Home Forums Induced Lactation aka Adoptive Breastfeeding Medical Interventions to Induce Lactation/Increase Milk Supply Increasing milk supply

I have lots of questions. I am currently nursing my 23 month old bio daughter about 2X daily (all she wants.) We are adopting a baby from Guatemala with an uncertain timeline for getting her. I want to increase my milk supply in hopes of storing some and bf her. I just started taking the dom about a week ago. I just went up to 80/day. I am inconsistantly pumping and only getting about 0.5-1 oz per day. Even when my daughter was very young and exclusively bf I pumped and never did well. I only got about 2-5 oz per day. She ate fine and never had any supplemental feedings so I think my breasts don't respond well to pumping (specially the left.) I am using the PIS Advanced. Is there anything that I could do about this? I did use fenugreek from when my daughter turned 5 months and seemed hungrier and less satisfied. I started this again the other day and found that it caused my heart rate to increase and I felt uncomfortable. Has anyone else found this? I just started the blessed thistle today. I do see a noticable increase when I use fenugreek. Since I was already nursing I didn't use any of the bc pills. I also noticed someone mention allergy pills can decrease supply. I am taking Zyrtec. Is this a problem? Any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. [color:"blue"] [/color]

Hi Suzanne,

Congratulations on your daughter and on a fabulous breastfeeding experience! Congrats also on your impending arrival.

Because you are still breastfeeding you should not require the birth control pill portion of the protocol. Most moms in your position are able to rebuild their milk supply with domperidone and pumping. If the fenugreek is causing your heart to race, please stop using it.

It's important that you pump at least 8 times per day for about 20 minutes in order to rebuild your milk supply. Try to do the whole time even if nothing comes out. This will help to build your supply. And it would help if you could hand express your breasts after pumping to be sure that they are as drained as possible. It may help for you to contact a board certified lactation consultant (IBCLC) to assist you. You can find one here www.iblce.org Just click on the "About IBLCE" button and the US and International registry pops up.

Best,