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I have a one month old adn my milk is drying up. I had to feed her formula tonight which was very stressful for me. I have started to take Fenugreek - Sara, how long did it take for your milk supply to come back?

I remember getting frustrated at first when I took the tablets ... then I took a few more tablets like the lady in the "moo" article. And then within a day to two days my milk came in big time. I took the tablets for a few weeks, then stopped (they're kind of expensive) but my milk kept coming. Then, I think I took them one more time when Abby was about 10 months and my supply was dwindling again.

Tara - What makes you say your milk is drying up? When Blake was about 5 weeks old I thought I was drying up too so I gave him formula a couple times. He was just constantly at my b___st like he couldn't get enough to eat. I hated giving him the formula and felt like I was failing. I did some research and I found out it was a growth spurt and completely normal. What used to be enough milk is no longer enough for the growing baby so they cluster feed to build a milk this can last a few days. Maybe this is your problem too... just a thought. If you truly do have a supply problem the Fenugreek should do the trick within a couple of days. Soon you are going to smell like maple syrup :)

I use the Madela Pump In Style and it works wonders for me. You aren't supposed to pump for an hour if you have a double pump. My book says 10-15 minutes. I never go longer than 20. If you are pumping that often, and for that long, how do you have any time for yourself and your baby/family? I didn't really start pumping regularly until I went back to work at 6 weeks. I found it too hard to pump when my little one was around. The first 6 weeks I let him nurse whenever he wanted. We had trouble with him latching on so I used a nipple shield (not recommended but it worked for me). I no longer use it except for the first morning feeding. My nipples are flat in the a.m. and he has a better feeding with the shield. I would say after about a month we stopped using the shield at every feeding. I have the ISIS pump as well and I hate it. I know a lot of people love it but I can barely get anything out with that thing. I bought it for an emergency road trip. It seemed to work okay at first but now I barely get anything out with it. It's unfortunate that good pumps are so expensive and that you can't try them out first. I used to pump at work every 3 hours for a total of 3 x's. I now cut down to 2 times and I seem to get the same amount in total. Before I'd get 4 oz. total at each session for about 12 oz a day. Now with only doing it 2 x's I get 6-7 oz for a total of 12-14 oz for the day. I BF at 6 am, pump at 10 am, pump at 2 or 3 pm and then BF at 6 and 9 pm. He is 4.5 months now and has slowed down his eating a ton. That first growth spurt is tough. You'll get through it! Also, I would never wake myself up in the middle of the night to pump. I cherish my sleep too much. Try a nipple shield once and see what happens. You'll hopefully find b___stfeeding to be much less of a chore than pumping.

Thanks for the info sara, I'll have to read that artical when I get a chance. Jenn..., last Saturday she was going through a growth spurt and that went fine. But yesterday was a normal day for us and she had not been fed from my right b___st since her early afteroon feed, so the right one should have been full but she only got a good 5 minutes and it went dry. The left was dry from the second I put her on. I started taking the Fenugreek yesterday and my mom gave me another herb (made into a tea) that's supose to help with milk supply. I hope with these two things I'm taking my supply goes up by tomorrow. I felt awful about giving her formula last night because I could tell she didnot like it at all. But at least today has been good so far and I have not had to think of giving her formula yet. I relly hope this works for me.

sara i am off to buy some fenugreek. thank you again for your advice, and for taking the time to post the link. i really appreciate it. will let you guys know wheni start smellin' like maple lol

I agree with 'C' too - I used a Madela Pump in Style... loved the thing. My insurance covered most of the cost for it. And for a short period I used the nipple shield too. As she said it's not recommend, but it worked for me too. And remembering back... this sounds goofy, but I think using the shield made me more confident - I could see my milk in the shield a bit as she drank.

Would a nipple sheild work for trying to get your baby to nurse from you again when he's currently only accepting the bottle do you think?

Em, the nipple shield will not give much stimulation to the nipple. With my 1st child it made my supply reduce drastically, but it wouldn't help to try - nothing to lose it seems :)

yes, it does provide nipple stimulation. the nipple is like a bottle nipple but a tad softer, and the latex around it is VERY soft, so the baby's mouth is on it and you feel it.

I didn't say it didn't give any, just not much. I should have said that it doesn't give *as* much as b/f.

I didn't use the nipple shield long, but I do think it did help 'shape' my nipples more (they were kind of innies) - the pumping helped with this too.

kh, sorry - i meant it does for me. i just reread what i wrote and it sounded like i was dismissing what you said, i didn't mean it to sound like that.

no worries :)

This week I stopped using the shield for the a.m. feeding and he's doing great. I only recommend the shield for those that have flat nipples as I did. Or just having trouble with baby latching on. If you're to the point where you're going to quit but don't want to, give it a try. My nipples are no longer flat and he now can latch right on w/o it. I didn't notice a reduction in how much milk I produced but this is my first baby and wouldn't know the difference. I am guessing it did affect it somewhat because I never seem to produce enough for him not to be supplemented with at least 4 oz. of formula a day.

kh - thanks :) C - that's great!! i dont have flat or inverted nipples, i just started bf way late. so far so good!