rocky start with solids, low milk supply

[71newmom]

My son is 6.5 months old, EBF. On the advice of his ped, we started cereal at 5 months. It went pretty well the first week or 2, now he isn't interested at all. He will not open his mouth, turns his head away, cries when put in the chair, etc. I know that food is not necessary at this time, and that breast milk is all he really needs. However, my milk supply has been very low since he was 3 months old (prior to that I had tons of milk). He went from 80th percentile at 2 months, to 60th at 4 months, and now 40th at 6 months. We nurse all the time, and I double pump after nursing. I take the herbs and have also been taking domperidone for 2 months. Still, I don't have all that much milk. Diapers are not as wet as they should be. He sleeps short stretches (2 hours if I'm lucky) and wakes up to nurse. So, I really want to be able to get solids in him somehow. I try before nursing, an hour after nursing, after a nap, nothing works. The only thing he wants to do is nurse, and it is not helping to build my supply. My breasts feel soft and empty and I don't get much when I pump (I know this doesn't mean much but I know my body and I'm not making much milk). I nursed my first son for 21 months with no problems - he is 3 now. Anyone have advice?

[Julia24]

I'll probably get flogged for this, but, at some point, especially at 6 months - if he'll take a bottle, maybe just supplement with some formula? It might make him happier, let him feel 'full'. I mean, it sounds to me that you're an experienced nurser and you're doing all the right things, and if he's still HUNGRY, then I think you should FEED him, yk?

My gut response with the solids is to just put it down for a few weeks and try again - you want it to be positive experience, yk?

Anyways, jmho.

[Knitting Mama]

I'm in agreement that he might need supplementing. If you're against using formula, maybe you can do what we do and use donated breast milk? You can look for donors in your area on www.milkshare.com, which is where I've found most of my donors (I have a low supply due to a breast reduction 10 years ago).

Have you also considered trying other foods than cereals? Maybe try avocado and see if he likes it? I don't think he'll fill up on that or that it will be a substitute for supplementing, but I know a lot of people whose babies didn't do well with cereals but liked whole foods.

[Path2Felicity]

Hey mama... sorry to hear that you are going through a tough time right now.

Quick question: Why do you think your supply dwindled? Were there any problems with latch or anything in the beginning?

I second the avocado and the getting milk from donors. My DD is 7 months... I don't have a low supply but breastfeeding her exclusively is taking so much energy from me. It's hard work exclusively breastfeeding older babies so I understand how you feel.

Don't have much to offer you in terms of advice... I will look around though and see if I can find more info.

[Ruby2]

I'd say definitely supplement with formula and don't feel bad about it.

I don't think baby digestive systems can get much nutrition from solids before a year anyway, right?

[tzs]

Originally Posted by Ruby2

I'd say definitely supplement with formula and don't feel bad about it.

I don't think baby digestive systems can get much nutrition from solids before a year anyway, right?

That.

i would rather give a little formula than start a rocky relationship with food. formula would be temporary (and yeah, it's not poison.) but food battles could plague you for a long time.
plus, at before a year they are supposed to be getting the majority of nutrition from bm or formula.

[leigh09]

i've had low milk supply with all three of my babies. the first guideline is your baby needs to eat. if it is a bottle of formula, so be it. you are not a bad mom by giving your baby a bottle.

keep nursing, eventually your baby will take to the food, and if he needs a bottle a day until he gets more into solids then so be it.

[rlmueller]

Why cereal

skip the high chair, skip the spoon. Sit on lap, during dinner. Use your finger, use mashed pototos, use real food or SNS nurse with ebf and formula. At six months you dun damn good woman.

[annettemarie]

I'm going to bump this over to the Breastfeeding Challenges forum. We have some mamas there who have struggled (and won!) the battle with low supply, and they should be able to give you some great advice.

[PatioGardener]

Hi Mama. Does your little one sit at those percentiles you described on the WHO growth chart? To get a good picture of his growth I suggest charting on the WHO chart http://www.who.int/childgrowth/stand...boys_p_0_2.pdf

It sounds like you are doing a lot to help your supply. Would you mind posting more details (like how much domperidone etc) so the Mamas here will have more of an idea about what to suggest?

[Michelle Renee]

Im a low supply mom and my second was 100 EBF due mostly to donor milk.

I started solids at 5-6 months and the kid was eating lentils and chicken by 8 months.

Im not a super crunchy mom but I made all of Ophelias food. I would take 2 sweet taters in the steamer, steam them, and puree them in the kitchen aid and freeze in ice cube trays. Then I diluted the cubes with donor milk - super thin at first and like oatmeal as she got older.

I never fed rice cereal. I cooked her barley and froze those but never instant cereal.

We started solids hardcore because we needed to stretch our donor milk - now at 2 years old she is doing awesome and is a great eater. She is a chunka munka too! The kid was consuming 32-36 ounces of donor milk a day at 5 months - it was hard to keep up.