Home Forums Induced Lactation aka Adoptive Breastfeeding Medical Interventions to Induce Lactation/Increase Milk Supply Guidance Please

Hello Everyone,
I am just looking for some guidance. I have not seen an increase in my production it seems for a while now. I was pumping 14 ozs. and then it seems I went down. I was taking 390 miligrams of blessed thistle then my new herbs were 340. Yesterday and today I took one or two pills to make up for it. The last two nights I pumped 13 ozs. To make life easier I have been pumping about 6 times a day. These last few days I have been pumping every 3 hours. Today I was out so it was more than 3 hours. I will get in 6 pumps today. I am not on a set schedule for pumping could this be making a difference. Meaning I do not pump at the same time everyday. I hope that my prouduction is not stablizing. I want it to increase more if I can. Is there anything more I can be doing? Should I go back to pumping 8 times a day? Lately to it has been hard to enjoy pumping, could this be affecting things. Things have been busy as of late. I was able to pump five ozs. in the mornings and now it's four or less this week. Could it be the domp, herbs, or me. I tried mother's milk tea and it made me throw up. What do you think. I am looking for guidance and suggestions.

Thanks,
Bella

Hi Bella, I don't have many suggestions - hopefully someone else will! But wanted to tell you I'm in a similar place. One thing I did when I got really worried, was actually stick my data in a spreadsheet and graph it - which helped, because although it always seemed I was at a plateau, in fact there was a consistent linear increase, with wobble about the regression line. LOL I also pump really irregularly, with no set schedule, but it hasn't seemed to be a problem. ...? One thing I do if I'm afraid that my production is leveling off, is to do what I've read has helped in other womens' cases - to have one or two marathon days of pumping more like 10 times. The day or two after that, when I go back to a more normal number of sessions, my production usually stays the same or even decreases a little, but then I usually see a significant increase soon after.

Wow, I'm sorry the mother's milk tea made you throw up! How awful! I kind of like the stuff, but don't drink it often. Good luck - I hope life settles down for you so you can enjoy pumping again!

Heidi

Heidi-- <img src="http://www.asklenore.com/ubbthreads/images/icons/laugh.gif" alt="" /> So I am not the only person making milk production graphs!! Just as you say, it is encouraging and makes it easier to see the gradual increase in supply. Bella, I also pump on a somewhat irregular schedule. What I try to do is this: once at night, then 8-10-1-3-5-7-9-11---so on the ideal day I get 8 times a day plus once at night. The ideal day, however, happens maybe two days a week. A couple days a week I sleep all night and miss the night pumping. At least a couple days a week, I have morning outings where I skip a session-- a couple other days a week I am gone in the afternoon and miss a session. SOME days I have stuff going in the am and the afternoon and only get 6 sessions in all day. But I would say on average I get 7-8 sessions a day...most of are 20 min with the pump, but 2-3 sessions a day are just 5 min of hand expression. you gotta have some life! I keep wondering if I am hitting a plateau too, but then in a day or two I will have a day of all-time high, and be encouraged... once we get our babies, I am sure we will really be doing great, though!!!!!! I don't know how many times a week I say to my husband, "All we need now is a baby!"

Hi Bella,
I think you are doing great with the pumping. I know the baby at the breast will increase your production even more.
I hit a high of 1.5 ounces for 2 days, then back down to 1/2 ounce a day after 2 months of pumping,,so to me you are doing fabulously.
Did you try the petal inserts from the Avent Isis? They really do compress the milk ducts behind the aerola, much better that the plain horns of the PIS.
Hope you get matched soon, take care, Cathy