Increasing Supply

[gjbcecmom]

I would like to increase my supply by about 6 oz per day. My son is almost 10 months old now. He takes about 18 oz at daycare so he gets some formula or juice during the day and I would like it to be mommy milk. I understand the supply and demand thing so I started pumping of an evening in between feedings - I did this for a week but my supply never increased anymore than what it was before I started pumping at home. I eat oatmeal every morning for breakfast, I take 9 to 12 fenugreek capsules a day, and drink 1 tea bag of mother's milk diluted down to make 2-32 oz glasses. I'd really like to increase now because we are going on a "babyless" vacation in July and have no supply in the freezer - so I'd like to build that up too. Anybody got any advice? I feel like I'm doing everything I can do, but I'm not getting any increase.
Unrelated question - how are you guys getting the information to appear at the bottom of your posts - i.e. mother of a, wife of b, etc?

[LLLKate]

Hi there! Way to go with making it this far in providing your milk for ds! What a lucky baby he is.

A few questions :

How often does ds nurse in 24 hours?
How many times are you pumping in 24 hours and when?
Does ds just nurse on your days off? Do you pump on those days also?
Does ds take any solids?
In what amounts is ds taking EBM during the day (3 x 6 oz., or 4 x 4.5 oz.,)?
And finally...
What makes you think you do not have enough for ds during the time he is at daycare?

Sorry for all of the questions! But it will be helpful to have these answers!

For your personal signature, go to User CP up in the top bar and click on Edit Signature. You should be able to create your sig. from here!

[gjbcecmom]

How often does ds nurse in 24 hours? After work (6 p.m.) until morning (4 or 5 am) approx 6 times - give or take 1 or 2 in the middle of the night
How many times are you pumping in 24 hours and when? 2 X @ Work 10 am & 4 p.m.
Does ds just nurse on your days off? Yes Do you pump on those days also? No
Does ds take any solids? Yes - BIG EATER - He loves food!!
In what amounts is ds taking EBM during the day (3 x 6 oz., or 4 x 4.5 oz.,)?
And finally...Approx 3X4 oz bottles - somedays it is 3X6 oz
What makes you think you do not have enough for ds during the time he is at daycare? On the days that he has 3X6 oz - there isn't enough - he usually gets about 4 oz of formula. If it is the week before my period, there are somedays that I only pump about 9 oz.

Sorry for all of the questions! But it will be helpful to have these answers!
I appreciate the help. I have tried to pump of an evening for about a week but it didn't help to increase.

[LLLKate]

Some ways working moms get babies to rely on less EBM at daycare is to do some of these things:

Some moms get up a little earlier than baby and pump in the morning. Milk is most plentiful then. Am I correct in understanding that his last feed for the night is 4 or 5 am? Do you go back to sleep after that?

Leave a little earlier (say, an extra 30 minutes) to drop him off and go in and nurse him there before you leave. That would essentially add one feeding in the morning at the DC center that he would otherwise take in EBM. Is he eating a solids breakfast at home before you take him to DC or are they giving him breakfast? If he eats at home, you may need to limit his solids before leaving the house so he is not too full to nurse and wants it when you get to DC. If he eats breakfast at DC, then that nursing would hopefully hold is breakfast off a little, which would in turn hold his first bottle of EBM off a little later as well.

What time do you pick him up from DC? Some moms find they are able to encourage the DC providers to not offer bottles late in the day. Eating bottles of EBM makes baby less hungry and less interested in nursing. If they could hold him off for you then could you sit down and nurse him for a few minutes when you first get there? They might be apprehensive about this, as they may be wary to deal with a fussy baby. So, giving them some other suggestions of things he likes (walking, rocking, certain toys, etc) might be helpful.

Do you know exactly what time of the day they are offering the three bottles and what signs they are using to offer? Or are they just doing so at a certain time?

Also, some moms have found that at the first sign of fussiness DC providers will offer a bottle, which causes the baby to take much more than he normally would. You might want to review with them his hunger signs as opposed to being tired, fussy, needing a change of scenery, needing to be held, etc. They may be misreading him.

Does ds take a pacifier? This is one of those rare instances where it is helpful for a BF baby to suck on a pacifier. If he gets his sucking needs met from "non-nutritive" sucking on your breast at other times, chances are he may need it when you are not there. And there is no such thing as non-nutritive sucking on a bottle. So, if he finds he enjoys sucking and needs it, he will take more milk than he really needs.

These are just some suggestions. Let me know if you think any of them might work for you!

