Tips for Breastfeeding and Milk Supply

Their latches will improve. James was a lousy latcher (or should that have been lazy latcher). It got to the point where i could still feel that it hurt but it was 99% bearable. Then all of a sudden I realised it didnt hurt at all.....and that was when he was about 6-7 months old...and then he got teeth   i got bitten badly for the first time at 3am this morning....it HURT!!!!

I think mums who tandem BF their twins are absolutely amazing!!!! Keep at it!!

Hi Disco, my mw told me NOT to use cabbage leaves, cause apparently they lessen your milk supply.

Massaging the area while having a shower helped a bit, but what helped best for me was massaging the area while Mika was feeding.

I don't know what you are wearing, but I remember the lady who did the BF classes told us BF singlets cause a lot of problems, cause they have those round cut-outs, and when your boobs get engorged the edges of those cut-outs press in your boobs and cause blockages. (I never wore them cause I couldn't find one that fit, so don't know whether she was right or not)

Good luck

Interestingly i was reading in a LLL book this morning that blocked ducts/mastitis is almost always the result of a faulty (gotta love that word) letdown.

But this is what they say on fixing it. Hot compresses & frequent feedings off the affected breast.

They also say that mastitis in early lactation may be because their let down reflex is not efficient. In later lactation it is often association with emotional crisis. Ie shock.

Kate, I am the same, really low supply in the morning! Which is weird as! I end up topping him up then, and he usually drinks a full 120mls. Yet at night, I am quite full and its rare he needs a bottle then.

We have just got back from holiday. Had an awesome time in Napier/Hastings. The weather was the BOMB! Its sunny here today which is good but the temp is no where near the 27 we enjoyed while away.

Both the kids travelled really well and Cam was really good the whole time, slept 5 hours straight every night (which is more than I can say for last night when we got home - only 3 in a row).

Hope everyone is well, I need to read through everyone's posts in more detail but plunket is due soon. Ill update when I have a chance to see how my piggly wiggly is doing...

Have been pondering this one. It could still be a latch issue - lots of babies seem to latch better when they're tired/sleepy/less hungry. So maybe in the morning when she's hungry she doesn't latch as well so doesn't remove milk as effectively, and maybe your boobs have adjusted (they're 'good' like that! ) to not produce as much milk in the mornings because they're used to not having as much milk effectively removed. So I guess it means having to work harder to get that perfect latch in the mornings (easier said than done with a hungry bubba I know).

Your 'ramblings' made perfect sense to me

Don't see why the cookies or tigers milk couldn't work while you're on the domperidone. (I need to boost my supply atm too - pregnancy seems to be making mine drop finally, as I was warned it would - but unfortunately of course I can't have the tigers milk cos of the raw egg thing.)

You could try fennel tea - fennel helps boost letdown rather than increasnig supply as such iygwim - that might help with the expressing (when you don't get much when it expressing it can often be a letdown problem rather than supply).

Hate to say it but apparently (I wouldn't be game personally, just saying!) expressing in the small hours of the morning works well

You probably know this, but supplementing in the morning rather than letting her cluster feed (even if with EBM) will only compound the issue... so it's awesome you've managed to stop the top ups, yay you!

Nipple shields do result in reduced breast stimulation so won't be helping, I know they're necessary right now but weaning off them is a good idea. (As always I seem to remember kellymom has a page on that - too lazy right now to find and link to it . I remember reading it because it included tips like applying ice to your nipple to harden it before latching baby! Eeek!)

Hopefully you've been able to see a lactation consultant? I'm only a lay person but I do have a shiny certificate for my peer counselling thing, I'd be happy to come by and see if I have any insights on getting her latched better

This might sound a bit random but there are some extra things that can be interfering with increasing your milk supply - you're not anaemic are you?

That's awesome weegee - thanks for your response. Yes she is a bad latcher - I used to have flat nipples before I BF Rowan and she has a high and small palate apparently so the two in combo don't work well.

