Hi - My baby has not gained enuf weight in the 1st 20 days..when we went to the paed it came out that my bm was not enuf n that may be the reason. I have been asked to supplement with Bottlefeeds. What is the proper way? As in shd I alternate b/w bm and bf...or shd I 1st give bm and then give bfeed. If i try out the 2nd option my baby doesnt take more than 30ml bfeed. And while taking bm also he falls asleep and no amount of tickiling helps:(
Pls help. nima replied. i guess you are from north india. all these things we eat in northern india after pregnancy.
i want to talk about shatavari and gum. i am talking about edible gum/gond.
I am consulting these days my qyurvedic doc. she is well know and very experienced.
she told me that edible gum gives body heat. eating all these things together is not balanced diet. instead i was told to stop edible gum. after that, my baby was not colicky at all and i was feeling better. i started having hot flashes when i started eating panjiri and shatavari.
i was also told that if the gum is not cooked properly, there are chances of toxic substances producing in body.
somewhere on this board itself. i think its Lata post where in she has mentioned that she was taking shatavari kalp.she also mentioned that it gives her breast pain as if full but still milk does not come out.
she too is suffering from piles which is caused by heat.

so now i am confused about shatavari. But after my baby started becoming colicky and i started having hot flashes, i had to stop it.
does it mean that shatavari and edible gum are so hot that even ayurvedic dr don't recommend it ?
if they are not hot, then my question is why did the hot flashes stop after i stopped them. i have stopped edible gum because my doc adviced me. but she also told me that if still i get hot flashes, i just have to stop the shatavari tablets and then see if it helps me. i did not take last night and i was able to sleep nicely.whenever i have hot flashes i can not sleep, i feel restless and i start sweating even though ac is full in my room.
Can you or anyone throw some lights on this ? mom replied. Shatavari : Asparagus (or Asparagus racemosus)
Read more about this at


Ahaleev: This is maharashtra name. I dont know even hindi name, so forget english name.
This looks like: Imagine sesame seeds little larger and brown in color. These are not flat like sesame seeds, but bulged.
When these are cooked in water/milk, they become sticky, and u can see a transparent coating around each seed.
Rich in iron. If u dont get this, no issues, u can still make a kheer with suji and other ingredients mentioned.

Daliya: Wheat porridge
Lauki: bottle gourd
Gond: Gum (variety of gum that is edible, not the one we use for pasting papers)
Panjiri: Indian nutritous recipe made from Semolina+Sugar+Dry Fruits+Gum+Wheat Flour+Pure Ghee etc. Made differently in different states. Is dry and in powder/semolina form to eat. Preferred in winters, consumed by all, special for children and new moms for its nutritional values. Commonly sold in Mithai shops (even as laddoos). So i guess Haldiram/Bikanerwala who export stuff shd be sending these as well. Even the gum-laddoos.

If you want to find english names of anything, u can type its name in google and search for it.

U r right, breast pump also helps increasing supply since the suction stimulates it.
Uma replied. Hi Mom
I find your post interesting as i am having the same trouble as m. My baby is 1 month old now. However breast pump helps me to increase breast milk. Could you please tell me the english names of the spices you mentioned in your post:
Shatavari
Ahaleev
Daliya
Lauki
gond
Panjiri
I am sorry that i don't know these words. I would appreciate your help.
Thank you mom replied. Hi rn ..
long reply, pls bear with me :)

Was waiting to see if someone answers you. Dint want to look that i am overdoing by replying u first everytime!

Just one reply till now to u. So let me put in my thoughts as well.
So here are my thoughts on your queries:

First things first.
1)Your milk seems less, baby not gaining enuf wt.

Lets look at positives. You have realised it in just 20 days, some mothers know it after months.
You are taking steps to address the problem, most importantly, your baby is not going hungry.

About bottle+breast feeding: the right way is to bfeed the baby when u know ur breasts are full or engorged or when u know \" now i hv enough milk to full the baby\" . So one shd wait till then.
Contradictarily, frequent sucking stimulates milk production.

So, you need to seek a balance between these 2 points.

For a 20 day baby who must be feeding at 2 hrs, if u go alternate feeds, it shd give enough time to u to produce milk for next round.

A Bottlefed baby will get hungry later as comp to bf baby. So assume 2-3 hrs time after bottlefeed, or go by baby's demand.
As u settle with this, Keep checking with ur ped (consult a good famous ped, during my first baby, the ped never encouraged me for bf when my milk was falling less). Then aim at only BF the baby and ask ur doc how u can reduce bottle and go towards BF. May be ped will suggest giving BF forst for everyfeed so that it stimulates more.

Second option of BF+bottle every feed: frequent sucking stimulates supply .. and ur body is not yet settled as per baby's demand (its just 20 days), .... if u want to go this way, no issues! Dont worry if baby takes only 30 ml. Let him suck everytime as much as possible.
Dont think too much abt it and worry urself. When baby stops at 30ml, fill rest by bottle.

So for u to decide.

