Supply issues no matter what! Rantrantrantrant

[sevenofnine]

I just spent 25 minutes pumping while my daughter is napping to try and help increase my supply, and got less than 2oz!

When she was at the hospital for reflux last week, they weighed her before and after each feed, and she was getting between 1-2oz (generally about 1.5oz) every 2-3 hours.

She has ALWAYS been fed on demand. I have a good diet. I drink plenty of water. The lactation consultant helped with her latch some more, but she does pretty well.

What in the world??? She's super hungry today and I think the stress of her poor weight gain and everything is only hurting my supply more.

I just am so perplexed why my supply seems to be dwindling! Why only 1.5oz per feed (pumping or not)!!!!!!!

Based on the 24 hours they monitored her weight at the hospital, she's getting somewhere between 18-22oz per day, which doesn't seem like enough, especially considering she is only 1.33 percentile. Yes, 1.33%. She weighs 10lbs, 12oz at 16 weeks.

And her pediatrician actually recommended AGAINST supplementing with formula because she has reflux and has never had formula before, so it could like make it worse?

Uhg. Sorry. Just a rant.

 

[Bethi22]

I get 1.5oz in about 8 15min sessions

 

[sevenofnine]

I get 1.5oz in about 8 15min sessions

 

[fieryphoenix]

How many days have you been pumping for? And how often are you pumping? Try adding an extra pump or two per day in, maybe that would help?

 

[sevenofnine]

How many days have you been pumping for? And how often are you pumping? Try adding an extra pump or two per day in, maybe that would help?

I have just been breastfeeding mostly, but she was weighed beforeabd after feeds and has only been getting 1.5 to 2oz...

I just started pumping extra to try and boost my supply, as well as taking some herbs.

Hope it helps...

 

[MrsWhite]

Have you considered asking for domperidone? It's seemed to help me a lot more than herbs, with no side effects.

 

[Bethi22]

You only need a prescription in the US for domperidone if you go to a compound pharmacy. You can just mail order it from the UK without one.

 

[sevenofnine]

Have you considered asking for domperidone? It's seemed to help me a lot more than herbs, with no side effects.

I honestly hadn't even thought of it. I'll give the herbs a week or so, and then will look into the domperidone if they don't seem to help.

Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Mynxie]

Pumping isn't a reflection on your supply. To pump, you're having to increase your supply and on average a woman gets 0-2 oz when she expresses. It's supply and demand with feeding,hun. Frequency matters not always length of time. A bf baby has around 20-25oz I think at 16 wks. Check out Kelly mom, the website. Honestly, you're doing fantastic. Xx

 

[Sproglet]

18-22 oz is the lower end of average, but not abnormally low. Kellymom says average for a breastfed baby over a month old is 19-30 oz.

As for the centile, someone has to be at the lower end as that's how they work! It means if they lined 100 babies up in size order, only 1 would be smaller than your baby. Someone had to be at that end of the line. It doesn't mean she's not healthy!

As for the pumping, think of it this way- that 2oz was 'spare' milk that your daughter didn't drink. When i had to increase my supply, I could spend 10 minutes pumping before getting a single drop, because Robyn was draining the breast as quick as I could produce milk! And baby is more effective than a pump (as well as suction their jaw massages the breast, a pump just sucks and you don't have the emotional response either) so they will always be able to get milk out, even if the pump can't.