In desperate need of increasing supply and tried everything! Help!

[Straysod]

Hello all~  

Baby #3 is 7 weeks (10.1 lbs at birth via c-section) and I have virtually no milk.  Things seemed to start off well and then he was hospitalized at 4 days because he was throwing up green and brown bile and I was unable to feed him until the figured what was wrong, which they never did.  Almost two days of no nursing, but I pumped to help my supply.  I started nursing him again in the hospital and had a lactation consult visit to help get us back on track - things seemed to be going well as he seemed satisfied and didn't complain of hunger.  

When we went back for his check-up, he lost weight.  My pediatrician called in the lactation consultant again and we did a "nurse and weigh" to find he was only getting just under 2 oz a feeding.  She suggested I supplement 1/2 oz of formula in morning and 1 oz in afternoon to help him gain weight.  We went back after a week and he only gained 1.5 oz.

He is now 7 weeks old (gained quite a bit of weight with the help of supplementing) and we are almost all formula - he only nurses well through the night.  I have been on Fenugreek, MotherLove Special blend with Goats Rue.  I eat oatmeal everyday and I take all my prenatals still.  I drink water, I eat a well-balanced diet and even though I attempt to nurse him at every meal, nothing seems to help.  My left breast has stopped altogether.

I should also mention that whenever I breastfeed, I break out in small patches of hives and my scalp itches horribly.  I get this stripey rash on my forehead throughout the day and small patches of hives for no reason. I can't help but wonder if the two are related.  I give him Baby's Only Organic formula, but it is making him have the worst hard stools and I give him a probiotic everyday.  The formula makes him spit up so much that I walk around with a towel on and it smells gross.

I do NOT want to abandon ship, but my body seems to be giving up.  What else can I do? 

Thank you!!

[Heba]

 I'm sorry things aren't going well :(.  Can you go back to the Lactation Consultant (was she an IBCLC - i.e. board certified?  Or can you see someone else?)  She may be able to determine the best courses of action for you to consider.  Have you been checked for retained placenta, which can delay milk production?  Has baby been checked for tongue-tie (sometimes posterior tongue-ties are easy to miss, but can significantly impact a baby's ability to milk the breast)?  Would you consider pharmaceutical galactagogues (such as domperidone)?  Supplementing at the breast (e.g. using an SNS), which would provide further opportunities for you to nurse your son and also provide extra stimulation to the breast signalling your body to make more milk.  These are things you could perhaps discuss with an LC.

http://www.drjacknewman.com/help/Protocol%20to%20Increase%20Breastmilk%20Intake.asp discusses one protocol for increasing milk intake which might give you some ideas.

If you can get hold of it, the book "The Breastfeeding Mother's Guide to Making More Milk" is truly excellent.

I've heard of mums experiencing an allergic reaction such as the one you describe while breastfeeding - it may be a reaction to oxytocin (the hormone responsible for triggering let-down).  I have not come across a link between this and low supply, though

I hope things get better soon - please let us know how you get on.

xx

[BeeBU]

Hi there, I have 2 suggestions, depending on where you live, you can try getting a perscription for Domperidine.  It is for gasto intestinal problems, but the side effect if milk production, I have been using it for 5 months and it works wonders for me.  I know it's not available in the US (I'm in Canada) but people will order it from an on line pharmacy.  Also, I've heard people swear that gatorade increases their supply, it works for some, maybe because people drink more of it than water, or perhaps because of what's in it I'm not sure.

Best of luck.

B

[gemasita]

Some doctors in the US will prescribe Dom and you have to get it filled at a compounding pharmacy.  I didn't have any luck with it increasing my supply but it seems that I am an anomaly...seems to work for most.  But I did also order it from inhousepharmany.biz because it's SO expensive to get compounded.

[Megan73]

Do try the domperidone - it may be the answer. If you're not already, I'd eliminate bottles and use an at-the-breast supplementer such as a Medela SNS or (better yet) a Lact-Aid to supplement to keep your LO nursing during the day, too. Are you pumping after feeds?

[Straysod]

Thank you so much for your help, ladies!

It seems that the only thing I have not tried is the Domperidone and the lactation aid at breast.  I also haven't tried the gatorade - that's easy.  The fenugreek, oddly enough, did not work for me.  It worked for my other two children, especially with my first.  I had an abundance of milk.  I have really low blood pressure and the Fenugreek made it worse and I started having dizzy spells and near fainting, so I had to stop that for a while.  

