Starting my period!

[@llli*mara]

My LO is 12 weeks now was born at 6lbs 5 oz and now weighs 12lbs 5oz. His pee and poos are good. I heard when you start your period again your supply goes down. Right now I am feeling crampy and think it might be my period. This worries me because right now I am feeding every hour because my LO is coming off a nursing strike and will only take one breast now. Slowly we are working to get back on both. So I can't afford to decrease my supply because my LO doesn't take bottles and I'm worried it might make him more fussy at the breast. I've just started taking fenugreek and I'll eat some oatmeal. How much fenugreek should I take? I heard to take calcium/magnesium. Can I get those in a multi vitamins? I have some prenatal medicine left over should I take those? Is it ok to take fenugreek and a multi vitamin? Any suggestions on what I should do?

[@llli*gwendlynsmom]

I usually still take a multivitamin everyday, my MW recommended it while BF. Sounds like your LO is growing well! My LO is 4 mo and still eats every hour sometimes lol. Good luck. I feel crampy sometimes but still haven't gotten AF back yet so it might or might not be that.

[@llli*phi]

I only ever noticed a supply drop with my cycle when I was pumping, but it was never anything major. I never noticed any change at all while nursing. I did take a calcium-magnesium-zinc supplement for other reasons, which may have helped but it's hard to say. I do think eating a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast helped a little on my low production days. I drank a Guinness one evening and had great output the next day, but that was the only time I drank then pumped the following day (I'm not a big drinker). It's impossible to determine a trend off just the one data point. I took my prenatal vitamins the entire first year (sometimes still, but I forget a lot). I've never taken fenugreek though.

If you are EBF, then I think things will be fine regardless of what you do as long as you continue to nurse on demand. You can even offer a little more frequently if you are worried. Are you pumping on the side that is not being nursed on? If so, you might just want to pump a little extra if you see a dip. Supply usually bumps back up after a couple days when there is a dip.

[@llli*lllmeg]

the best way to keep milk supply in great shape is to nurse frequently assuming your baby can nurse effectvely. Its possible your period is returning a tad on the early side due to the strike, so continuing to work on that is the best idea. Pumping can help to esp. if baby will not nurse frequently but generally best to nurse nurse nurse. Frequency of nursing is the key to ramping up supply so good you nurse frequently and best to avoid bottles if possible.

Many moms sense a temporary drop in production around the time thier first period comes back and or at start of each period. some also find this happening around ovulation. This is typically very temorary and not at all a big deal, nor does it typically require supplementation.

If there is a real problem, which i doubt, i suggest the book Making more milk or even a consult with a LC. otherwise you should be able to get the info you need in the following articles

http://kellymom.com/bf/got-milk/supp...es/low-supply/

http://kellymom.com/pregnancy/bf-prep/milkproduction/

http://kellymom.com/bf/can-i-breastf..._galactagogue/

for the strike- http://kellymom.com/bf/concerns/child/back-to-breast/