I'm afraid I'm not producing enough breastmilk...what can I do to increase supply?

Question

I started back at work a month ago, and have been pumping while at work, and my 4 mos. old is at daycare. I pump about every three hours, and nurse when we get home and throughout the night. Somehow I've noticed that recently I'm not pumping as much as before and I'm not getting as filled up as before. Could stress have something to do with it? I really don't want to believe that my milk supply is drying up? I feel terrible about this as I'm trying everything I can to have enough milk for my son while we are apart. Anybody have any issues with this, and what did you do?

Answer 1

The pump isn't as efficient as the baby in stimulating your supply, so some women do find that their supply drops when they return to work.  

Is it possible to pump more often?  If you can, that would be the first thing to try. If you can pump on breaks and at lunch, that would be about every two hours, and would get another pumping session in.  

Also, of course you would want to try and nurse more often while you are at home.  And you can try taking fenugreek or drinking Mother's Milk Tea.

If you cannot pump enough despite everything, you may need to supplement a bit.  If that's what you have to do, it isn't the end of the world.  

Answer 2

When I went through this with my daughter I contacted the local La Leche League to find out if there were thing that I could do to keep my milk up.  One they told me to try is an herb called Fenugreek.  It's supposed to help with the milk supply.  You can get it in most whole food stores.  It smells alot like maple syrup and will actually make your urine smell the same way. But I found that the smell was worth being able to breast feed.  I did have to give up breastfeeding after my daughter was 6 months because of medication I was taking but the Fenugreek seemed to help me.   You can contact your local La leche League to get more information on other ways of maintaining and increasing milk supply.

Answer 3

Saw Palmetto

Answer 4

sometimes pumping just doesn't work as well as baby does.

sometimes pumping doesn't work at all.

i noticed this w/my youngest, i tried pumping like i did w/my daughter (who is 2 now), but i was barely getting 2 oz on one side and 1 oz on the other. that wasn't near enough for him at 4 months of age.

Fenugreek is a supplement that can help increase your supply w/in 24-48 hrs and you can find it at most health food stores. i used that many times to help boost supply.

unfortunately milk increases based on supply and demand and if pumping is not filling the void of baby not being there, your body wont make more.

can you go to the daycare on your lunch break and feed him? i did this w/my oldest, my boss was a b*tch about it, but after talking about it w/her boss things settled down! your baby needs to eat. if they give you a hard time about it you can make a complaint w/HR.

you also need to make sure you are eating about 500-1000 extra calories to produce milk, and drink TONS of water!

When you are off (on the weekends or when ever you are home all day) nurse exclusively!!  increase your nursing at home after work too. so if you usually offer breast milk every 4 hrs, increase that to every 2 hrs. even if he only nurses for 5 mins on each side, it's still helping to increase your supply.

hang in there! it's frustrating when your supply does this, i've been there many times over. stress can have a factor, but if you keep at it you will get through it!

as for the poster's comment above me, suggesting that you just quit because of leaking...that's what they make breast pads for! good lord!

Answer 5

Your body has probably figured out how much milk to produce and is giving you what you need. Does your son have enough while you are at work or is he drinking all you give and needing more?

There are many natural supplements you can take to increase milk supply...google it but also make sure you are drinking A TON Of water as that is very important with BF.

Good luck!

Answer 6

More often, just as mentioned above.  Sneak away, pump quickly and go back.  Also check your pump cycles per minute.  I had this trouble with my first pump and had to buy a new one and it was explained to me by a lactation consultant that a normal baby suction is about 55-60 per minute, but my first pump was only at a rate of 35!  No wonder my body didn't provide more!  I got a more expensive but much better pump and used it for 13 mo with my first and about 14 mo with my second and will probably use it again in the future!  Best of luck and keep it up.

Answer 7

Try pumping more often... even if you sneak off and do 5 minutes every hour, your body will sense that there is a 'need' more often and start producing more. the more you pump/feed the more you'll produce. good luck!

Answer 8

I've heard to drink a lot of milk. But don't you think you should start give your child formula and let your milk just dry out so when you are at work you won't leak. For my first child I only had milk for 6 weeks and my second I didn't have any milk at all. At 6 months they both were on fresh milk and 3 moths eating baby food and table foods.