Hi friends,
I hv a 5 month old baby. I am staying alone in US with my husband. I had a lot of problems during my pregnancy due to which I was hospitalised couple of times. Because of this I could not attend breastfeeding class nor did I read anything about breastfeeding. I thought its just feeding the baby thru the breast, so what is there to read. My baby arrived two weeks early. My mom could not come here for my delivery, so had to manage all alone with the help of my husband. All this was too much for me. My baby had jaundice in the hospital, so while leaving they gave me lots of formula and told me to supplement him with the formula (for two-three weeks till he has jaundice) after every breastfeeding session. After I came home (in 2 days) I breastfed him totally during the day (no formula) and my husband used to get up at nights and feed him only formula (no breast milk). Now here I did the biggest mistake. I never had an idea that to maintain my milk supply I should be feeding him my milk at nights too. This big gap at nights reduced my milk supply (and I didnt hv any idea). After one week, i started noticing that inspite of breastfeeding during the day he still used to be hungry and I thought my milk has reduced due to some reason and so started supplementing him with formula even during the day and total formula at nights. As and as he got bigger i had to supplement him with more formula. I then purchased a breast pump and was shocked to see that I was getting hardly abt half to one ounce of total milk from both breasts at one pumping session. I started pumping during the day and my milk improved little bit (not much) but still could not get up at nights to pump as I used to be very tired and sleepy and also had major stitches. Now my baby is 5 months old, I hv started taking fenugreek capsules from one month, i am pumping during the day and once at night but now since its been a long time (5 months after delivery) my milk is not coming back as normal. So in 24 hours I get around 6 to 8 ounces of milk. I hv to return the pump now(since its becoming very expensive for us) and once I do that I wont be able to pump and I wont be able to breastfeed every 2 hours because now my baby needs food every 4 to 5 hours. Also very soon I will be starting solids for my baby and once that is done he might even stop getting up at nights, which means again at nights my milk wont be removed and I guess in a few days my milk will stop completely.
If any of u were in this situation or hv any idea about what I can do to let my milk coming, pls reply to me. I hv not stopped feeling guilty everyday for not being able to exclusively breastfeed my son. He's on formula since two weeks of age and he is getting some amt of breastmilk now but I dont want that also to stop. So pls advise me if u can.
Thanksa lot in advance. Q.T.s Mom replied. I would highly recommend using a Medela electric breast pump if you can afford it. Check wiht your insurance company if they cover the cost because it is pretty expensive $250, but worth every cent because it requires minimal effort and is very effective. Be sure to get a dual pump so you can finish both at the same time. ss replied. Hi Pamela,
Congrats on the new arrival in your family.I think you are doing great given the situation you are in.I would like to tell you that you should try and relax.As casper suggested try getting a manual pump to improve your supply.or you can even express with your hands though it will take a longer time.Hope you know that hormones for breast milk are released from the brain whenever your baby sucks.so essentially milk production is a mental thing.so just try and relax.Dont feel guilty about not exclusively breast feeding your baby,he would have got lots of antibodies he needs for boosting his immune system since you breast fed him in the mornings.dont worry about your breast getting dried in few days. try putting your baby to breast whenever possible and express manually whenver your baby is not feeding from the breast.Take a got balanced diet and lots of water.Most of all relax.I am sure your supply will increase.good luck Casper replied. Hi Pamela,
I suppose you have discussed with your lactation consultant about fenugreek capsules. If you could invest in a manual breast pump, that would be nice. I recommend Avent Manual Breast Pump after having used it for almost 10 months now.