Friend's milk supply dwindling

[adoremybabe]

I hope that this is the appropriate place to post.

I have a friend with a 6 mo old babe. She nursed full time until her maternity leave ended. So her baby gets pumped milk when she is away. Recently however she has had to supplement with some formula because she just can't pump enough for her lo. She pumps right before she leaves for work, and was pumping twice during the work day. Two days ago she started pumping 3 times at work. While she is at home she nurses exclusively.

I went over the possibilities of why her supply might be dwindling. It's difficult to pinpoint why though. She goes home for lunch everyday and if her lo is awake and hungry she'll nurse him. I reccomended trying to tweek his schedule so that she nurses him everyday at lunch. I also suggested trying to nurse him right before she leaves for work rather than pumping.

She knows that she has done great things making it this far but I think that she is losing hope that her milk won't tank out on her. She is not ready to quite nursing and wants her lo to get breastmilk all day.

What kind of herbal supplements are available to help increase milk supply and how do you decide what to try? Any advice would be appreciated!

[BoogiesMama]

I'm having the same exact problem as your friend! My lo is 6 1/2 months old, and I'm noticing my supply has been decreasing real fast. I nurse in the morning, pump twice at work and nurse until he goes to bed. So far we haven't had to supplement, but it does look like we will have to soon. I spoke to a lactation consultant at the birth center I delivered him at and she suggested Fenugreek or Blessed Milk Thistle to increase milk supply. Also sometimes eating a bowl of oatmeal can help too. I always eat oatmeal in the morning, but haven't triend the Fenugreek or Milk Thistle yet. I hope these suggestions will help your friend!! I'll be stopping at the health food store after work!

[Bokonon]

Has she done any maintenance on her pump? For example, the white membranes on a Medela pump should be replaced every 3 months.

How much milk is she sending to daycare? This is a good link here about how much milk a breastfed baby needs while away from mom:
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkcalc.html

[cheryllynn]

Hi -

This is what happened to me.

I EBF my baby for 6 1/2 months. At 3 months she slept through the night. I however continued to get up at 2/3 a.m. and pump. At 3 - 5 months I would get 6 - 7 ounces per pumping session. Then at 5 1/2 months, still when EBF, I started getting less, about 5 ounces. It was a steady decline from there.
At 6 1/2 months DD started food. At 7 months she was eating food every day. By January I was getting 3 ounces total and I also had a job. I pumped 2xday and got 3 ounces total each pumping session. Then by Feb, I was getting 1 1/2 - 2 ounces so it now took two pumping sessions to get one 3 1/2 ounce bottle. This past week, my afternoon session has dried up.

Make sure the pump is working correctly. Bring it in to a lactation consultant who should check the pressure on each side. Change the white membranes monthly.

I took Fenugreek, Mother's Milk tea, Manugaly (?) and another nursing tea. There are a few other supplements that the lactation consultant can go over with you.

I would make this appointment as soon as possible. I tried several herbs, eat oatmeal and granola 2xday and could never get my supply back.

I would also suggest that her thyroid be checked. There is something called post-partum thyroditis that occurs between 6 - 8 months post partum. I do have thyroid issues and not sure if this is having anything to do with milk supply, but thought I'd mention it.

[adoremybabe]

Thank you so much for all of your replies mamas! The information was great and I passed it all on to my friend. Hopefully she will take the advice and use it!

I spoke to her yesterday to find out that even though she took the day off of work due to lack of sleep, her family took a long trip to do some shopping. Better yet, she and her DH are spending 8 hours away from their lo just to go paint the bathroom in their cabin.

Stuff like this irks me to no end..... but maybe I am crazy like that. I just think that she could have used this weekend to stay close to her lo and breastfeed at every cue.