After a long little sabbatical due to, you
know, motherhood and stuff, we are turning some attention to the blog again and
trying to get back on top of it! With
our little girls growing faster and faster time doesn’t allow for a lot of sit
and type on the computer moments. As
such, this post may be a little unorganized, perhaps even scatterbrained. But we were so pleasantly surprised to hear
that people were missing this blog! It
has reawakened our desire to connect with our fellow moms and moms-to-be out
there. So we will try harder to stay on
top of it as long as you keep interacting with us about it! With every post we not only welcome other
advice and opinions we seek them! Please
continue to come be involved as we talk about motherhood and babyhood and the
different experiences we all have!
On that note, here is a post about a certain
experience that can begin to happen to most babies around 6 months- I’ve heard
it called the 6-month drought. This is
when baby’s weight gain hits a plateau, so to speak, or may even decrease. I didn’t know anything about it until we were
in it. In the last few months Olivia and
I have both been having some up and down motherhood moments in one certain
category- breastfeeding. Some of you may
remember the facebook status I posted about how I was getting worried about
Audrey’s nutritional needs not being met.
I got A LOT of suggestions and advice.
I began the post by saying that my milk supply
has been decreasing. A few people
expressed that they were skeptical of that.
They said that if I was doing everything right there should be no reason
for my supply to decrease. Without
getting into anything confrontational I would like to firmly say that that is
not true. At least in my experience and
a few of my fellow new mother friends it has not been true. We hear quite often that every baby is
different, but I think there is not enough understanding that every mother is
different as well, INCLUDING the way her body works. I know only the basics of lactation and I
know that eating healthily and nursing often is the way to keep milk supply
up. However, despite all this my supply
WAS going down and I was getting worried.
Times where I used to be able to feed my baby one full 30 minute feeding
on one side, I suddenly was running out within 10 minutes and had a screaming
hungry baby on my hands. I was doing
everything exactly the same as I had been. Maybe for other women this never happens so they don't really believe that it could. But there was no doubt my milk was tapering off and there was no apparent
reason.
This would not be such a big deal if it were
not for the fact that Audrey does not take a bottle. Olivia and I have talked about how we both
have had the goal to make it to a year nursing, but we also both know that our
baby’s needs are more important than our own personal goals. So, if formula or other alternatives to nursing were necessary, then so be
it. You do what's best for your baby. The problem for our little family is
that Audrey won’t take milk from anything other than me. Andrew and I have tried every suggestion to
get her to take a bottle, but to no avail. These two things combined was worrisome. That was the dilemma- milk supply decreasing combined with her not taking a bottle. We were also having issues with
solids. I was having a harder time than
Audrey was because I was so worried about everything.
As hard as it has been and as hopeless as it
has felt at times in the last few months, we HAVE managed to keep nursing! It has gotten so much better. The biggest help for us has been the herbal
supplement Fenugreek suggested to me by my sister. Here is a list of some things that have
worked for us as well as some of the suggestions mentioned on facebook. If you’re having trouble with or worrying at
all about your milk supply definitely try a few of these. What worked for me may not work for you and
vice versa. For some reason my body
responds really well to Fenugreek but it did not work at all for my friend
Shauna. Let's try to understand each other, not tell each other what we're doing wrong.
Suggestions from FB:
MILK SUPPLY:
Domperidone (medication)- doubled LH’s milk
supply
More Milk Plus capsules- doubled JS’s milk
supply within 2 days
Mother’s Milk Tea- I’ve heard different opinions
about this one, but MC had great success with it. I tried it for a few days but it made me a
little nauseas so I stopped. Definitely
worth a try, though.
Lactation cookies- KA had success with
these. Find a good recipe online.
Nurse on demand
Drink a lot of water and/or milk (unless your
baby gets an upset stomach when you have too much dairy)
Pump after every feeding, or at least as
often as possible- TU said, “It doesn’t matter in nothing comes out, what
matters is that you stimulate the milk production.”
Plain rolled oats- HH ate a bowl every day,
sometimes twice a day and had great success with it boosting her milk supply.
