She is agitated during nursing. She is also nursing every 2 hrs round the clock for 20-30 min at a time. She was down to about 4 hrs. I am drinking close to a gallon of water a day. :D

 

i really have to watch that she is getting enough. She is only 13 lbs 5 oz (9 lbs 6 oz at birth). Her dr is not concerned unless she stops gaining again. 20 mo is only nursing 2 sometimes 3 times a day--only after she nurses. ;) We can't have nuts in our home because of our 4 yr old nut allergy--we can't eat them and take a chance of the "dust" being on us. ;)

 

THANKS!!!!!

[hornblower]

the prescription galactogogues are metoclopramide (reglan) and domperidone (I think that's still only avail in Cda)

I don't really think these are necessary here but just in case someone is looking for that info. :-)

[Terabith]

For me, my supply always took a big hit right around the time the nursling was six months old. I assumed it was something about the hormones, but I don't really know.

 

What about taking fenugreek? I know brewers yeast and B vitamins can increase supply, as can blessed thistle and red raspberry.

 

Are you getting enough calories? Tandem nursing uses up a ton. What about oatmeal cookies to get still more oatmeal and some extra calories? A gallon of water might not be enough. A good vitamin wouldn't hurt.

 

Gently - if you are concerned about your 6 month old gaining enough weight, what if a couple times a day your 20 month old nursed before the six month old so that she gets the richer hind milk?

[mommaduck]

I'm wondering if you have a digestive issue that messes with the yeast or bacteria in your system when you use MMT or beer? The things in them that increase your milk supply could be the exact things messing with your system. Something to look into.

 

 

Drink plenty of water, laze around with your babies and don't do so much, nurse often, and stay away from DAIRY! Dairy (milk and cheese esp) are very binding (doesn't just cause constipation, but can decrease milk supply).

[lisasaysto]

Six months old is typically a time of a big growth spurt. Your baby may be doing the work she needs to to get your supply up herself! I'm not saying to ignore it, but just offering hope that in a few days it will start to level back out again.

 

I have read that drinking too much water can actually diminish your supply. Unfortunately, I'm at work and can't take the time to dig around for a source. La Leche League recommends drinking to thirst. Obviously, you don't want to be dehydrated, but a gallon of water a day sounds like a lot to me.

[hornblower]

I'd have to dig around my references about over drinking but the only thing I can think of offhand is if you're so overhydrated that you get edema & this can compress the milk ducts. I don't think you can drink this much normally - it does sometimes happen with IV's. Drinking too much water on its own can mess up your electrolytes (and that can actually be fatal; people have died from drinking too much water - remember the Wii contest?) & that's why I often recommend an oral rehydration solution - whether it's commercial or home made.

 

If baby's diaper count is ok & is growing, then baby is getting enough. Fussiness at breast may be due to teething, grumpiness over the heat, growth spurts.... Is baby taking solids yet?

[schsmom]

Nurse more or pump and take fenugreek supplements. It worked well for me x3.

[LoveBaby]

Drinking too much water can mess up your electrolytes. We've been drinking a lot of coconut water this summer. It has tons of potassium and all the great electrolytes w/out the sugar and additives of gatorade or something similar. We prefer a brand that has pineapple juice blended with it, otherwise it tastes a bit funky.

 

Milk Thistle also increases supply, I believe.

[babysparkler]

I'm a retired LLL & an IBCLC.

 

Is it possible that you're simply dehydrated?

 

That is my thought too... when I was tandem nursing my boys I needed an insane amount of liquids to keep hydrated. I prefer milk, so that was my beverage of choice :) Dh would laugh and say that I was filling up my milk supply :)

[Amber in AUS]

Fenugreek work wonders for me but i had to take quite a lot for it to be effective. Once i started on it it was something that i had to continue to take until my babies self weaned.

[tuckabella]

drink more

[JudyJudyJudy]

To add to what others have said, get your thyroid levels tested. Low supply can be a symptom of low thyroid levels, and the problem commonly occurs a few months or so postpartum.

[WiseOwlKnits]

A friend gave me this recipe. It lives up to its name.

 

Milk Cookies

 

Ingredients:

1 c. butter

1 c. light brown sugar

½ c. sugar

2 eggs

1 ½ c. all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tbsp. vanilla

3 c. old fashioned oats

1 c. dried apricots, chopped

1 c. dried cranberries

1 c. almonds, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Combine butter and sugars and mix until creamy. Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing well between additions. Add flour, baking soda, and cinnamon and mix well to combine. Add vanilla and mix well. Add oats and mix well. Add apricots, cranberries, and almonds and mix just to combine. Do not over mix batter.

 

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 13 minutes. Remove to wire rack immediately and allow to cool.

[greenmamato3]

i had the same kind of intestinal reaction to the MMT .... and figured out that it's the Fenugreek component of them. :) funny b/c i've never had any of my friends have that same terrible response. they think i'm loopy :) now i know i'm not! :P

 

i say eat more WHOLE foods -- veggies, esp greens -- and get some good quality probiotics in your diet. i've never tandem nursed, but i can imagine that the dehydration MUST be difficult to avoid, so i would second (or third, or fourth ...) what the other moms have said regarding liquid intake. i absolutely cannot drink any caffeine whilst nursing or my supply plummets, and it's usually right around 6 mos that i get impatient with that limitation and start experimenting .... but always have to reside myself to the fact that i just can't do it. :) oh, and i have seen a HUGE difference in my supply when i'm taking my high qual vitamins v. cheapies. don't know of a paypal source, though ....

 

i had problems drinking soy v. dairy. the soy caused drying up for me. but my youngest was HIGHLY intolerant of all things dairy so i came up with a coconut milk shake that had high levels of protein in it .... PM if you're interested. that's how i avoided the dairy and soy altogether the third time around.

 

oh yeah, and don't skip dessert! :) that makes for a happy mommy .... :grouphug:

[kmacnchs]

something no one has mentioned...check to see if you're pg...that's when my milk levels drop severely.

 

for snack ideas...egg sandwhich, pb&banana sand (HIGH in protein & calories)

 

LOTS OF WATER (to ditto others)

 

Personally, if it got bad, I would drop the 20 mo since your 6mo needs it more...or just have your 20mo nurse for comfort.

[jojomojo]

Extra water, oatmeal, and alfalfa tablets always worked for me.

[farmmom4him]

AHHA!!! I quit taking the alfalfa a few weeks ago.:glare: I will get back on it. I also started drinking some electrolyes and that has helped me feel better. ;) THANKS ladies!!!!

[birchbark]

I was going to recommend alfalfa too. Also raspberry leaf tea. The fennel in many "mother's milk" preparations gave me an upset stomach.