Help - strange supply pattern.. LCs are baffled. URGENT!!! Experts needed

[Blessed_Mom]

Hi,

Long story short (nak) my  week old baby had to deal with extreme gassiness (refusal to feed) in his 5th week and an UTI in his 6th and 7th week (needing 10 day course of abx due to which again he nursed very poorly).

So in 8 week life he nursed poorly 5,6,7 weeks. So my milk supply which started as an oversupply and very very robust during his 3rd and 4th week dwindled heavily. During his 5th week... I caved and started 30 mg of Dom... (I was already taking every other galac under the sun. goat's rue, blessed thistle, fenugreek, shatavari, dil seeds, oatmeal, water etc.)

So anyway..after just a day lots of milk. Goes on for 2 days. And a crash! Almost feels like 50% milk on day 3 (which is less than what happened befpore dom. At least then it felt lik I was dwindling down to 70-80%. Dont ask me how.. a mom knows)

Anyway.. so upped dom to 40mg/day. 2 days of great robust supply... 3rd day CRASH!

Is going on like this . Now am on the CRASH after 80mg/day of DOM and may go up to 90mg today....but this cannot be sustained.

What's going on? Feels like a caffeine high and a crash (which is worse than normal buzz)

OR like an alcohol buzz... and a hangover.

What's going on and how can the prolactin high and the milkiness be sustained?

PLEASE help..someone!!! My LO REFUSES ALL supplementation... lactaid. bottle,syringe etc and he nurses ONLY from one breast bcos other is too large and doesnt letdown well and doesnt pump either....

[Blessed_Mom]

bump?

[skycheattraffic]

Big hugs to you mama! I was on Dom and it took a few days to really kick in. Would you be willing to stop and restart at a low dose for a week or 10 days to see how your body adjusts? You can also post in the ask the expert area, I think there are a few with expertise in breastfeeding. Do you pump? If not, baby may be getting enough. How many wet diapers is he making each day? LCs are my go-to people for help so I don't know how much I can help.

My big questions are
1) how do you know your supply is really down?
2) how often are you expressing in addition to nursing to increase your supply?

[stephbrownthinks]

Are you weighing him before and after feeds with a special scale? How do you know how much he is taking? Are you pumping after feeds?

[Blessed_Mom]

Not expressing..cannot..since only my left lets down fast enough for my guy. Right is both slow and very huge (LO just cannot hold on)

Also right doesn't respond to a pump. Left needs to be left alone for his needs.

How do I know? By his behavior...popping on and off, not acting satisfied, sometimes crying....there's no mistaking.

[stacyann21]

JUST KEEP NURSING. Anytime he is awake, especially fussing. Slowly taper off the supplements. It will work out. I had an abnormally low supply (no, really) and my son refused to take the breast for the first few days. I had to pump and I sucked at it, barely anything came out. It's okay if your babe is a lil hungry. As long as his fluid needs are met. Within a few weeks it was SMOOTH SAILING. Seriously. Don't overthink it. That's the worst thing you can do. Just keep nursing. It will come.

[treehugginhippie]

Is your baby tongue tied and/or lip tied? Have you tried a nipple sheild for the right side? My supply went up and down until I had my baby's tongue tie & lip tie seperated.

[dot1]

Check out this resource - every time there are supply issues, baby should be checked for lip and tongue tie.   It's easy for you to see a lip tie...and if one is present, you can be almost certain a posterior tongue tie is present also. The subtle ones often cause the greatest problems.   www.kiddsteeth.com  

[D3nis3]

Hi,

I don't know if it's too late, but from what you described I'm nit really sure that the issue is low supply.

Your baby's behaviour is also consistent with fast flow. My son sometimes act exactly like that and I also thought that he wasn't getting enough, but after some research and testing my breasts (when trying to express some milk it would come out really strong) I realized that the problem was string flow.

When he acts like that try expressing milk until the flows slows down and then but him at the breast.

Also, no mater how much you up the dose of dm, if he isn't succesfully emptying the breasts your milk supply WILL diminish.

Try to pump the breast that he eats on at least 5 minutes or until no more milk comes out after every meal.

Also he can't latch on the other breast because it might be engorged (especially since you're saying it's hard). Try expressing milk until it's softer an only then try latching the baby on. And if you can't express milk from that breast but it's full, maybe you have a plugged duct.

Good luck!

Edited by D3nis3 - 11/13/12 at 6:42am