Can you restore or increase your milk supply by nursing only and how long does it take?

Question

My baby is 11 weeks. I have another toddler. My baby was not gaining "enough" and the doctor wanted to supplement with formula at every feeding which I think is too much. I also find it very hard to determine if he had enough from the bottle. To me it seems that he only stops sucking if he is stuffed making him less hungry the next feeding. So I only give him 3 bottles 3oz each. I would really like to restore my milk and increase it, but having an active toddler and no one to help, it is hard to feed then give bottle then pump for 15 min 8 times a day and also do house work and stuff. I am thinking of nursing only for as long and as often as possible...at least no bottles or pump parts to keep cleaning and I can do a few things while nursing.

So:

1) How do you know baby had enough esp from bottles and how much do they usually take at every feeding?

2) Can you restore or increase your milk supply by nursing only and how long does it take?

Answer 1

Nursing more frequently and drinking lots of fluids will increase your milk supply.  I would nurse both sides until empty and then offer a bottle.  (I had large newborns)  They would take what they wanted with no side effects.

Nursing works by supply and demand the more the baby nurses the more milk you make.  There isn't a great way to tell how much ,ilk they are getting by just nursing.  So occasionally, I'll pump to get an average of what's in each breast every 4 hours hours and give them the breast milk from a bottle.  Every mom has their own way so there is no right or wrong if it works for you.

Answer 2

Hi,

Babies will let you know when they have had enough. Make sure to burp them, they try again to make sure.

You can increase your milk supply by breastfeeding without pumping. Some moms see an increase within a day or two, while it might take longer for others.

Have you thought about using herbs to increase your milk supply? I've tried several, but I've found that Breastea is the most affordable for me. I started seeing more milk in a day or so after I started drinking it.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

I absolutely cannot stand doctors like that. They think formula is the cure all!

Anyway-

You most certainly CAN increase. It takes a few days (3-4 at most). You nurse exclusively and often!!

I personally would ditch the formula, supplementing is only decreasing YOUR milk, and is not helping your body to increase supply. Breast fed babies are NOT as heavy as formula fed babies, so if this doctors "concerns" were because of low percentile scores I would be very suspicious indeed.

The percentile scores are based on formula fed baby's weight gains, NOT breast fed babies. Breast fed babies eat more often because they process breast milk very quickly. (As nature planned it), so to increase your milk you would need to exclusively breast feed ONLY. Your body would recognize that you need more milk, and it would adjust accordingly.

To help things along I would recommend Fenugreek. It’s a supplement you will be able to find at health food stores. It really helps increase milk supply w/in 24-48 hrs.  It’s saved me more than once.

I had a doc that told me the same thing w/my daughter. She was NOT underweight, but the doc was a formula pusher, and vitamin pusher.

I just smiled; said thanks for your advice, ill take that into consideration. And left and continued BF.

My daughter is petite, her daddy and I are BOTH petite. We aren't going to have huge kids! But this doc thinks otherwise.

Get in touch w/a lactation specialist, tell her what this doc says and see what reaction you get! lol

Also La Leche has some great suggestions on their site. Some of them can be a bit radical for me, but they are really knowledgeable

Answer 4

the more you nurse directly the more you will make- it is very rare for someone to actually not make enough. how much did your baby weigh at birth and how much does your baby weigh now? jsut nurse as much as possible, dont use pacifiers. supplementing can actually decrease your supply. isntead of speaeking with your docros on this situation you should speak with a lactation consultant. breastmilk has more fat and calorie to the ounce than formula does. i was told once by a doctor that my son needed a high calorie formula and that he might haev a GI problem AFTER i even told him that he lost weight because he had a stomache bug. i told him i thought he was wrong and he looked at me like i was stupid  he was 9 motnhs then at 17 pounds and he' 16 motnhs at 22 pounds and is still nursing. Doctors dont ahve the best info on breastfeeding because most of their nutritional info comes from formula companies-  have you tried taking fenugreek? take 3 capsules 3 times a day.... you can find it at the health food store

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/low-su...

i also wantedd to say that nursing longer on ONE side can help with wieght gain because your baby gets more of the  fattier hindmilk

Answer 5

It should only take a few days if that for you to get back up to regular supply if not more than you need. I don't agree with the whole "supplementing" with formula thing...Formula wasn't there back in the day when all you had to feed a baby was breastmilk but that's just my opnion. I would just put the baby on both b*****s during each feeding...the baby will stop nursing when he's full but I would cut out the fomula...that's just my opnion.

Answer 6

Yes, with some determination you can lose the bottles without pumping.  Actually, I don't even think that pumping is a good way to increase your supply.  Nursing is much faster.

Just always nurse before you offer a bottle.  Never give a bottle without some nursing first.  Decrease the amount in the bottle little by little and make up for it by nursing more frequently.  Don't worry about keeping baby on the breast extra long--let him stop when he wants (obviously).  Just latch him on more frequently.  In a bout 2-3 days, you will have more milk, and your supply will continue to increase until you no longer need bottles at all!

It's really important to remember that bottle babies and breast babies behave differently.  One of my postpartum nurses was not going to be happy until my baby was either a bottle baby or he was acting like one.  She just would not accept that he would nurse for five hours then sleep for six.  She wanted me to force feed him every three hours, for at least ten minutes!  

Just remember to feed your baby as soon as you see hunger cues.  If you do that, then you will be successful!

Answer 7

I had the same problem i was paranoid all the time, so much infact my mom was ready to kill me lol but no u wont have to worry if hes eating whenever hes hungry and has plenty of wet diapers. Some babies just eat more then others.

Its all about feed-on-demand, your breast adjusts amout to however much he eats, when he goes through a growth spirt he will eat more and more frequently. I found that it took only a day or 2 at the most for b*****s to adjust.

ooo and also they eat ALOT faster and take in alot more then u really think. My daughter will  nurse for 5 min on 1 breast only and have 5 poopy diapers a day. she is now 4 months old.

I also found that drinking more wasnt wwhat helped from keeping my supply up, it was eating, the milk needs the calories from the food for baby more then the liquids. also pumping seemed to slow it down to. i hope that helped :)