Is breastmilk still possible to increase?

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Gladdyheng

New Member
Hi ace team thanks for sharing your experience. Wow that's a lot of determination! Having someone else do the squeezing of your breast is definitely more painful (when the nurse came to show me how to massage my breasts before my discharge, wah so painful) so I must say I am impressed by your endurance.


I do feel some surge of pain but the bearable kind at my breasts, sometimes around the top or side and some times at the nipple. I know there is milk cause when nothing else comes out from the pump or when my baby stops latching, I will squeeze my nipple and still see milk. Hand express also few drops after going at it for ten minutes. Frustrating!


Yes I am a little tempted to go try for a second child just to see if it really is the same issue but I guess until I find the reason why my supply is little I might face the same frustrations again. My hubby has agreed to have me see a lactation consultant... Just to check what is wrong.
 
JuzAngel

JuzAngel

Member
Fish tail plus GREEN papaya soup work for me.. for both lunch & dinner. I hardly any breast milk initially for a week plus, had no choice but to put my boy on FM for that period. I was so stressed up and disappointed. Luckily, my hubby was understanding and kept encouraging me to press on. I continued to latch on and bought a strong dual breast pump to express any minimal breast milk I had. Eventually, in 2-3 wk my breast milk kicks in gradually and it's getting more & more each day. Just remember to keep trying, rest well and drink lots of fluid & soup :)
 
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mei05

New Member
My baby is 18days old & i have super low supply. Can only pump 30-40ml for both side & only occassionally can get 50ml. Have been supplementing with formula since in hospital as PD said i dont have enuff milk for baby to flush out jaundice. After discharged i tried to go full breastfeeding, however baby din poo for 3days so back to see PD. PD said weight gain is not good which shows sign that baby is not drinking enuff therefore constipated. PD suggests to pump out so that can mk sure he's drinking enuff. I have been pumping every 3hrs for a week however my supply still the same. Lactation consultant advised that i should latch my baby again however my baby can latch for few hours & still feel hungry. What can i do?
 
ling.er

ling.er

Member
Before & after latching drink red date.
Then rest while baby is slp... After latching then pump. even 10ml also can... Slowly slowly will increase,,
Now my baby is taking 130-150ML per time. But i only express out 100-110 ML only..
I didnt give up.

Rest well Dun stress & also drink more red date.


mei05 said:
My baby is 18days old & i have super low supply. Can only pump 30-40ml for both side & only occassionally can get 50ml. Have been supplementing with formula since in hospital as PD said i dont have enuff milk for baby to flush out jaundice. After discharged i tried to go full breastfeeding, however baby din poo for 3days so back to see PD. PD said weight gain is not good which shows sign that baby is not drinking enuff therefore constipated. PD suggests to pump out so that can mk sure he's drinking enuff. I have been pumping every 3hrs for a week however my supply still the same. Lactation consultant advised that i should latch my baby again however my baby can latch for few hours & still feel hungry. What can i do?
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JuzAngel

JuzAngel

Member
Dun be dishearten keep on trying. U may want to supplement with FM for alternate feed to ensure your BB is getting enough :)
 
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mei05

New Member
JuzAngel said:
dont be dishearten keep on trying. you may want to supplement with FM for alternate feed to ensure your baby is getting enough :)
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yes i have been supplementing with formula all the while even after i latch bb cos he still seems hungry. i thought breastmilk will always be enuff but how come not for my case?
 
JuzAngel

JuzAngel

Member
Great! u r doing fine. Babies r constantly hungry, bear in mind the small stomach they have and BM r easily digested. While FM will keep the BB a little fuller longer but not for too long as well. Every 3 hrs feed is deem typical, don't worry too much it as long as they r able drink, sleep & poo and stay happy it's all good :)
 
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mei05

New Member
I have been latching & pumping plus taking supplements for the past 1 week but my supply still remains the same. Does it mean it will not increase already?

Anyone also latched baby for more than an hour & baby is still hungry?

My baby dont poo daily, he seems to poo every 2 days but he does have lots of wet diapers.
 
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ilovebbdylan

Member
it will increase if milk is removed from breast regularly. it wont happen over night, need some time to see effect.

but baby latch on for an hour does not mean they drink continously. they might be comfort sucking. u can see their jaw movement or hear them swallowing
 
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ilovebbdylan

Member
but i do agree some might have lesser milk in breast than others, but it does not mean u must stop. it just takes slightly more time and effort as u will realise baby get hungry easily. just feed in demand. some baby need to be fed hourly because tend to sleep while drinking
 
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mei05

New Member
Ya once I see him comfort sucking I will unlatch him then latch him back again to make sure he's really drinking & swallowing.. but despite that he still seems hungry..
 
