Frustrated with Breastfeeding

Hi. maybe some experienced moms could help me. I am trying to exclusively breastfeed (except 1 bottle before bed at nite). The problem is, I am just not making enough milk. She doesnt seem to be satisfied and i've had to supplement with formula since she was born, this baby can drink 4-6 oz. in 1 sitting. omigawsh!

Sometimes she can tell there is nothing there and refuses to latch on, lol! thats why i am frustrated.

I've tried to breastfeed every 2-4 hours of the day. It seems like i am making more but it's been 3 weeks since she was born and I was hoping I woul d have plenty of milk by now. I was given a hand pump from the hospital...its terrible, i'll squeez that thing for 5 minutes and get maybe 1/3 of an oz.

Also I hate to wake her when she sleeps so peacefully to feed. Can anyone give me some ideas to increase my milk faster? any tips ..?

Well your breasts will only supply whats demanded on them, the more you feed the better. Even if it's only for ten minutes at a time they will start to produce more as you feed your baby, but it can take several days. When you get into supplementing they stop making as much milk.

If you haven't completely dried up yet keep trying. Make her nurse for as long as she will then give her a bottle. Never offer her a bottle before you nurser her (not even before bed) Get your milk supply in really well before you start the bottle before bed thing. there are things that you can get that has a tube that will give her formula while nursing (call a lactation consultant because I don't know what it is called) Also the breast feeding book by William Sears is wonderful! It was a huge help! Even if you have dried up there is still a chance you can get some milk supply back. Call La Lech League International 1-800-LaLeche or www.lalecheleague.org they should be able to set you up with a lactation consultant in your local area. If it after all that you can't get her back to the breast there is always next time. Hold off on that bottle for your next child till breast feeding is well established. If you just keep working with a newborn you will produce enough milk. At six weeks you can usually convince a child to take a bottle, but it is harder to convince them to take the breast after they have had a bottle. I had problems nursing my daughter (but it wasn't supply problems) She was on a bottle from 3 days to 7 days. We broke her of it, she didn't have another one till she was probably two months old. Then at 4 months decided she wanted to have nothing to do w/ a bottle. Don't worry Grandma still watched her every Monday night for about 4 hours. She would either give her rice cereal mixed with breast milk or give her breast milk out of a cup (not a sippy). When she was about 10 months old she started spending the night at Grandma's house sometimes. She would just have her breast milk out of a sippy (after she turned one it was whole milk) before bed. She nursed until a few days ago which was one day before her 18 month "birthday". She nursed for her nap that day and then refused to nurse before bed. She has wanted nothing to do with "mommy milk" since.

It takes 4-6 weeks for your breast milk to completely catch up and be intune with baby. Also its on a supply and demand basis only. So all those times you give her a bottle instead of breastfeeding you are sending a message to your breast to not produce as much because baby isnt hungry. If you want to produce MORE milk then you need to pump for 10 minutes on each breast AFTER your baby is finish nursing. That sends the signal to your breasts that your baby is STILL trying to eat and they will start to produce more. It will take about a week but it will happen. My son is 8 months old and I am still breastfeeding. He started on solids at 4 1/2 months and took a bottle around then too. So he spends less time on the breast because he gets the rest of his nutrition from solids. He used to nurse EVERY HOUR for the first 8 weeks. Just keep her on that breast and cut out formula as much as you can because that keeps her full longer therefore she wont need to nurse as often, resulting in a reduction of milk supply. Anymore questions feel free to email me!

When I had my daughter (in July), my milk did not come in. I didn't realize it at first because I just expected that I would breastfeed her exclusively with no problem. However, when the lactation consultant came in to see me at the hospital, she thought there may be a problem since I hadn't seen any changes in my breasts. (I had actually asked about this at one of my prenatal appointments, which was only a couple weeks before she was born, and they said it was nothing to worry about.) In any event, I started to supplement because she was losing weight and the milk was still not coming in fully. During her first 2 or 3 months, I was trying putting her to the breast, then giving her any pumped milk (which was sometimes so small I could hardly measure it), then supplementing to make up the difference, then pumping again to empty my breasts and save for the next feeding, then washing everything, and starting over again (as the hour was up and she was ready to eat again)! It was such an exhausting experience! But I still tried and tried. I talked to two lactation consultants, and mostly they told me that pumping would help. I rented the Medela Symphony breast pump, which I had used in the hospital and which was recommended to me by the lactation consultants. It helped a little. I also was told to try herbal things, so I started with the Mother's Milk tea. There is also a Mother's Milk product that is in drop form. The tea worked a little bit too, but still, I was unable to breastfeed successfully. They also told me about something called a Supplemental Nursing System. Finally, I gave up; my baby was definitely gaining the right amount of weight; she was healthy and doing well mostly on formula, and that was my main concern. I'm really upset about her not being completely breastfed, but at least she got some of the benefits of it for a little while. The only other thing I can say is to keep trying to breastfeed, and maybe try that tea. You can get it in most health food stores, I think. Just keep at it and keep trying until you really really are sure it's not happening. It's not always easy, as I'm sure you know, but if you really try and it doesn't happen still, then at least you know you did all you could! Good luck!

I suggest talking to your doctor before trying any herbal remedies. These are usually medicines that are not FDA approved. It could interfer with other medicines! Some of these things are perfectly safe, but just be aware that just because it is sold at a "health food" store doesn't mean that it is healthy for you or you breast fed baby! Talk to either your doctor or your pediatrician!!

Seeing a lactation counseler might help you out, your hospital should have one available to you still; if not WIC offers free counseling as well. If the hand pump isnt working, your hospital should also be able to rent you a high quality electric pump which you use a personal kit with (so the tubes and such are all brand new and just for you which keeps your milk clean) they are supose to work much better than a hand pump. Also, be sure you are drinking plenty of fluids! Try to drink extra water and see if it helps the problem.

Try not to supplement until you get your supply really established. Your body thinks that it shouldn't make as much milk because it works on supply and demand. When babies are really young, they nurse pretty much constantly which is why a lot of mama's think that the baby isn't getting enough milk. Breastmilk is just very pure and goes through their bodies faster than formula. Please don't give up, you are giving your baby the most precious gift a mother can give, it will get much easier.

I agree with most of the other moms, breastfeeding only works on supply and demand and if you are supplementing with a bottle your body won't know it needs to make more milk. I would just keeo putting her to the breast until your body catches on. Also, pumping after she is done will help increase your supply. I have been nursing exclusively for 9mths and it starts out really hard but I promise it gets better. Keep trying and good luck!

I have been exclusively breastfeeding for 11 months. I was really lucky and never had any problems, so I am going to pass on the advice my sister was given when she was struggling with milk supply...she was told to either put the baby to the breast (or if baby wasn't interested or was asleep, use a pump) every 2 hours day and night to establish a good supply. It's really important to keep up your own fluid intake - you need to drink at least double what a non-breastfeeding woman needs. Good luck!

ok i had that problem with both y chlddren i don't know if u drink but one thingu could do is have one beer a day the yeast will help ur milk i did it with my 2nd my milk came in more but along with that ur baby has to eat lots as well i would also sugest talking to ur health nurse cuz i thought my1st son just would not eat that much and it was that my milk was drying up and thats all my body would make so really he was hungry well goodluck hun