On Breastfeeding

First of all, let me start off by thanking all of you for your kind words and support after my last post. It really helps knowing you guys are behind me no matter what I write! :)

Now that I've said that, I have drummed up enough courage to post something that's really been a struggle for me lately and that's breastfeeding.

When I was pregnant, I made the decision almost right away that if I could breastfeed Noah once he was born, I would. Well, I've been lucky enough to have made it 5 months exclusively breastfeeding and I'm proud to have made it this far but it hasn't been an easy journey. In the early days of Noah's life, things were great. In fact, they were too easy. My newborn slept almost through the night from day one, he latched easily, my milk came in on day 2, the baby nursed well, and by his 2 week checkup, he had surpassed his birth weight.

Come May 1st, I went back to work. Armed with my Medela Freestyle (which I love FYI!) I started pumping three times a day for about 15 minutes and usually got about 4 to 6 ounces each time. However, in June, I started noticing that number was slowly diminishing and I was grabbing frozen milk more and more often. It really didn't hit me hard until Noah's pediatrician told me {at his 4 month checkup} that he should weigh about a pound more than what he did. With those words came the realization that my supply was dropping and right there in front of the doctor, I had a major meltdown. Things really hit home for me and I realized I needed to do something to up my production, otherwise, we'd have to switch to formula.

Now, I'll take a second here to say there's absolutely nothing wrong with using formula - nothing at all. If that works for you, go for it. That's awesome. Our overall end goal as moms is to have healthy babies right? Well, breastfeeding was what worked for us so I wanted to stick with it.

Anywho, it got to where when I pumped, I was only getting about an ounce of milk out of each breast and it was just heartbreaking. I felt like my body was failing me and so I began doing everything I could think of to increase my supply.

I drank Mother's Milk tea, I took Fenugreek and Blessed Thistle supplements and I kept hydrated. I let Noah nurse as long as he wanted. After nursing, I pumped. Before bed, I pumped. At work, I pumped every two hours. With all of this, my supply increased by maybe a half an ounce. Maybe.

I got so frustrated that I called my OB and asked if there was anything I could do. She ended up prescribing me Reglan (normally prescribed for gastrointestinal problems) and I was given instructions to take 2 pills a day for 10 days. Those ten days were glorious and worry free. The drug increases the milk-producing hormone, prolactin, and that upped my supply greatly. My doctor hoped this would give my body the kick it needed to get back to where I needed to be but sadly, after my ten day supply of pills ran out, I was right back to an ounce or two per pumping. So, after being pressured by a few good mom friends, I decided to speak to our hospital's lactation consultant and it was one of the best things I have ever done.

We talked for almost an hour and she let me cry and sob over the fact that I felt I couldn't feed my baby. She suggested doing all of the above things I was trying (other than Reglan) along with adding nursing sessions at night. At the current time, Noah was getting 3 bottles at daycare and was nursing at 6am, 5:30pm and 8pm - he would then go down for the night and I would pump at 10. She told me to eliminate my last pumping session and instead, wake him to eat. Apparently, and I should have known this, pumping doesn't stimulate the same milk producing hormones that nursing does. Any type of skin-to-skin contact should start to up my supply but along with that, she suggested a magic little pill called *Motilium.


*This pill works just like Reglan does by upping the production of the hormone prolactin but is known to have significantly lower side effects. Not only does Motilium have less side effects, it's not absorbed into your body the same way and it's less likely to be transferred into your breastmilk. (No, I'm not a doctor and don't take my word on any of this -- I asked Dr. Google and he gave me the info)

Now that I've fried your brain with this huge long winded post, I'm glad to say we have somewhat of a happy ending. I started taking Motilium 3 times a day (2 ten mg tablets every 6 hours) about 2 weeks ago and have been making milk like it's my job. 


Seriously? I just pumped at work and got 6 ounces total. That's more than Noah drinks from a bottle! Instead of having to dip into my freezer stash, I'm actually adding to it these days and I couldn't be happier. Noah goes for a weight check on Tuesday so we'll see how he measures up!

Happy baby = happy momma!

Now that I finally have my supply situation under control, we're about to start solids -- and that's in need of a post all on it's own!

Moms - have you struggled with your breastmilk supply?