Breastfeeding, pumping and supply

For mommas who have / are currently EBF or EP, please tell me how you increased your supply. I'm four weeks postpartum with my second baby. By the end of her first week, she'd lost about 11% of her birth weight, which worried her pediatrician. Up until then, I'd only been breastfeeding and never realized she wasn't getting enough. Our pediatrician suggested I supplement with pumped or formula bottles, both of which I've been doing. Since then she has gotten on track with her weight but I am struuugggling. Not only do we have major latch issues that our pediatrician keeps dismissing, but I'm only producing about 1-4 ounces on average when I pump throughout the day. I see women say they pump after every feed, but I'm home with two kids and can't always find the time (or energy, for that matter) to do so. I'm constantly sore due to her latch and everything about breastfeeding right now just feels so discouraging. It's hard seeing people with freezers full of milk when I can't make more than two bottles in a day's time. She's getting more formula than breastmilk at this point and I can't catch up. Breastfeeding this time around was really important to me and I feel like I'm failing miserably.

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Already posted this once, but trying to get all the advice I can 🥲

I had latching issues as well at first but my little one had a tongue tie. I would highly recommend meeting with a lactation consultant for guidance and assistance. Also maybe try and hospital grade pump and a portable/wearable pump when you have to move around the house. The lactation consultant helped with my latching, flange sizing, positioning for feeding and even pumping/breastfeeding schedules based on my lifestyle. Look through the lactation network, insurance paid for all of my sessions.

That's frustrating. If there is an issue with the latch then that will more likely be the reason for the weight loss and topping up with formula is only going to make your supply drop more. You could do with some advice from someone with specialist breastfeeding knowledge like a lactation consultant to support you better with the latch. If baby has a deep latch then she will feed more effectively and this should help with the weight gain. Try not to be too discouraged by what you see online. Many of the people who have a freezer full of milk have an oversupply.

My daughter was in hospital for the first 2 weeks of her life and couldn’t eat by mouth. When I got home my supply was tiny and we had to top up with formula. I started power pumping every other day and regular pumping with a hospital grade pump every two hours, I drink about 5l of water a day and eat soooooo much, focusing on protein and carbs. I now pump around 5-10oz every 3 hours so fully feed her and have started to fill my freezer

How old is your second baby? Mine is 8 weeks and she doesn’t have a latching issues but there are still days where we have to have the get it together girl convo 🙃 Are you struggling with positioning her? If so buy a mybrestfriend pillow or look for a breastfeeding pillow that will help you, it worked wonders for my breastfeeding journey. Talk to a lactation consultant, hospitals sometimes offer drop in clinics for free. If you are in the dmv area ik fair oaks hospital does. Buy a wearable pump, use nipple cream, haakkaas work wonders especially if you are early in your breastfeeding journey. Try brewers yeast, flax seed, and oats I mix that with hot coco every morning. Coconut water and bodyarmor helps with hydration. Power pump daily. When pumping use the correct flange size. The latch issue will need to be fixed. I was very discouraged seeing all those pictures as well and dealing with other struggles but love the bond breastfeeding has built. Good luck hope this helps.

I don’t pump but have noticed an increase in my supply since I’ve started to drink 3L of water and focusing on high protein foods. I’ve also substituted normal cow milk with oat milk x

NA beer helped me, specifically Heineken 0, also pumping every 3 hours for 30 minutes, i had an over supply eventually

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