Increasing milk supply???

[Twist]

Hey everyone, Tonight for the first time I kind of dried up while feeding Aloura, she was so hungry all evening, nursing every hour from 2:30 till 7:30 and during the last feed she started getting really fraustrated and tugging at my breasts and rooting a lot, she normally doesn't do this, so I checked (by trying to express some milk by hand) and found that I was completely dried up. I had to give her a bottle of formula as she was still so hungry! I think she is going through a growth spurt, but I am just wondering,

How long will it take for my milk supply to catch up with her demands??

Will giving her formula (if I have nothing to give her myself) cause me to not produce the extra milk she needs??

What can I do to help increase my supply right now?? I don't have a pump, so I can't do that...

Thanks, Sarah

 

[k8y]

Eating Oats, Taking Fenugreek tablets, and fennel tea are a few I know of. And just keep feeding.

 

[mari72]

I experienced a similar situation when ellis was about 4 months, i started making sure i was eating properly and drinking lots of fluids, porridge every day for brekkie (marks and spencer do a lovely instant one with cranberries and blueberries), feeding baby lots and using a pump just to stimulate a bit once she was finished(got bored of this quickly though) I also took fenugeek but only twice as i couldn't stand the smell oozing out of my pores. If you give a bottle of formula you won't make up the short fall so be very careful about that decision IF you want to exclusively bf, if you're happy with combo feeding then thats fine. I'm still bf at 28 weeks although Ellis is having some solids now but my supply is better than ever i think. Good luck xx

 

[Twist]

Thanks! I think I do need to concentrate on eating better, I don't have a huge appetite and am more of a snacker/grazer and find it overwhelming to have 3+ meals per day.... but i think I need to up my intake, and also drink more water if I want to continue to BF. I guess this is just my body telling me that

 

[Cheesepuff]

I second all of the above. I have noticed that if I don't drink enough water, my supply definitely dries up, they say that once you actually feel thirsty, you are already dehydrated and it will take 24 hours to get back to normal level...

 

[Jemima]

I agree with what Mari has said. And you need to be eating well and drinking plenty to ensure you are producing plenty of the goodies for little Aloura. x