Expert: ruth kraft - 4/28/2011

Question
Hello,
I have a 4 month old little girl. She has just been getting breastmilk since birth.  Last week she came down with a virus and wouldn't eat very much for about 3 days. Now she has a cold, so is still not eating as much as she was before. I work full time and was pumping about 15-20 ounces a day. This week I'm down to 8-10. I'm getting really worried that I'm drying up because of this. I really want to nurse for at least another 4 months. Do you have any suggestions to help boost my supply back up? Is it possible to regain a supply when it starts to diminish?
Thank you!
Stefanie

Answer
You can eat lots of fiber as the more gastro motility you have the more milk you make. You can try things like fenugreek, mothers milk tea etc to also boost your supply. and of course you can pump more frequently. Unfortunatly, the pump is not as good at getting milk out of you as a baby, so pump more frequently.  You can also try power pumping for 3 days where you pump every hour during the day and only 2-3 hours at night and this acts like a growth spurt for the baby and can increase supply. It is hard to do , but can be helpful to some women.

I hope one of those ideas will help you ;) She will bring supply back up after she feels better. So keep nursing!