What to do if you have low milk supply - after the first few weeks.
There will be a point where you may decide that you have maximised your production. This can be quite variable from one person to the next and depends very much on how well baby is feeding.
If you get to the stage where baby is latching well, having both breasts each feed, actively feeding and you are not able to express any greater volume of milk each 24 hours, this may be the time to reassess and think about making the situation more sustainable. Triple feeding, where you are breastfeeding, pumping and bottle feeding is a very intense feeding plan and is not something that should be necessary to continue long term.
So it may be time to make peace with your production. And how you arrange your feeding depends how the baby responds to breastfeeding.
If you are finding that baby is settled after breastfeeds and its just low weight gain that is causing issues, it may be necessary to give a couple of bottles of extra milk, donor or formula, per day, but you can then just breast responsively in between.
But if you are finding baby is not settled after a breastfeed, you may need to give a bit of extra milk each feed. Some choose to offer a bottle feed at the end of the feed. Or it could be given mid feed and settle baby on the breast. If baby is fussy and refusing to latch, the bottle could be given at the start of the feed and then baby settles on the breast. Another option is to give the extra milk with a tube at the breast, or supplementary nursing system. An SNS protects the breastfeeding relationship as the baby can get all its nutrition from breastfeeding.
Expressing is often the part that is least sustainable. And with low supply it may be for a small amount of milk. But you may find using some breast compressions can encourage the baby to take this milk directly from the breast. Or switching back and forth a couple of times.mat encourage them to take a little more. Once we are no longer trying to increase production, expressing can be stopped.
If baby is not breastfeeding well, then it may be prudent to keep some expressing in your day to sustain the supply you have established.
#breastfeeding #lowmilk #babynutritiontip #lactation #newmom #common issues
There will be a point where you may decide that you have maximised your production. This can be quite variable from one person to the next and depends very much on how well baby is feeding.
If you get to the stage where baby is latching well, having both breasts each feed, actively feeding and you are not able to express any greater volume of milk each 24 hours, this may be the time to reassess and think about making the situation more sustainable. Triple feeding, where you are breastfeeding, pumping and bottle feeding is a very intense feeding plan and is not something that should be necessary to continue long term.
So it may be time to make peace with your production. And how you arrange your feeding depends how the baby responds to breastfeeding.
If you are finding that baby is settled after breastfeeds and its just low weight gain that is causing issues, it may be necessary to give a couple of bottles of extra milk, donor or formula, per day, but you can then just breast responsively in between.
But if you are finding baby is not settled after a breastfeed, you may need to give a bit of extra milk each feed. Some choose to offer a bottle feed at the end of the feed. Or it could be given mid feed and settle baby on the breast. If baby is fussy and refusing to latch, the bottle could be given at the start of the feed and then baby settles on the breast. Another option is to give the extra milk with a tube at the breast, or supplementary nursing system. An SNS protects the breastfeeding relationship as the baby can get all its nutrition from breastfeeding.
Expressing is often the part that is least sustainable. And with low supply it may be for a small amount of milk. But you may find using some breast compressions can encourage the baby to take this milk directly from the breast. Or switching back and forth a couple of times.mat encourage them to take a little more. Once we are no longer trying to increase production, expressing can be stopped.
If baby is not breastfeeding well, then it may be prudent to keep some expressing in your day to sustain the supply you have established.
#breastfeeding #lowmilk #babynutritiontip #lactation #newmom #common issues
