Expert: ruth kraft - 2/3/2010

Question
I'm exclusively breastfeeding my 4 month old son and I'm having trouble with my milk supply.  

While breastfeeding over the past couple of days my son has been pulling away dissatisfied. He pulls off and comes back repeatedly, and then cries.

I'm pretty sure that the problem is that he is not satisfied with the flow and supply of milk. I've tried giving him a bottle after breastfeeding to see if he's still hungry and he devours it.

I've been pumping immediately after a feeding to try to increase my milk supply and I'm only averaging about 1 ounce in 30 minutes. As the day goes on he drinks for shorter periods of time at my breast and I also pump less each time.

I'm reluctant to continue supplementing breastfeeding with bottles because I can't express enough milk to satisfy his needs. In the meantime though, my son is hungry and not satisfied at my breast.

Do you have any idea what might be going on and what I can do to increase my milk supply?

Thanks in advance.

Answer
You can take fenugreek capsules to help increase supply, also drink metamucil a few times a day and this will also help. Pump every 2 hours to increase more frequency which will increase the demand , hence making more milk.

What you also need to do is see a breastfeeding counselor in person to evaluate latch and find out what is going on. At 4 months you should have adqequate supply unless you have not been getting baby to breast often enough or supplimenting with formula. OR the baby doesnt have a good latch. It would be odd at this point for supply to have dwindled for no reason. So see someone in person for an evaluation. www.llli.org can help you find someone for free.

We also do phone counseling!
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