How long does it take to re-establish milk supply?

[anneliese]

Because of latch issues (baby boy had a tongue tie and we just got it fixed yesterday), I ended up having to supplement with formula. By about week 6/7 he was drinking formula 90% of the time and my milk supply has dropped to basically nothing and my breasts rarely feel hard anymore. He latches so much better now that we got his tongue tie fixed and he's nursed for about 5-15 minutes about 4-5 times today, but now the problem is I don't have enough milk and he gets frustrated after a bit and I end up having to give formula instead..

I contacted a lactation consultant and she told me to order a double hospital grade pump and to pump every three hours. Well, I've been doing that for the past day or so and it seems that my milk is actually decreasing after each pump. During the last session I got maybe 5-10 ml from the right breast and only 2 or so drops from the left one (the left has always produced less). Do I just have to stick it out and the increase will happen eventually or am I doing this for nothing? I should add I'm also trying to drink a lot of water and eat at least a bowl of oatmeal a day. I tried to get fenugreek at the pharmacy, but they have to order it.

 

[HopefulPony]

I had a similar experience, I've been successful in re establishing supply but its taken ages, at 20 weeks I pump about 650-700ml per day. Keep at it, you can do it!

 

[anneliese]

How long did it take you until you at least noticed an increase? And was your supply also almost gone?

 

[Foxybabyhg3]

I didn't pump for 3 days, 3 weeks ago. When I started (exclusively pumping as LG in NICU) back again, I was lucky to get 10ml from both. I've been on a mad pump journey and am now upto 40ml. Let the pump keep on going for 5 to 10 mins after flow has stopped too. I think that has been key for me.

 

[ThunderPearls]

I dont think I properly established my supply to start with tbh and was combi feeding then formula feeding by about 6 weeks. I still hand expressed just to keep milk there but was only getting about 10mls a day :/ I started relactating properly on the 29th July.

I started double pumping 8/9 times a day and also taking domperidone tablets. I noticed an increase around the 3rd/4th day in. Ive went from getting 10mls a day to 240mls a day in 14 days and it is still increasing every day. I still need to quadruple the amount I yield before I can exclusively feed him breastmilk though.