[gjbcecmom]

The only bad thing about getting up earlier is that the time zone I live in is an hour behind the time zone where I work so I'm already getting up at 5 to 6 am in the morning. Yes most of the time his last feed is around 4 or 5 - sometimes he'll eat at 6. I don't like to have him eat at 6 because it tends to reduce the amount of milk that I can get on my first pump. I usually just keep hitting snooze until the last possible moment and then it is rush, rush, rush!! Leaving early is practically impossible especially with the time difference. I'm usually always about 5 minutes late now. He eats solids breakfast at daycare...scrambled eggs, toast, sausage links, oatmeal, pop tarts - you name it - the kid will eat it I pick him up at 5:15. He will nurse between 6p & 7p depending on if I go straight home or not. He eats breakfast (8:30-9) and then maybe an hour later he gets EMB. Lunch is usually at 11 but since he is the only "baby" and the apple of the babysitter's eye he eats when he wants to or as close to 11. She waits a little bit (hour or so) and then another bottle of EBM. Snack is around 3 p.m. and he usually has snack and then a while later his last EBM. Did I mention he also has a mild case of acid reflux. So the DC is really good about trying to spread his intake out so that he's not stuffing himself full.
Yes he does take a binky. I don't think he could live without it I think my DC is usually pretty good about reading him. She can usually tell me he's not feeling well before I can even notice. Which makes me feel really good to have such a caring DC.

[@llli*lib-mom]

How many times are you pumping in 24 hours and when? 2 X @ Work 10 am & 4 p.m.

You might want to try seeing if you can add an extra pumping session at work. Say pump at 10am, 1pm, & 4pm or 9am, noon, 3pm. This may work better than adding an extra session in the evening since milk supply is usually lowest then.

Good luck!

[LLLKate]

I am just brainstorming here...

But could the sitter try to bump everything back a little? He is getting breakfast at 9, bottle at 10, lunch at 11, bottle at 12, snack at 3 and bottle at 4? If she could try to hold him off just a little for each meal/bottle, he might not need as much that late in the afternoon. As you are there at 5:15 you could nurse him when you arrived? If she gave him a bottle at 10:15 or 10:30 could he eat lunch at 12? And then could he have his next bottle at 1-ish? And then have a snack at 4? Then he might not need that last bottle, or at least maybe not so much?

Is it possible (as PP asked) for you to pump an extra time during the day, or at home?

I know, this seems like lots of crazy schedule changing. But it is just a though!

[gjbcecmom]

Well, here's the thing...the DC has a certain schedule as far as meal times & snack times. So the times I gave for his solid foods are pretty set in stone. They eat breakfast by 9, lunch is at 11 with nap time just right after & snack is at 3 - give or take 15 minutes or so but that is their schedule. She just tries to spread his bottles out to make them last all day and help with his acid reflux. My work hours are 8:30 to 5 with my lunch break being from 11:30 to 12:15. I have to be back by 12:30, at the very latest, because we have to have dept coverage during lunch hours and, of course, since I'm the one with the least seniority - guess who gets the early lunch hour Since my start time is 8:30, I think my company would frown on my taking a break @ 9 and the lunch hours are pretty "sticky" too so I kind of feel that I'm doing the best I can as far as pumping here at work and not causing a major commotion.
I could nurse him at daycare but he isn't usual hungry until we get home plus we have to be out by 5:30 - not all days but most especially if the sitter has to be somewhere right after work.
I have tried the pumping thing at home - I did it for about a week and got nothing at all - just enough to make all of my equipment dirty
I just kinda feel like I'm at a dead end as far as increasing.

[@llli*lilmama2dsndd]

[QUOTE=gjbcecmom]Since my start time is 8:30, I think my company would frown on my taking a break @ 9 and the lunch hours are pretty "sticky" too so I kind of feel that I'm doing the best I can as far as pumping here at work and not causing a major commotion.
Try talking to your boss, I was hired pregnant at my current job and was very worried about pumping. Most people here take no breaks, but here I was requesting 2 20 min breaks a day to pump milk. I was very surprised at how receptive he was. When I have to increase my supply I always talk to him about taking a few extra (but shorter) breaks to pump, usually it doesn't cause a problem and no one that I work with has any problems with me needing the extra time to pump. However, after my first was born I started a new job that refused to work with me about pumping, at which point I had to decide which was more important to me. Plus, if they are unwilling to work with you about a adequate pumping schedule how will they react when you take off work to tend to a sick baby? I quicky found another job who saw me for who I was, a mother first and foremost. I know switching jobs is not a pleasant thing (I am a single mom with no other financial support) but your job shouldn't cause you to loose your identity.

I could nurse him at daycare but he isn't usual hungry until we get home plus we have to be out by 5:30 - not all days but most especially if the sitter has to be somewhere right after work.
I pick my dd up at 5:30 so I ask her dcp not to feed her after 4 so she will be hungry & ready to nurse when we get home @ 6. Also, how does he take his ebm? If it is a bottle what size nipple are you using? I found using a newborn nipples make the feedings take longer (you just have to make sure no one pokes holes in the nipples to make them finish faster) which leaves dd satisfied for longer (she gets her sucking need satisfied this way).QUOTE]