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heavenzstz

Member
mummies with breastmilk supply concerns,
why not try lactation cookies? they were only available overseas previously, but 1 mummy has started in sg. i've started their 7 days pack n gotten quite gd results with constant pumping. will be signing up their monthly pack. their website: Milk Of Love | It's all about Breastmilk
 
ace team

ace team

New Member
you can try SACRED TEA: Singapore- Origins Jamu Massage - Shop Online

It worked wonders for me. Took for 1 week (about 4 cups a day) and my milk supply went up. But try to avoid taking during confinement as it's rather 'weakening' to the body (at least that was how I felt initially). But because I rested a lot and drank lost of herbs /herbal chicken/wine/etc to build up my health, the weakening aspect was not very noticeable. Take after 4-6 weeks of confinement. That should be the best time to increase milk supply.

Lastly, dont worry if you seem to be feeding frequently. That is normal. :Dancing_wub: keep pumping and press on!
 
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mei05

New Member
I juz bot the tea to try. Hopefully it will work as I have tried a lot of others but don't seems to be working. I can understand frequent feeding but long nursing hours & still not satisfied seems abnormal. Usually after nursing my boy for 1.5-2hrs I still have to supplement with my ebm or formula.
 
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mei05

New Member
I juz bot the tea to try. Hopefully it will work as I have tried a lot of others but don't seems to be working. I can understand frequent feeding but long nursing hours & still not satisfied seems abnormal. Usually after nursing my boy for 1.5-2hrs I still have to supplement with my ebm or formula.
 
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Gladdyheng

New Member
I visited the lactation consultant at KKH last Monday.
Good news is she said.... whatever breastmilk you can feed your baby is better than nothing at all. Coz whatever nutrients from your breastmilk, the baby can still absorb and of course better than FM. So a relief for me after being so damn stressed for the past 4 months.

Told her that I went for a short trip with hubby for wedding anniversary without baby before I came back to work. Guess what? I actually pumped more than I did when I am home with baby. usually at home I only pumped 10-20ml each session and sometimes total pump is only 60ml total. But when I went for the trip and only pumped thrice each day but I got 90ml. Didn't even eat the fenugreek or domperidone or drank the sacred tea. So it reveals that I had been too stressed and it has impacted my milk supply.

Not so good news.... LC said that it is not possible to increase by folds now that I am back at work even with exclusive pumping. Asked me about my goal.... I said just to increase as much as I can lor. Afterall I know it's a tall order to say I want to increase to my baby's current 120ml per feed. So according to my expectations...Told me to take my fenugreek and domperidone again. Pump once before work, twice at work, at once in evening and at least once before I sleep. I shared with her my fear that my baby's poor latching that's why I have low supply all along. She checked, said that he is still latching well but that he has nipple confusion before and too used to bottle-feeding. As a result he has ''enjoyed" getting milk without much effort and the fast flow of milk also encourages that. Hence he gets frustrated at the slow flow of my breast milk and so does not want to suckle longer. Regret allowing my hubby, MIL and mother to use whatever bottle teats is available (pigeon silicone small teats, tommee tippee, farlin...) Should have just used the wide neck pigeon one all along.

Relief solution - LC gave me a syringe and tube to paste at my breast as supplementary feeding. She say the syringe and tube she gave me for free (but of course I paid consultation of $70). If I would have gotten the Medela Supplementary feeding kit than I would have to spend the consultation fee on it. It's used to encourage stimulation at the breast but still providing milk (put in FM or EBM). That way I may have a chance of increasing. She said baby's sucking is definitely more powerful than the pump. Manual express for me to see the flow first and to clear my "blocked milk ducts", got my baby to suckle (after 5 min he got frustrated already), then manual express for me again and showed me that my milk flow is faster after he suckled. Hope to use it on my off days... but now can only pump as much as I can.

Not so upset with myself now... :) But hope I can still increase if possible.
At least my consolation is when I combined the amount pumped in the night and in the morning to feed baby first before FM, I see "more" amount, I feel happier.

So mei05 don't give up. You might want to try the supplementary feeding kit.
Try not to change your bottle teats to the next stage too soon like me.
LC/GP said that it is fine if baby don't poop in the day sometimes because BM is easily absorbed. GP joked that we adults also sometimes don't poop sometimes even when we eat all the fibres/fruits so don't be paranoid. (kena slammed :p)
 
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