Preparation for Breastfeeding

RBXChas

I'm 31 weeks pregnant and have been lurking so that I can become more knowledgeable about breastfeeding as I approach my due date. This is my second baby, and I had major supply issues with my first. Long story short, we got off on the wrong foot. In an attempt to salvage my supply, I marathon-pumped for days, I took fenugreek, blessed thistle, and brewer's yeast tablets, as well as ate copious amounts of steel-cut oats, but nothing seemed to help my supply. Occasionally I would pump all day and not nurse so that I could gauge how much I was producing, and the most I was ever able to produce in one day was 3 ounces, even after taking all those galactagogues. All the lactation consultant or my doctor would tell me to do was nurse and pump, nurse and pump, and that was all the advice I was given.

Obviously this time I will do things differently from the start, so hopefully I'll have a better supply in general, but I was wondering if any of you used Mother's Milk Tea. Did you take it when you started having supply issues, or did you take it to prevent having supply issues? I plan on pumping so that I have a frozen stash, as well as nursing, though emphasis will definitely be on nursing, so if I have an oversupply, that's ok.

Does anyone having any insight on the tea or what else I can do to set myself up for success? I have a brand-new personal-use pump, as well as the one I used last time, which is ready to go and still in good working condition, since I only pumped with it for two months (I used a hospital-grade pump for the first month). I would also like to make lactation cookies in a couple of weeks and then freeze them so that I can pop one or two in the microwave and be all set.

All help is appreciated!

Pepper2185

I drank red raspberry leaf tea at the end of my pregnancy and kept drinking it after my son was born because it is supposed to help your milk supply (in addition to helping your uterus shrink). I have nursing tea, but I honestly only used one or two bags of it.

Keeping the baby in your room, skin to skin, is supposed to help with breastfeeding.

I took a bag of those cookies to the hospital and started chowing down right after delivery.

Remember that baby is much more efficient than any pump, and if baby is latching well, pop him on the boob every chance you get. Your body builds up the milk producing glands in the first few weeks of nursing, so stimulating them as much as you can possibly handle will help establish them.

Also, lots of water and as much relaxation as you can possibly get!

nattymommy33

I like Mother's Milk tea and still drink it occassionally when I need to pump to build up my stash. I make it as an iced tea by mixing the Mother's Milk with Berry Zinger. This makes it taste a LOT better.

That said, I think it's really important not to get yourself into an OVER supply situation by taking galactogogues in the first 6 weeks after birth. Instead, I'd focus on tons of skin-to-skin contact, offering the breast whenever baby fusses and don't diet until your supply is really well established. I tried to diet at 3 months and it didn't hurt my supply but it hurt ME because I wasn't recovered enough from pregnancy and giving birth.

I'm so sorry you had trouble with your first. Like Pepper2185 said, a pump will never be as efficient as a baby. My girl is 9 months old and over 20 pounds, thriving like crazy, but when I pump, I am lucky to get a total of 2 ounces from both breasts after twenty minutes! It's always been this way for me and I had terrible oversupply issues at first. I really love the book Breastfeeding Made Simple, it helped me a lot.

Congrats! I hope this time around is easier!

jmcreynolds91

Mine is 8 months. I started out taking mothers milk tea and fenugreek because i also had supply issues with my first. I wanted to prevent that. They definitely helped me alot. First time i got on bc and it screwed me up. So i built a huge stash (500-600) oz in case my supply dropped off again. turns out, i am dealing with oversupply this time around. My stash hasn't been touched except for when her nana watches her which is about 1 time a month. Its still nice to have it though. I would definitely recommend both fenugreek and the tea. I dont take anything anymore but i believe its a good place to start!! Good luck to you and your little one!!

Amandajp79

bump

binknbaby

Connect with the La Leche League in your area. They are a wealth of information! And it will be so important for you to have "real life" support to guide you through and give you confidence.

(PS. I'm a doula/midwifery student and can help with some minor breastfeeding/supply issues, so feel free to message me with specific questions...)

TeachTheGirl

Do whatever you can to have some time with your baby to nurse as soon as they are born. With my son, he was in the NICU for a week and I was unsuccessful at pumping and then came home to a hostile environment which dried my milk up instantly. I felt awful for formula feeding him, but I didn't have the support or stress-free situation which would have made it possible for me to breastfeed him. :<

My daughter was much more successful; straight to breast after birth and consistent support from lactation nurses during my hospital stay.

RBXChas

Thanks, everyone! I figure lactation cookies can't hurt, so I'll make those and bring some to the hospital. Last time I was strep B positive, so I had to stay two nights. If I'm not this time, I'll only stay the one night. I will also room in. I didn't do that last time, and even though I told them to bring my son to me to nurse, they took it upon themselves to let me rest. The LC got angry with me about that, but I told her that maybe she needed to take it up with the nursery.