BOTTLE ISSUES:
Sippy cup/Regular cup- the problem for Audrey
is that she doesn’t ever want to suck on anything other than breast or
pacifier. When we gave up on the bottle
we tried a sippy cup, but had the same problem with her just not sucking on
it. But we learned that she loves to sip
out of a cup like kids and adults do normally.
Interesting, huh? We wouldn’t
have found that out though if we hadn’t tried the sippy cup first.
Different bottle nipples, particularly faster
flowing ones
Syringe feeding- LF said to try and syringe
or straw feed extra formula while nursing.
“They have super tiny flexible straws that you just slip into the corner
of baby’s mouth while she nurses.”
Supplemental feeding system- a tube that attaches to your chest and brings formula up to where baby nurses
SOLIDS SUGGESTIONS:
Mix rice cereal or oatmeal with fruit purees
Try homemade mashed foods instead of baby
foods- avocado, bananas, mashed potatoes, refried beans
Look for baby food grinders at Walmart- TL
said that she used it to make spaghetti, mac and cheese, pot pies, small enough
for baby to gum
Mix healthy fats with baby food for weight
gain- avocado, coconut oil, olive oil
Try using a mesh baby food feeder
RESOURCE OPTIONS:
La Leche League
Milky Mommas fb group
Look up “baby-led weaning” online
This is by no means an extensive list, so
please add to it! Let us know what has
worked for you or whatever questions you might have about any challenges you’re
facing. Remember there is an army of
moms out there who are ready and willing to respond.
Thanks for posting this Hillary! I'll share my story real quick.
ReplyDeleteAround 3 - 3.5 months, I wasn't making enough food for Ari, and it was obvious. I knew that supplementing with formula could decrease my supply further, but since it was already dropping and Ari needed food--period--I didn’t much care. For weeks, I tried nursing on demand, Fenugreek, More Milk Plus capsules, pumping for 10 minutes after she would nurse, taking in more calories and water, etc. Nothing changed.
My supply was diddly--4 hours after nursing, I'd only pump 2 ounces. Then her appetite increased. My supply during the night, the only reason I was holding on to my breastmilk, was no longer enough. Since I'd already tried to increase my supply and had failed, I told my husband we should switch to formula permanently.
He suggested pumping for every 4ish hours for 20-30 minutes at a time CONSISTENTLY, which I hadn’t quite done. It was time-consuming and difficult to be consistent. I was also a little embarrassed to be a stay-at-home mom who pumped more than I nursed. But I did it anyway. It took a while, but my supply doubled! It got to where 4 hours after the last pumping session, I could pump 5-6 ounces. It felt so good to be making milk again.
It’s hard because Ari isn't enough to stimulate my breasts, so we can never switch to exclusive nursing. No way! some moms probably say. But what I haven’t shared yet is that Ariana, from day 1, never nursed for longer than 15 minutes (and she got enough food--she’s gone from the 19th percentile to the 56th). As she got older she got so fast at nursing that she could eat a session’s worth of food during the day in 5 minutes or so, total. That isn’t even close to enough stimulation. So I nurse her here and there and during the night, and I give her expressed breastmilk most of the time. (We do formula before she sleeps.)
The truth is that mothers and experts have a lot of advice, and the best thing we can do is try what works. They don’t always know FOR SURE what works best for YOU. If a mother must use formula, then no one should judge her for that. If a mom says her supply is getting low, giving her advice to increase it is great, but not believing her is not right. We need to support each other no matter how different our circumstances are.
I totally agree. These posts are so helpful. I've been facing milky supply issues as well. My Lucy has never been a strong nurser. We've done all sorts of things. Got her lip and tongue ties revised, saw lactation specialists multiple times, talked with pediatrician, pumping, fenugreek, etc. Still not giving up abd my baby will get as much milk as I can give her, but also bought some formula for when my stored milk runs out. Making sure my baby is fed and nourished is more important to me than being able to say my milk was enough... Took a while for me to feel that way and be okay with it, but I realize like you two that everyone is different and that is okay. Some things we can control, some we can't. We do our best, prioritize, and do what we need to do to meet the main end goal. :-)
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