Expert: ruth kraft - 4/20/2010

Question
hello i am brestfeeding my daughter and she is 2 weeks now and she eats really good and my supply was really good i was pumping and freezing like 8-16 oz a day until like 2 days ago.. i am only breastfeeding no formula and now im only geting like 8-12 oz a day and my supply isn't as much as it was before, how do i get it back to were i was. i don't want to lose my milk supply so i can still brestfeed when i return to work.. HELP ME!!
thank you Niecy

Answer
Are you nursing, and also pumping and storing milk? or are you only pumping? If you are only pumping it can be harder to keep up with because the baby has a much stronger suck reflex than the mimic of the pump.

I would also say that because she is only 2 weeks old, it would seem normal to me. the first 6 weeks you are building your milk supply so it will go up and down and up and down until it levels off from whatever the demand is. The more you nurse and pump the more your body will make. So keep on the schedule that you have going and see what happens.

To increase milk supply the best thing to do is nurse the baby as often as possible.  pumping is second. Since you are already doing that, you can try to take metamucil every day. The more gastro intestional action you have going on, the more milk you make. I have no idea why this works, but it does for most women. You can also try things like mothers milk tea and fenugreek, but the metamucil or very high fiber diets, seem to work the best :)

I hope that helped!
If you want to join my monthly newsletter, please email me at Ruth@honoringwomen.com