I also had an issue where my son had a funny cry when he was born, so they took him away to check his pulse-ox and told me they'd bring him right back. (In retrospect I'm not sure why they couldn't do that in the room and then let him nurse.) Well in the hubbub of everything they decided to move me before bringing him back. I kept asking when they were bringing him back, and the answer was always, "Oh, he's fine, but they decided to do his full workup while they had him in the nursery." That was all fine and good, but they kept putting me off. When all was said and done, he was born at about 10:30AM, and I didn't see him again until 1 or 1:30PM. They'd already given him formula, so I didn't nurse him until probably mid-afternoon.

Overall I am happy with the hospital, and I love my OB, but between that and a few other things (like giving me pitocin without my knowledge or consent to speed up my labor even though I was progressing just fine without it --> stalled labor and 7-10 minutes of horrendous contractions without breaks), I am prepared to speak up this time and not let them run the show unless there's an emergency. My husband knows that if he has to be "that guy" if I can't be "that mom," then so be it.

Other than the lactation cookies, I will hold off on the tea and/or any other galactagogues unless I feel like I need a boost, and then I can just buy what I need. No big deal. I did do just fenugreek to begin with last time, to no avail, and then I added in the brewer's yeast, blessed thistle, and oatmeal with no luck. I did a bit of "research" (read: Googling), and it turns out for some people they change everything, and for other people they have little to no effect. That's why I was curious about the tea, because it was the only thing I didn't try last time.

But I do appreciate the input! I think that starting off on the right foot from birth will probably have the biggest impact, so I'm prepared to do what I need to do to make that happen

ETA that I'm not going to worry about dieting/logging/whatever until I'm cleared, presumably at 6 weeks postpartum. Since I don't want to do anything to hurt my supply, I'd rather overdo it on calories and work down from there by small increments (50-100 calories/day) to see if I can find the "sweet spot." This is more important to me than weight loss, since I have the rest of my life to lose weight but only so long to breastfeed my baby!

EATA that I have a friend who is involved in LLL locally, and while I'm happy to give them a shot, she's warned me that they're a bit much to take. Given that my friend is a lot "crunchier" than I am, I take that as a pretty solid warning. However, like I said, I will give them a shot, since my impression and experience may be totally different. I'm glad that I know someone who's involved with them, though. The hospital where I delivered last time (and will deliver this time) has a great LC department with two super nice LCs and a cute little boutique and everything. They have breastfeeding support groups every week, and the cost is minimal (basically a few bucks to cover the snacks and stuff), so I would also like to check that out. I wish I had taken advantage of that more last time, plus it would have gotten me out of the house!

EonemoretimeTA that I talked to my dad about this a little while ago... (He's a pediatrician, but I will still admit that talking to my dad about breastfeeding is a little weird!) He was a big part of helping me not beat myself up about my experience last time, but he has asked me if I would do anything different this time. I told him nursing right off the bat + overall persistence is what I've learned are real keys to success. He says he talks to a lot of moms who have a really hard time with their first and then have a much better time with their subsequent babies because they've already learned the hard way how not to succeed. I'm hoping I fall into that category!

MeanSophieCat

The good news is that the 2nd is always easier than the 1st. Your milk will come in faster and 2nd babies tend to be better nursers. My son was a nightmare. My second baby - a girl - was a dream.

I just stopped breastfeeding my daughter who turned 1 earlier this month. I had planned to continue longer but had a severe drop in supply - I believe due to birth control. So - for my next baby, I will definitely not go on hormonal birth control until I am done breastfeeding. I have the Mirena IUD and even the low dose of hormones affected my supply. It isn't that way for all women - but it made a difference for me.

Second, it was very important for me to hit at least 1800 net calories per day. If I ate less than that, I had a supply drop and felt dizzy all day long. When I worked out, I ate back every single exercise cal. At that level, I was losing 1-1.5lbs per week. I felt a little better when I ate close to 2300 net calories - more energy - so upped to that level and was losing .5-1lb per week.

Third, and I have no proof to back this up or even BS internet research, I believe that saturated fat intake affected my supply. If my saturated fat intake was very low (or nonexistant), my baby would eat constantly (unrelated to growth spurts). At first I thought it was the amount of milk and was pumping to increase supply. I was pumping the same amount of ounces as before. Through trial and error, I found that it was saturated fat that made a difference. Again - no science here but if you run out of other ideas, it might be something to try.

Congrats and good luck!

RBXChas

The good news is that the 2nd is always easier than the 1st. Your milk will come in faster and 2nd babies tend to be better nursers. My son was a nightmare. My second baby - a girl - was a dream.