I've just had to give her a top up as after a week of no probs she was tired, unsettled and had green nappies this afternoon and was fussing at the breast. So I think my milk has well and truly dropped.

Interestingly I tried her last week for a feed with no shield at the beginning of a feed and she was fine. Tried her today after half a feed (so nipple was well formed) and she couldn't take it in properly. I wonder if she's adjusted her latch.

I had a situation a while back where she started sucking more strongly and I got engorged and all systems were go and then I pretty much lost all my milk. I think what had happened was that when the milk came in properly she didn't have to work as hard and got lazy so made everything worse IYKWIM and I wonder if she's doing that again. Of course when milk comes in properly and you're on shields she gets 'free' milk sitting there.

I saw a lactation consultant in hospital, plus my MW and now am with my Plunket Nurse and Doc who are both Lac Consults. My Doc is very anti anything other than the breast which doesn't help my situation as we've tried that and it doesn't work but my Plunket Nurse is awesome and has given me some great tips so far. Problem is I don't see her again until next Tues.

Also they haven't really checked my latch I guess because I'm using shields. Just checked for tongue tie and checked her mouth and my nipples and then just worked out a feeding plan (2 feeds purely by bottle each day with large holes in the teats to make it fast flow)

Hmm I'll try the fennel tea as I've noticed my letdown is quite slow now but even when it's there the milk is only dribbling out really. It used to have a couple of jets going into the pump (as in last week).

Also I've been pumping 3 times a day but only for 10 mins a side as that's all the time I can spare and I think that's part of the issue as before I was pumping to get volume for her top ups so I was going up to 45 mins to get 100mls.

I don't think I'm anemic. Never have been and I'm taking complan every morning. But I'm constantly starving at the moment which would fit with her feeding all the time except I would expect to producing more.

Whew what a novel! You can see my predicament - I really don't know where to go from here. I need to wean off the shields ASAP I think but she seems too weak still to manage it.

ETA: Ok I've just pumped 110ml in 25 mins so now I'm really confused. Seems my milk is there again now???

Edited by Bobbie

Yeah she was really sleepy to begin with. As in too weak and sleepy to feed from the breast at all really and it was taking her about 30 minutes to feed out of a bottle with 80ml in it. But now she's older, her getting lazy is something I have been worrying about which is why I've been glad we've been dropping the top ups. However we usually do the full bottle EBM feed when she's not had a good sleep as otherwise she falls asleep on the boob (she's a day catnapper which is probably linked to the feeding but of course it compounds the issue).

Thanks for the info about expressing. That explains so much. I'll try and do that at least in the morning and evening when DH is at home and if I can't do the middle of the day I should be ok. But yes, Ouch!

Totally could be a letdown issue. I do get really stressed and paranoid watching the milk or lack thereof flow into the bottle. I'm definitely going to give the fennel tea a try.

Oh and just made the lactation cookies which are yummo. I will also put some of the LSA into my complan.

Edited by Bobbie

Can someone shed some light on the rationale for offering one or both breasts at a feed? How empty should they be before you switch?

I'd been working to the theory that I feed on a side until if I were a cow I'd be let off the platform but if they keep producing all the time is that right?

I've been feeling like i don't have enough, but i know thats probably not the case?

Edited by T_Rex

Thanks FreeSpirit (Flutterby is that you?). I've been doing that for the last day or so and I do seem to have a more contented baby

Hehe, not worried about the supply anymore - she's obviously successfully increased it if the giant boobs I woke up with this morning are anything to go by

Just a thought, if you are only offering one boob per feed then that means your other boob doesnt get used/emptied/replenished for 6 hours approx and then vice versa.

This is just from my experience but I was feeding Jackson from one boob at the beginning but he wasnt gaining well as well as not sleeping or settling well and I also got mastitis so went to both boobs per feed and has since been much better.

I think bubs will get your hind milk anyways if you are feeding on both sides long enough