I have two other children - a needy two-year old and near 7 year old with autism.  It is hard to spend a lot of time with the baby on feeding, so supplementing has been very helpful.  BUT, he has a good latch, he knows how to suck, he is not tongue-tied, so I feel if I could just get my supply up and my let down to happen a little faster we would be golden.

Do you need a prescription for the Domperidone if you order it from Canada?  I also have a lactation consultant at my Ped's office, and we go back next week, so I will talk more with her about that.  I wish I knew what to do about the horrible itching.  It does seem to be directly related to feeding, although I wouldn't have believed it had I not researched it myself.

Any more suggestions are always welcomed!  Thank you so much!

[gemasita]

A lot of people get their Domperidone from inhousepharmacy.biz and don't need a prescription.  I had lots of good recommendations before using them myself.

I broke out into a rash when my baby was a few weeks old.  That was weird.  So maybe I had what you had.  It was like Candid Camera - what problem DIDN'T I have?

[homemademom]

I got my domperidone from inhousepharmacy.biz, too.  It took a while to arrive (about 3 wks).  It's working for me, though.  I've been on it for 5 days and last night was the first night we didn't have to supplement.  I hope you're able to get your supply up. I know how hard it is to pump around the clock with other children, not to mention one with special needs.  Best of luck!

[BeeBU]

Another thought...are you sleeping with your baby?  Not for everyone, but my daughter eats alot at night, 4x I think...dosen't disturb my sleep as much as you'd think.  It might allow you get some one on one without your other kids. In regards to the Dom...my Dr, gave me a perscription, and I was told you can take it as long as you need it.  I was taking 2 10mg pills 4x a day, but found I was still strugling, now I take 3 10mg pills 4 times a day and have lots of milk.

Good Luck!

[dollyanna]

sorry you're having to go through this.  It is not fun.

Everyone else has pretty much covered the things I'd suggest as far as upping supply.  But, you might want to try another formula.  Baby's Only's rice-sugar based formula can be, as you have seen, very constipating (kinda makes sense if you think about the BRAT diet).  I also found it really hard to mix without clumping, which will be a big problem if & when you try a lact-aid or medela SNS.  If you want to stick with organic, you might want to try a milk-sugar based formula like Earth's Best or Bright Beginnings Organic. I think there's a Vermont something brand as well.  Similac has an organic brand, but I think the 1st ingredient is corn syrup, which kinda put me off.

[1iberty]

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I had an oversupply problem and thereby discovered that I had to avoid certain foods because they would really up my milk supply- maybe knowing this would help you!  The biggest one was raw spinach (you can blend up a whole bunch of it in a smoothie so that you can get more in at a time), but really anything green would do it.  I've heard that raw powders such as dried barley grass juice will do this too.  Raw hemp as well was a big galactagogue and actually raw garlic is too- although you would smell ferocious.  Also, foods that have a high vitamin C content (lemons, kiwis, etc.) would do it, and also protein foods, like eggs.  Fish (salmon) was a big one, and also peanuts (high in protein and fat).  So this would be worth it for you to try in my opinion.  It can't hurt, since all these foods are very healthy.

[Ola_]

From what I've been told the fenugreek (best taken in combination with blessed thistle apparently) tends to work best during the first few weeks and if it's going to work you will see it fairly soon.  Dom is best at 2 weeks and later and can take a few days to a couple of weeks to see results.  Dom has been great for me, I think that's what finally kickstarted my milk production (I'm on the max dose now, 4 x 10 mg, 4 times per day, you can see my thread in this forum).

[Straysod]

Thanks again, everyone!  This has been very helpful.

I ordered the Domperidone today, so hopefully it will get here soon because things aren't getting any better.  I do sleep with him - exclusively for first 6 weeks and now he sleeps in bassinet next to me, although he usually comes in bed sometime between 2 and 5 in the morning.  I will definitely try eating more protein foods and green foods.  I love spinach but I can't eat barley - I am gluten free.  Oh, and I did switch to Earth's Best and noticed the while his bowels are so smelly, they are definitely softer.  BUT, he still spits up quite a bit.  Ugh.

We are at 8 weeks old now, so I hope it isn't too late to get things going.  I am going to have my doc run some Thyroid tests next week to see if that is part of the issue.  Who knows.

Thanks again!

[AislinCarys]

It isn't too late! We had supply issues, found out at 4 1/2 weeks, and with fenugreek and changed feeding (and donated milk in SNS) got it just up enough, but some weeks later her weight gain stalled, turned out by then she needed much more, and after struggling a while, we tried Domp. at 3 1/2 months. Within a week we could cut down the supplementing by 50 ml, and just after DD's 6 month birthday, we were off the extra milk entirely!