July 28, 2010
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Supply Issues AGAIN.
I have supply issues again. Ugh. It’s so frustrating and annoying. Unlike Tyler, Keira nursed like a champ from the beginning. I was hopefully that I would have less issues with my supply with her eating so well. I think I actually produced more when I was exclusively pumping with Tyler for his first 2 months. She feeds every 2 hours during they day and still have to give her an extra oz or two of formula after each feed. The only times I don’t have to is the middle of the night/early morning feeds since she goes longer without eating.
I no longer feel engorged at all. I don’t remember when the engorgement is supposed to go away. She’s about 2.5 weeks…is that about right? It’s either that my supply has stabilized or that I have nothing. She also nurses really fast…like 5 minutes each side. So either she’s VERY efficient or again, I have nothing. I guess I could pump to find out, but after exclusively pumping with T, I forever hate the pump.
I am drinking the recommended 3 Liters of water a day, but I think I’m not getting enough calories in. With the frequent feeds, chasing around Tyler and the normal daily stuff, I think I get in 3 quick meals and an occasional snack here and there.
The recovery is going slow. I still can’t sit down without feeling like a have a cactus shoved up my behind. I think I actually felt better at this point with my c-section recovery. It’s not really so painful anymore ,but it just feels prickly and very uncomfortable. So I spend most of my day standing since lying down isn’t really an option when you have a toddler.
I think once I feel better and can sit down normally…and once I get my routine down, I can maybe squeeze in more meals and relax a little bit. Maybe it’ll help. I’m so tempted just to go all formula since it’s so time consuming to nurse AND bottle feed at each feeding. Sigh. Why can’t the man nurse? It’s so unfair, they don’t have to do anything.
Comments (10)
The only way to know how much bm Keira is taking in is to weigh her before and after a feeding. You might be able to do this at your doctor or with an LC.
You’ve got to eat. Not only to keep up your supply, but keep you from keeling over. Can you eat while you nurse? That way you’re always eating something, even if it’s just a handful of nuts or a piece of cheese.
Super engorged stopped after a week with me. Or about 3 days after she dropped a feeding.
Why are you giving her an extra ounce? Was she not gaining weight? Fussing after a feeding? I know you’re busy with 2, but have you thought about supplementing using an SNS?
This is a novel, but I really want people to be able to BF with success. Good luck!
@shortcake2675 -
I usually keep snacks and extra water nearby to munch on after I nurse. I don’t feel hungry during the day, but I was just guessing that I still may not be taking in enough calories since I wasn’t engorged anymore. It took me longer to stabilize with Tyler, so I guess it kind of threw me that I wasn’t engorged anymore.
She had high bilirubins, so we were giving her extra fluids to flush it out. We’re probably okay stopping the extra oz since she’s gained back her birth weight plus some, but it’s hard to tell if she looks yellow due to her being asian or if she still needs to get rid of some bili.
Thanks for the suggestions though!
for me, combining pumping and breastfeeding really increased my supply.
@efficientb2 -
Would you feed and the pump afterwards? Or just throw in a pumping session somewhere? Ugh….pumping hahaha.
maybe try fenugreek, mother’s milk, and guiness. can you eat really high calorie foods like entemann’s pound cake of something? i have no idea if you’re supposed to do that, but i remember hearing a respected L&D nurse saying she ate that to keep up with her twins’ demand.
i thought supply didn’t peak/stabilize till about 4 weeks? my friend was having supply issues in the beginning and did the on-demand feeding. after awhile she had no problems.
sometimes i would pump after feeding to see if i had any left, but more often i pumped and fed through the bottle to see how much she ate.
@tubecozy -
Do potato chips count?
@MissMamacita -
most definitely.
Are you cleared to cut out the 1oz formula per feeding yet? Unfortunately, unless you pump out the same amount of breastmilk as formula going in, your supply will dwindle. But I hear ya, I hate pumping, too.
My baby wasn’t gaining well the first two weeks, so per the ped, I took 3 capsules (610mg) of fenugreek 3 times a day. It seemed to work within 2 or 3 days. Plus, frequent on demand nursing. I think supply usually gets established by 4-6 weeks.
Hang in there! Hope you feel better!
@Smurf10027 -
We’re not technically cleared. The pedi said she looked “pretty good, but still yellow” and it was up to us if we wanted to continue the 1 oz to clear out the bili. You know what happens when a child with medical issues is raised in a home with 2 health care providers…you get a set of overly paranoid parents! Her next appointment isn’t until she’s 2 months old. She does look better than when she was discharged though.