Not sure if its low milk supply

[Mommie020307]

I am taking Motherslove Special Blend, I am filling my 32oz water bottle everytime its empty...so its about every 2 hours or so. I am also trying oatmeal with cookies(cause i do not like oatmeal by itself)
I met with the LC last wednesday for outpatient consult..She weighed her before i fed her and she was 8lbs 3oz I fed her for 15 min on one side and 15 on the other and she weighed her again and she was 8lbs 5oz (in grams though she told me she only gained 1 oz. So she's only getting approx 1oz when shes nursing off me) Oh and i am also pumping 2X a day..I am trying to up the pumping to 4X a day...and I am only getting about 1 oz when i pump each time.

Her birth weight was 8lbs 6oz (5 weeks ago) when we left the hospital she dropped to 7lbs 9oz and was stuck at 7lbs 10oz for a good 4 weeks. Last Friday she was 8lbs 1oz. Today she was 8lbs 8oz and the pedi wants me to come back in next week AGAIN for another weight check. I am getting tired of these weight checks...She's having plenty of poopy diapers and pee diapers she doesn't act hungry after nursing and i am also supplementing 2oz of formula as well.

The pediatrician also had the nerve to tell me to stop breastfeeding her cause she's not gaining enough according to them...UGH....I don't really want to go back to this weight check thing cause its a lot of driving...when i don't have a lot of money for gas....and do they pay me back for the gas...NO...So
What else can I do to make my milk supply BOUNTIFUL?

[3girls1boy]

It sounds like your baby was stuck for some reason at the beginning but is now starting to gain weight. I believe gain is supposed to be 4 to 7 oz. per week. Because of the initial lack of gaining, this might be something you want to continue to get checked for a little while longer to be assured that your baby is now on track.

I'm not a fan of the weighing before and after a nursing though. There are things that are variable--like is the scale calibrated properly and did the baby just poop or pee? I'm also wondering if your doctor is using the most current growth charts (the older ones were based on formula fed babies).

Something that often works for moms to increase supply is the "nursing holiday." Go to bed with your baby, lots of skin to skin contact and just nurse as much as your baby will go to the breast.

Dr. Jay Gordon has a great article online that is called something like, "Watch the baby, not the scale" which might be reassuring.

JT mom to 3 DDs and 1 DS

[AislinCarys]

www.drjacknewman.com

There's expert advice on low supply here. What to do to amp up your supply, how to know you have low supply, what the common myths (that your doctor may believe in) are.

Dr Jack Newman is a breastfeeding expert with a breastfeeding clinic in Canada, and low supply is a speciality of his!

We followed a lot of his advice, and we got there, it worked!

[leigh09]

another suggestion to increase the fat content of milk is to eat more fats yourself ... i did this with baby #3 and it did help. i believe the recommendation from "mother food for breastfeeding mothers" is 1/4 tsp each of flax seed oil, cod liver oil, and olive oil 3x's daily, plus ensure you are eating enough butter, eggs, healthy fats and proteins. don't quote me on the exact recommendations.

what i actually did was take cod liver oil in a capsule, add 1 tsp of flax seed oil to my morning juice, cook with more olive oil, eat more coconut oil (also reputed to be great for nursing moms), and more butter, eggs, and proteins.

[Somemyrrh]

Whether your supply goes up or not, you can still breastfeed your child. You may have to offer more supplement for her to thrive, though. If you can get domperidone, that may help you max out your supply, and fenugreek capsules (9-12/day is the usual) might help quickly. But any milk is good, even if you wind up having to supplement more to help your daughter grow and develop well.

I would not discount the ped's advice to get your child more to eat. My son was starving before we found out I had extremely low supply, but he still peed and pooped normally. (Thankfully we found the issue on day six, so he started gaining again.) Still, nursing is not hindering growth, so there's no need to end it just because your baby needs more formula as well.

Oh, and I read on an herbalist site that sipping water slowly fights dehydration better. A cup or more at a time triggers the bladder, so you don't keep as much, is what she said. Don't know if that's true, but thought I'd mention it.