My milks going away!

[@llli*bbecky.lea]

I breast fed my son exclusively in the hospital but when i got home my milk had still not come in, i had to supplement so he was getting enough to eat. I have been taking care of him by myself ever sense and i wish that it had not happened that way because it became easier to feed him formula instead of focusing on breastfeeding. Even though i have been doing both breastfeeding and giving him formula for the past month now, my milk has almost disappeared and i realized how much i really wanted to breastfeed him and how bad i felt for letting this happen. All i want to do is get my milk going again so i can give my baby the nutrition he deserves, but i cant seem to get my milk going again....

[@llli*5p1d3yv]

. I'm sorry to read this, but know what you have provided him is wonderful. The only advice I have is reducing the formula & increasing nursing . Are you pumping? Is there a specific reason you think your milk is going away? Try this site:

http://kellymom.com/bf/got-milk/basi...rease-formula/

It has a lot of other great references for moms new to breastfeeding. I'm sure others will be here shortly to offer more sage advice.

[@llli*mommal]

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on the new baby! What you're going through happens to a lot of new moms- in the confusion and stress of the first few weeks they start giving bottles and pretty soon their milk supply diminishes. But don't worry, this situation is fixable, and it's wonderful that you're not simply throwing in the towel!

Can you tell us the following:
- Is baby nursing at all?
- how does nursing feel? Is it comfortable for you?
- How much formula are you using in a 24 hour period?
- Are you pimping at all, and what sort of pump do you have?

ETA: definitely check out the PP's link on how to rid yourself of formula!

[@llli*bbecky.lea]

Thank you I appreciate the help, i don't care how hard it is i don't want to give up. I have been nursing him before every bottle and i have a hard time getting him latched on right but it seems to be getting better every time i try. He eats formula for almost every meal because he never gets enough from my breast. And i do pump as much as i can after i feed him, i rented a electric medela pump from the hospital. I went out and bought some fenugreek today cause people have said that it can help.

[@llli*mommal]

How much formula do you use after nursing? At this point, I think the best thing to do is to slowly decrease the amount of formula or breastmilk in the bottles and pump after nursing. So if you're offering 2 oz of formula after nursing, cut it to 1.5 oz, pump after nursing, and see what happens. If baby makes that transition okay, maintaining his wet and poopy diaper output at a normal level, the cut the supplemental bottles to 1 oz. Then .5 oz. And then you're probably good to go with a 100% breastfed baby!

[@llli*laurenc]

My breasts also took forever to make milk... it wasn't until day 7, did I see a teeny tiny bit from pumping! My suggestion (and this is based on my own experience), is to make sure you give the baby lots of time at your breast. It will be difficult at first - when I first came home from the hospital, I was exhuasted/achy/feverish. Last thing I had energy for, is holding up a baby for 30 minutes and trying to get her to latch on. Everyone will tell you, "practice makes perfect" and in my case, that became true. After the first 2 weeks, it became much easier and the baby actually grew use to my scent - automatically turning her head and opening her mouth. I thought the cutest sight in the world is when she would shake her head left and right, as she is "rooting" for my nipple.

The combination of the baby sucking on your nipples, followed by a gentle pump session, will send signals to your body to create lots and lots of milk. I usually pump for about 15 minutes on a gentle cycle, just to stimulate my nipples. As it turns out, less then 2 weeks later, I was suffering from overproduction!! It takes awhile, but I know you'll get there! Good luck with everything!!