Expert: ruth kraft - 11/5/2010

Question
Hello.  I am a mother of a 3 month old baby boy.  I was breastfeeding him for about the first month of his life exclusively, but my pediatrician got concerned that he wasn't gaining weight fast enough, therefore, she told me I should supplement with formula.  I did that of course while still trying to give him my breast milk, however, now he prefers the bottle and will almost never take the breast.  If he does, it's not for very long.  This had been going on for about the last 2 months or so.  Now my milk supply has decreased dramatically.  I want to get him to breastfeed again and also increase my supply, what can I do?

Answer
I suggest you look into a local breastfeeding support group like la leach league. You can go to llli.org and see if there is one close to you. This way, the leader of the group can help you on a daily basis with suggestions on your specific issue. You can increase your milk by pumping every 2 hours, using an herbal suplement like fenugreek, and increasing your fiber on a daily basis. Trying to get the baby to latch on and nurse is going to be the harder part because he is 3 months old. Not impossible but harder.  SO you will need to take lots of deep breaths and be as patient as you can and not give a bottle as an option any longer. He can be fed either by cup, by spoon, or by eye dropper. He might get frustrated but if he is latching on at all, then that makes it all the more easy for him to understand that milk comes from breasts.

although you have not adopted, these will be helpful hints for you in the following article.
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/relactation.html

You will be ahead of the game as you already have milk just need to increase it and get baby latched on more :)

I hope that helped!