My milk supply is quite low. (I've tried supplements, etc, and they've helped somewhat.) The Medela Supplemental Nursing System and the Lact Aid Nursing Training System were recommended. Has anyone had any experience with either? I'm already spending nearly my entire day nursing, bottle feeding and pumping. Is there a reasonable chance one of these systems will help my milk supply? How complicated are they? Any advice is welcome! Thanks...
You said that you are nursing, pumping, bottlefeeding--does this mean your LO is having trouble nursing effectively? Have you had a lactation consultant look at the latch or evaluate the sucking strength?
I have done the whole nursing, pumping, bottlefeeding thing and I can feel your pain. It is a lot of work! Good for you on not giving up! I've also used the Medela SNS. It's pretty tedious to use and I didn't get great results from it, but I did not have a milk supply issue. I was using it because my DS was premature and still learning to suck effectively. It might work in your case, but I don't know. There is some pretty helpful information on using a lactation aid here: http://www.breastfeedinginc.ca/content.php?pagename=doc-LA
I'm using a lact-aid right now for my supply issues and I am really happy with it. It took the baby and I about a week to get the hang of it but it was also her first week of life so we had a lot going on; I don't think it would take that long with a baby who already nurses well.
I wholeheartedly recommend the LA - I used it for long-term supplementation with my first baby and it's a wonderful product. The Medela SNS is a PIA and I suspect it turns a lot of people of at-the-breast supplementation.
Supplementing at the breast instead of with bottles prevents babies from developing flow preference, which is really important.
But I have some questions: How old is your baby? How is his or her weight gain? Do you have any idea why your supply is low? Is your baby emptying your breasts effectively? How much supplement are you giving? EBM or formula? How much do you get when you pump? Have you tried domperidone to increase your supply?
My first son needed 8-10 ounces of formula a day. I weaned off the pumping when he was about five months because I was spending my whole day nursing and pumping and wasn't getting enough milk to make it worthwhile. So I just nursed "bare" then gave him supplement in the LA, calibrating the amount to keep his weight gain in the average zone for BF babies as per kellymom.com. I never had to increase the amount of supplement.
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