2)If baby falls asleep durig BF, some ways to wake up the baby are - changing nappy or diaper, changing clothes, talking to baby, etc.
Again, dont overdo it if baby just doesnt wake up. U will only trbl urself.
Nobody sleeps hungry for long.

3) BF+bottle combo is not bad as u think, if at all ur milk goes less. Ur milk is going to baby, right? There are mothers who dont get milk at all.
And formula is also good, u can b sure that baby is getting vital things. When u go for outing, u dont worry abt how to BF, u can give bottle in market and b carefree for next 3 hrs. So give ur milk to baby for as many months as u want, as much as it is coming.

If u discover after all attempts that finally ur milk is falling less, will worrying abt it increase it? Better to accept situation and look positives.
There shd be no guilt ... only BF is not motherhood.

4)Now again about your milk supply.

You are a first time mother, its not even a month, post-delivery stress and depression are common.
It commonly takes a month for milk-supply to establish. So be patient and dont loose hope.

Schedule your day and try to follow it - schedule for diet and time of eating them .. if needed, make it on paper and paste it so u can see it. U can make a weekly shcedule so that your diet includes all needed varieties that are not possible to eat in a day.

Eat loads of veggies and fruits that are allowed. Generally rules are little strict till 1.25m in india. When u start eating anything new, start with little, to check baby's response. Dont eat anything heavy like chhole, raajma, potatoes, parantas, too much ghee.

Drink your milk (2 glass atleast) and other liquids. And lot of water, almost 1+ litre (and dont include milk ot juice etc in this)
Our body needs 7-8 glass water normally, then we loose so much in blood during and post delivery, then so much water goes in breatmilk - so imagine.

Hope u r taking calcium and iron supplements. Else, ask ur ped.

My doc had suggested me to take one auyurvedic milk-promoting tablets. I wont write the name cuz u shd ask ur doc abt it, i dont want u to flow in emotions and start taking them.

Things like \" Shatavari\" , \" Ahaleev kheer\" (maharashtra name), are believed to increase milk.

\" Mothers' Horlicks\" was something i was mixing with my milk. Pls check with ur doc before taking.
Sometime back there was a post \" how to increase BM\" , pls see if u can get it.

I feel u r worrying too much. Not good to take tension. I dont say be careless ... be cautious and aware, dont be tensed.

Just to share with you, i am putting my diet plan when my second baby was born.
For my first baby, i have passed thru SAAAAME situation as u ... and u know what ... i had to quit BF at 4m where for those 4m my milk was never sufficient and bottle failed. Baby was always at lower end of weight-range.

That is why i am emotional about ur case!

For my second baby, i had decided that history will not repeat. I went to separate room for baby and me (not in my bedroom), hired enough maids so that i get rest and called my old Mom (for my first baby only MIL was there who wd cook but never even picked baby, she was afraid to hold newborn. I wd get tired managing baby all day, no sleep, who will make salads and kheers for me, i went wihtout proper diet).

Anyways. My diet was:

When awake: Water 1 glass
a while later, milk with shatavari
first bfast : Ahaleev kheer with Chhuarey, khus-khus, sooji and scrapped dried coconut (asked the maid to chop/scrape all this and keep in bulk)
Drink water
second bfast : daliya kheer/brown bread sandwich with cucumber tomatoes spinach or other veg and slight butter/salad veggies (if u cant cut them, no worries, start munching)
water again
lunch: moong daal, lauki/turai sabij/2 roti curd cucumber tomato in salad
water after 30 mins
around 4pm: Milk with mothers horlicks, gond laddoo, marie biscuits/banana
water again
next meal: fruits, panjiri or salad panjiri, plus some special fried badaam prepared for new moms, and one item \" ajwain+jaggery+something\" again for new moms stomachs
water again
dinner: same as lunch. no rice in dinner.
water: atleast 30 mins after dinner
lukewarm milk glass before sleep

Whenever we cooked rice, i wd add plain nutrinegets to it. I had also included other diff nutritious items in my diet as and when possible.

Around 2m, i added oatmeal to my breakfast.

When i wd wake up at nights for feed, and it is 3-4 hrs i m hungry, i had kept some snakcs in my almira : marie biscuits, a banana, some pre-prepared snack, chaach, juice. Or if not anything, i wd hv lukewarm milk.
My baby started having gas bec of so much milk, so i reduced it to 2 glass a day and substituted with chaach.

Rn...
my milk supply was so good because i took care and decided that what happ with first baby will not repeat. Baby went from 3.3 Kg birthwt to 4kgs in 1m!!
But my family passed thru some serious tragedy when my baby was 1.5m old. It affected my milk. I had to supplement with bottle.
But with my determination and care, i restored it and exclusively breastfed the baby till 4m.

When i can do it, why cant u!
B confident.

keep us posted
mom guria replied. hii rn,if ur breast milk is not enuf then hve lots of water n liquid diet,having milk n saboo really helps...bm is always good for the baby so u shd always try to give him that but if its not sufficient then u can go for formula milk...babies do fall asleep but whenever they wake itstiring but feed them..