[fick]

Hi All,

My DP has experienced a dip in her milk supply and we are eager to get this back up to par and stop our DD losing any more weight.

So far, DP is pumping as much as she can to stimulate her supply and trying to add brewers yeast and flaxseed meal to her meals/drinks where possible.

Just wondering if you lovely ladies had any extra tips that might help?

TIA
Gxx

[lucky 2]

I think it would depend on the specifics of what is happening. If you baby has lost weight then this would be unusual in a baby that was thriving up to that point and baby would need a health assessment, ie GP, CHN etc. Has the weight loss happened rt illhealth in baby or mother. What has happened? I think this extra information is very relevant to working out how to help the situation reverse itself IYKWIM?
It might be good to call ABA for a chat but if there have been health concerns for mother or baby I'd try and get an appt with a LC ASAP.
Sorry for all the questions but each situation is different so having as much information as possible can help us give feedback that will be the most suited to your particular situation.
All the best

[fick]

Thanks for the reply, lucky 2.

Okay, well, here's the whole story. It's kind of long and involved so I was trying to avoid having to type it all out but bear with me, I'll do my best...

DD was born on 31/08/2011 and it was discovered shortly after birth that she has/had an Imperforate Anus and a single kidney. Due to to the single kidney, our surgeon at SCH (Sydney Children's Hospital) decided the best course of action was to perform a colostomy procedure. This was done when DD was nine days old. We eventually left SCH when DD was 3wks old. During that entire time she was fully breastfed with only one occasion where she was given a small amount of formula as I had insisted on getting DP out of the hospital for dinner as she was going a bit stir crazy, what with not sleeping in her own bed for almost a month and the enormous stress of giving birth, finding out something was wrong, sending our DD off to surgery etc.

Anyways.. Feeding was going very well, DP was managing to express a good amount when needed along with feeding DD the regular way. DD gained weight and was thriving. She had a second surgery on November 28th and we spent another week at SCH for monitoring.

Since that surgery to now, DD has dropped her evening feeds and sleeps through the night. We've been having issues trying to settle her for sleeps during the day but we just figured that was one of her quirks. DP booked in to see the nurses at Tresillian, just to get some guidance/tips, on the 8th of Feb. During this visit, the nurses weighed DD and we discovered she'd lost about 400grms since her last surgery weigh-in in November.

Nurses advised that it appeared that DP's supply was dipping and this was the cause of DD's unsettled day-time sleeps and her generally grizzly demeanor during the day. Basically, the little munchkin was hungry.

Both DD and DP have been completely healthy since DD's birth (with the obvious exception being DD"s surgeries, but she wasn't really 'sick' IYKWIM). Obviously the stress of surgeries, plus the craziness and stress that Christmas was (flying with a 3mo etc) has had an impact on DP and her milk supply. As of right now, in an effort to get DD to gain some weight, we are comp feeding but we don't want this to continue too long. Ideally, we would like to get DP's milk supply back up to a level where she can give DD all the sustenance she needs.

In addition to the things I mentioned in my first post, DP is also taking Fenugreek at meal times.

Any help or tips you could provide would be dearly appreciated.

Thanks.

[lucky 2]

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/low-supply.html
http://www.breastfeedinginc.ca/content.php...name=doc%20PMBI
http://www.breastfeedinginc.ca/content.php?pagename=doc-SWGF

Sorry to have to drag that out of you, I suppose in the back of my mind I had a memory of some sort of history with your baby and I know supply doesn't drop for no reason.
The links above I hope will help.
My thoughts would be (in conjunction with the above)-
Increase bfing if possible, ie ? add dream feed, try feed/play/feed/sleep routine instead of feed/play/sleep, ? at some points in the day. Just finding times to throw in an extra suckle.
Bfing-switch feeding, breast compressions.
Seeing a LC for specific and expert advice.
Expressing is an option, fenugreek is an option as is Domperidone (from GP).
I hope you get some success at boosting supply, if it was great before it should be great again, ? did it perhaps go down post surgery and never come up again?
All the best.

[fick]

Thanks lucky 2.

The advice is much appreciated. It seems as though supply went down post-Christmas. She has milk (sometimes it'll squirt across the room), it just seems that what she has isn't enough for DD at the moment.

We will keep trying.

Thanks again.

[therebel]

I'm struggling with a low supply, perhaps caused by a breast reduction many years ago, and DD is underweight.

I'm taking strong dosages of Motilium, Fenugreek, drinking at least 2lt water a day and eating very well. I'm also expressing about 10 times a day, including after every feed (waiting 45 minutes if possible for the supply to rebound) and feeding DD all three PM feeds from a bottle of EBM (no FF). Have only used this complete regime for the last couple of days and have already seen a massive improvement in DD's sleeping frequency and behaviour (yey!).

[fick]

Good luck, therebel. Sounds like you're seeing some good results already.

DP has been expressing yesterday and today. Yesterday she was only managing 10mls in total, today that's up to 20mls. We're both hoping that it will continue to improve.

[lucky 2]

It should!

therebel, have you seen the website BFAR? All about bfing after breat surgeries.
All the best.
http://bfar.org/

[Jenflea]

I don't normally say this before 6 months, but have you thought about solids if your partner's supply isn't satisfying your daughter?
I don't know about her medical condition, so maybe her paediatrician might say no, but a bit of rice cereal in EBM might help once or twice a day.

[CharliMarley]

You say you are not getting a lot when you express your milk, but remember that babies can get more than a pump can. I would do some Switch Feeding, which is when you go from one side to the other in the one feed So put her on one side and then take her off after a couple of minutes and switch to the other side. Some babies can go up to 8 times backwards and forwards and this is a great way to boost supply. I would also feed your baby more during the day and perhaps wake her for one feed overnight. The more you give her, the more milk you will make.