Decrease in Milk Supply?

[waluso]

So it seems like my milk supply has decreased significantly over the past few weeks. I am still on a TED but I have been slowly adding foods back in even though DD isn't to baseline because I know I need some more calories and frankly I can't just eat zucchini, quinoa, and turkey anymore. DD is 5 mos old and EBF. She seems to be eating a lot more than normal so not sure if this is a growth spurt or she just isn't getting enough milk. I never feel "full" anymore and I am getting a lot less milk when I pump. Her weight gain has definitely slowed down a lot but my understanding is that could be normal at this age. I'm not quite sure if this is just my milk regulating normally or if my supply is decreasing because of the TED. I have been adding in some extra pumping but that doesn't seem to do anything. I guess what worries me is that I initially had an oversupply problem and if I pumped or just added a few extra nursing sessions my supply would dramatically increase. I fixed the oversupply issue a while ago, but now nothing seems to increase my supply.

Assuming my supply is decreasing more than it should, what can I safely take for it? I have some mother's tea but it has so many ingredients I don't want to take it.

[kjbrown92]

Are you getting enough fluids? If you didn't get to baseline on those 3 foods, swap out (at least it will be a new food) one at a time. Want me to check the chart again now that I've got more responses and you can try some lesser "allergenic" foods?

[waluso]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

Are you getting enough fluids? If you didn't get to baseline on those 3 foods, swap out (at least it will be a new food) one at a time. Want me to check the chart again now that I've got more responses and you can try some lesser "allergenic" foods?

I try to drink lots of water but don't always remember. I am trying to be better about it.

I am planning to swap out turkey but I just cooked a turkey and I need to eat that first. I added back in squash and bananas this week because I felt I needed the variety and more calories and she doesn't seem to be worse. So I'm hoping it stays that way. I would prefer to trial beef rather than lamb in place of the turkey. Do you think that is a bad idea? I just really don't like lamb. I trialed pork a while ago and she reacted. I also trialed chicken and I think she reacted but not positive (there was other stuff going on at the same time). Fish sounds too limiting. Not sure what else there is.

[menomena]

Are you getting enough fat?

[waluso]

Originally Posted by menomena

Are you getting enough fat?

I think so. I have been using lots of olive oil and when I make a whole turkey I use all the drippings and fat to make gravy (it has lots of fat in it!). I really think it's the overall calories that I need to up. Since I cut out fruit and fruit juice (I have since added bananas) I lost a lot of calories.

On a better note, we just had our best poop in months! It is almost normal, mostly yellow (still a little green), no noticeable mucous, no bad smell, and a few curds! I really, really hope she is headed towards baseline!

[kjbrown92]

We're on a rotation and DD can't do beef, and DS can't do chicken and turkey, so on day 1 we have beef (except DD who has chickpeas), day 2 is chicken (so DS has beans), day 3 is pork (yippee, we can ALL have pork), day 4 is a bunch of different fish. We've tried haddock (deep fried in gluten free, dairy free batter) which the kids like, but mostly we do salmon. Salmon can be done a bunch of different ways. DH likes his with poached eggs on top (ick). For lunch, you can do pan-fried salmon on wilted spinach or other greens. For dinner, you can do baked salmon, salmon cakes, etc. So I don't think fish is all that limiting (of course there's a lot of different kinds of fish so it might be hard to find one that you can have).

On the food intolerance chart, we've got 4 reactions to beef, 4 reactions to chicken, and 4 reactions to pork, so I guess that doesn't help.

Have you tried sweet potato? There's only been 1 person with a reaction to that (sweet potato chips, sweet potato fries, mashed sweet potatoes, baked sweet potatoes....)