I just stopped breastfeeding my daughter who turned 1 earlier this month. I had planned to continue longer but had a severe drop in supply - I believe due to birth control. So - for my next baby, I will definitely not go on hormonal birth control until I am done breastfeeding. I have the Mirena IUD and even the low dose of hormones affected my supply. It isn't that way for all women - but it made a difference for me.

Second, it was very important for me to hit at least 1800 net calories per day. If I ate less than that, I had a supply drop and felt dizzy all day long. When I worked out, I ate back every single exercise cal. At that level, I was losing 1-1.5lbs per week. I felt a little better when I ate close to 2300 net calories - more energy - so upped to that level and was losing .5-1lb per week.

Third, and I have no proof to back this up or even BS internet research, I believe that saturated fat intake affected my supply. If my saturated fat intake was very low (or nonexistant), my baby would eat constantly (unrelated to growth spurts). At first I thought it was the amount of milk and was pumping to increase supply. I was pumping the same amount of ounces as before. Through trial and error, I found that it was saturated fat that made a difference. Again - no science here but if you run out of other ideas, it might be something to try.

Congrats and good luck!

That's great to hear that you had a much easier time the second time around! I don't plan on doing this again, so there is not likely to be a third time to "get it right." Though I will be ok if things don't work out as planned this time, either. I also don't plan to use hormonal birth control, so I won't have to worry about that, thankfully. As far as calories, I definitely do not want to shortchange myself. As you said, you were able to do 1800+ and still lose, whereas 2300 made it go more slowly. I'll probably start high and then inch down to find that great spot where I can still lose but still maintain a good supply.

I would bet you're on to something, that fat intake, and possibly even saturated fat intake, has a lot to do with supply and with quality as well. I don't believe that saturated fat is the enemy we have been taught to think it is. There's some thinking coming around that it might not be. I just think the whole "fat is the enemy" mentality is still lingering.

LadyJocc

bump :-)

RBXChas

Update: I placed an Amazon order today and included some red raspberry leaf tea to start up with soon, and I also bought some Mother's Milk tea. I won't use that before birth, though, and if I don't use it, it's not like I'm out a lot of money. I am also picking up some brewer's yeast (powder) so that I can make some lactation cookies in the next couple of weeks to stick in the freezer and bring to the hospital with me.

Jenny_Rose77

Writing this on my iPad w/my non-dominant hand as I nurse (so please forgive typos), but I wanted to say that I made and started eating lactation cookies about 6,weeks before Gideon was born. I also drank raspberry leaf tea. I had a C-section, but Gideon nursed maybe 30 minutes after he was born. He roomed in and nursed round the clock. Well, let me tell you, my supply came in fast and furious. The LC said she never saw someone's come in so fast & with so much. She told me I should throw the lactation cookies out, but asked me for the recipe for her clients who struggled with supply. Later, I had a drop because I had to go back to the hospital & Gideon had to be on formula while I was being given certain antibiotics. Long story short, I found that pumping every two to three hours (even through the night) brought it back. Dealing with an oversupply has it's own level of suckiness, but maybe some of the things I did that created the oversupply problem for me, would actually help you? Who knows? I have found myself so much more emotional about bf'ing than I ever thought I would be. I hope it goes well for you this time!!

RBXChas

Writing this on my iPad w/my non-dominant hand as I nurse (so please forgive typos), but I wanted to say that I made and started eating lactation cookies about 6,weeks before Gideon was born. I also drank raspberry leaf tea. I had a C-section, but Gideon nursed maybe 30 minutes after he was born. He roomed in and nursed round the clock. Well, let me tell you, my supply came in fast and furious. The LC said she never saw someone's come in so fast & with so much. She told me I should throw the lactation cookies out, but asked me for the recipe for her clients who struggled with supply. Later, I had a drop because I had to go back to the hospital & Gideon had to be on formula while I was being given certain antibiotics. Long story short, I found that pumping every two to three hours (even through the night) brought it back. Dealing with an oversupply has it's own level of suckiness, but maybe some of the things I did that created the oversupply problem for me, would actually help you? Who knows? I have found myself so much more emotional about bf'ing than I ever thought I would be. I hope it goes well for you this time!!

Thanks! I knew you had to stop when you went back to the hospital, so I figured you must have done something right (or really lucked out) because afterwards you said you were dealing with oversupply! I don't think I'll start eating lactation cookies that early, but maybe around 38 weeks. How many cookies did you eat per day?

Jenny_Rose77

Maybe 1 or 2 a day. Not always everyday, but often after dinner for dessert. I'm not sure if they're responsible for my oversupply, but I wouldn't doubt it either.