How to improve BM supply - it has dropped

[fc12]

Hello

DS3 (3 months) has been diagnosed with MSPI and I've had to cut dairy and soy out of my diet. I also suspect wheat and egg so I have cut them too.

I have noticed that 2 weeks after doing this 'cutting' that my supply has significantly reduced. Last night I fed him for an hour before bed and then offered him a bottle of EBM and he had 120mls. Gulped it down. He doesn't feed for long (maybe 10 minutes both sides) and often wakes early from naps very hungry. He is waking and feeding a lot in the night.

Any tips to increase my supply when you are eliminating these foods? I have also lost a lot of weight but feel like I'm eating enough. Obviously I might be eating enough quantity-wise but not quality-wise ie. not enough calories for my supply.

TIA
fc12

[scarlettsmom]

Hi,

Can you try eating good fatty foods like avocado and nuts, salmon, things like that?  Also steel cut oatmeal (Irish oatmeal).  I lived off of oatmeal and advocado to make sure I was maximizing my calories and keeping up my supply.  It helped soo much.  Some people have success with mothers milk tea, and supplements like fenugreek and blessed thistle too.

Could your LO also be going through a growth spurt?

(((hugs))) 

[fc12]

He could be going through GS. Or, he may have become a really efficient feeder. He's definitely a good eater but I do think that he's generally quite hungry and is waking early from naps hungry. I'm pretty confused to be honest. I just wish I knew how much he was eating. I'm not pumping a lot but from what I've read, that's not an indication of how much milk I'm necessarily making.

I've been eating a lot of avocado and I eat oats every morning. Will try the salmon etc

Thanks!
fc12

[aidenmc]

I am wondering the same thing. Have cut out dairy and soy and due to fussy nonsleeping baby am exhausted and have little time to find the right foods to eat. Now he's screaming at bedtime, seems hungry and also waking all night (not new) and nursing each time (every hour last night). Curious about what others might suggest.

[EloysH]

hun I notice that my milk went alot more watery when I went on my elimination diet will less fat in it.   Kai had some weight gain issues for a month or so.  I consulted every specialist in town I was so worried.  In the end the thing that fixed it was simply me eating more frequently and feeding him more frequently.  I did include more fatty fish into my diet.  And drinking more water for me. 

 If you want more milk, they need to feed more frequently.  Simple as that.  The more they feed the more milk you will make.  I made a huge effort to do both sides at every feed too.

  I started feeding completely on demand for a few weeks and whenever he woke during the night and he just "bunged" on the weight.  When he was back to his normal percentile, I cut the feeds back to a 3.5-4 hour easy - he was about 6 motnhs old at that point.

[fc12]

This is really helpful. I have been demand feeding him because sometimes he'll wake up screaming from a nap, 2 hours after he's fed. I realised that he's just not going to fit into a feeding schedule (and in fact, from birth never really has - sometimes 2 hourly sometimes 4 hourly). I try and keep the naps in some kind of schedule just to help us but it's annoying never knowing when he's going to want to feed. Makes organising things and going out a bit hard.

And it's nice to have a good excuse to EAT. Despite the restrictions. I've found some great cookie recipes so I'll just pig out on those!

[lchuynh]

Brewers yeast - you should be able to pick this up from any whole-food stores. Sprinkle on toast - it is quite yummy (but is an acquired taste).

Also if you have time after a bf try to pump whatever you can of that hind milk. It is fatty and creamy and you can mix it with the other ebm you give LO for bonus cals .

TBH when I had an issue with supply I ended up expressing every two hours to build it up again. Three days of this and my supply was plentiful. Yes, I did this during the night as well, but my DS was a horrible sleeper and woke all the time anyway so I pumped after I settled him back to sleep.

Good luck, HTH.