Home Forums Induced Lactation aka Adoptive Breastfeeding Medical Interventions to Induce Lactation/Increase Milk Supply Pumping - milk supply not increasing

Hello everybody,

I had previously posted a topic in the 'Natural Methods for Inducing Lactation' about getting started on the protocol for breastfeeding a surrogate baby and want to thank everyone for your help!

Now I am pumping and I am very concerned about my poor progress. I've been reading stories from others, but wanted to ask a couple of questions about my experiences so far...

I had to do the accelerated protocol since I found it pretty late in the 'game'. While on BCP and Domperidone I did experience very significant breast changes, they became huge, very heavy and felt extremely full. I took it as a good sign. So by now I have been on Domperidone for about 2 months and 3 weeks and have been pumping for about 3 weeks.

For the first few sessions all I got was a drop or two of a heavy brown stuff. Then after a few days, I started getting a few drops of what looked more like milk. I was so excited! However after the drops became milky they never became more than just drops. So now, after 3 weeks of diligently pumping 7-10 times a day I am still getting drops and produce only about a teaspoon of milk from each breast per session. It is more than I produced during my first week but I am getting discouraged by such an insignificant progress....

I am taking Domperidone 90mg a day, herbs (Blessed Thistle and Fenugreek), drink lots of tea for lactation support and pump with Medela In Style pump.

Is there anything else that can be done to help stimulate milk production/speed up the process? My husband tells me I am impatient and I guess I am but I just want to be able to feed the babies....

Hi Tanya,

I know how discouraging this process can feel but please do not feel this way. It takes time and don't stress yourself out. First thing that I would wonder is if you are taking any medicines that may be inhibiting the milk, like an allergy medication with a decongestant. If not here are some things that helped me. Before you pump, relax and look at pictures of babies or listen to the sounds of babies. Take a warm shower or put a warm washcloth on your breasts. Start pumping and while you are pumping use your hands (it takes a little practice) to compress your breast tissue in different places. Half way through the pumping session, stop, and massage your breasts. Begin pumping again and at the end of your session, manually empty your breasts. In the beginning, I got more out from my hands than I did the pump. You still need to pump to get the stimulation though. Are you pumping once at night? Are you using a new pump or an old one? Also, make sure you are drinking lots of water and not a lot of caffeine.

Claudia,

Thank you so much for your support and encouragement! It helps so much hear those words! To answer your questions, I am not on any medication but I do take some vitamins and supplements (Vitamin D3, Biotin and MSM for joints), they are all natural and I believe should only be beneficial to milk production and composition (I also Googled it). I am drinking plenty of fluids and avoiding caffeine. I do pump once at night - midnight, 3 am then 6am. I am trying to pump even more often in the day time whenever I can - about every 2 hours (since I am India, far away from my work and normal day to day duties). Of course I wouldn't be able to afford that luxury when I'm back home. And yes, I do feel like pumping is my full time job now I am using a new pump - Medela In Style. I do exactly the same thing you described - pump, massage, pump and then hand express for a few minutes - pump seems to always leave stuff behind

I am just going to keep trying.... Can you tell me from your personal experience how much milk you were getting per pumping and per day after one month? two months? Did it change when you started nursing?

Thank you!!!

The first time that I tried to induce, I did not do the bcps. I tried to take dom and pump. It did not yield the results that I was looking for so I did the accelerated protocol. Starting out, things progressed very slowly. But once I was able to get sprays from hand expressing the volume increased pretty regularly from there and increased even faster when I started nursing. It was not easy though, it took a lot of work and I was exhausted from getting up every morning when I was just pumping.