Hey ya'll,
I've been EPing since my son was born in April '10. I have a flat nip, and an inverted nip, so latch issues were a challenge, I had to go back to work at 8 weeks, and I had a csection. My milk didn't come in for 5 days. Anyways, pumping was going very well, so well, in fact that I was able to donate several hundred ounces of milk to a mama who had IGT. In December, I came down with mastitis, and my supply plummeted. I was eventually able to get it back to where I needed it to be, but it wasn't nearly as much as before the mastitis. After the mastitis, it was one thing after another, my son and I both had the stomach flu, and then after that, we were both sick for about a month each. About 3 weeks before my son turned one, I started supplementing him w/ 8 oz of raw cows milk. He's tolerating this well. My son mostly bottle nurses at night and in the evenings. He's a big boy, 25 lbs, almost 30 inches, and can go thru abt 24 oz of breast milk in a 24 hr period. I'm just not pumping enough for him any more, and I'm exhausted. He's doing well on solids, but just won't give up the night time bottles. I'd be willing to give him another 8 oz of cows milk, but that still leaves 1-2 bottles I'd need to make up for.
I don't know what to do. I've tried 3x3 fenugreek and 3x3 blessed thistle, a bowl of non instant oatmeal a day, power pumping, and nothing seems to increase my supply except for regalan. I'm already dealing w/ PPD issues, so I try not to use regalan as much.
How do I gently bottle wean my son? He's hungry when he wakes up. I try to offer his paci first, and he clearly does not want that, he wants milk. Besides cows milk, what can I give him? Coconut milk? Soy milk? I'd really like to stay away from formula. I'd be fine with donor milk, but I feel silly asking for milk, since my son isn't a young baby.
TIA
Marty
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