As I am sitting her I am really crying hanging on to the last thread (by my fingernails) of the breast feeding roap. My goal is 9 months he takes my milk beautifly now. We had a few glitches at first but there gone now. however we are strugling with weight. As most of yall probaly heard we were in the hospital a few weeks ago for failure to thrive. Iwas not felling as if it were my fault untill the PED said dont BF and he gains about 3 oz really quick. Then I was sad and felt it was my fault. The quantity of milk he was getting was no question alot but i am not so sure about calories. So since the hospital incident my supply has gotten low will pumping more and feeding more help? I am sure the answer is yes but it is so frusterating and seams so hope less with very little support here. Trying to pump or feed every 2-4 hours everyone and every thing elce needs so much more attention. What I really need is some sort of time freezing device.

Any support or tricks yall used would be greatly appriciated.

I would aim to nurse him every 1.5-2 hours for the next couple of days and your supply should get better again. Also try and let him nurse on the same side for 2 feedings in a row so he gets more of the hind milk, which contains more fat.
www.kellymom.com (http://www.kellymom.com) has good tips on breastfeeding as well.
Hope that helps you and your little one.

Oh, {{{{hugs}}}}} I am so with you on the frustration of not being able to BF and having your supply run down. When Iain was 11 days old he went into the hospital for 8 days due to RSV and my milk supply went south in 2 days despite trying to pump every 2 to 3 hours. They told me my supreme stress and recovery from a crash c section likely was the problem. I just remember crying over it.

The link Melanie gave you should be great, also look up the Laleche league for advice. If you need it I can hunt for it for you.

At one point when I was having supply issues they had me in the bathtub relaxing and trying to pump there. Also, drink a beer. It can help increase production. I hate beer but was instructed to have one a day. Do double check this in case things have changed (this was 6 years ago) but it does not harm anything and can help. Drink also LOTS of water to keep yourself hydrated. I would feel so dehydrated when nursing so I kept a glass of water there for when I was nursing. Do eat well or you can not produce well. You have to take care of yourself in order to be a feeding machine.:wink:

I have the book "so that is what they are for" somewhere and if I can hunt it up I will see what advice it gives. Again, it has been a long time for me so I am sure others who are currently BF will be of better use to you than I would.

I would definately nurse him as often as you can and get some bags to freeze your milk in. It does work and you can store it. Just mark the date on the bags. Nothing special really is required.

Do not get too frustrated as you had a good supply before right? THen you will gain it back again. The problem is that he was not likely sucking well and stimulating you to make milk when he was sick and FTT, so you have to work extra hard to get the supply back up. You will be able to do it as you seem very dedicated.

Good luck and be sure to let us know if you have any other questions.

I was looking around the kellymom website a little and here is a better link about weight gain issues.
http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/growth/weight-gain_increase.html

Thanks for providing the links Melanie! It has been really about 4 years since I have BF Curran and he was NO problem whatsoever. I am sure things have changed since I had problems BF Walker. Curran was so very easy, if you had food he took it. Lol

No problem, I'm happy to be able to help and provide some links. I tried nursing Jonathan and was never really able to so I know how hard it has to be. I'm suprised with all the problems I had with Owen that we are still nursing, of course on a simple dairy/soy-free diet. Which improved things quite a bit.

I am so sorry that you are having these problems. it sounds like stress may have reduced your milk supply. This is one of the main reasons for milk reduction. So the first thing to do is relax. Easier said than done I know but its needed. As leigh said beer is recomended I think its the yeast or something that stimulated milk production.

You can go to the Dr and ask for a medication to increase your supply. Ours here is called maxalon and it is an anti nausea drug. I got delayed milk for both my kids.

I would feed as often as needed and I probably wouldn't punp in between and feed on demand. This will make your milk supply increase between feedings and hopefully he will get a better feed instead of a lot of little feeds. I would pump before bed. If he sleeps through (8 hrs) then I would pump in the night also. It only takes 2 or 3 days of demand feeding for your milk to come back.

Now with the giving up cause of FTT. I don't wan't to discourage you but I gave up because my son was close to FTT and I thought at least with the bottle he will receive more, I will know what he got, but he stopped feeding Even with the bottle it was a struggle to get an 8oz bottle per day and he is the same to this day.

Follow Melanies links and see the Dr and be firm, casue they don't always understand why.

Melanie, Rachel and Leigh have all said everything I was going to. :-) I'll just back up everything they said!

I'm still b'feeding my 16 month old--I notice that my supply dips when I get stressed out. Look, it's so much easier said than done to "relax" (right, how do you relax when your kidlet is sick and not gaining weight?), but I love the idea of a warm bath and a beer to encourage let down. I was given this same advice a few months ago by my LLL leader. (the advice is still good, Leigh!)

I give you lots and lots of credit and respect for continuing to pump/b'feed through all of this. What a wonderful, caring mother you are to keep all of this up, especially with all that you're going through right now.

I"m sending you really {{{BIG HUGS}}}. Please feel free to come and talk/vent--we are all here for you whenever you need us. :-)

Whew! I am so glad that the beer thing is still acceptable. As I said I pretty much do not like beer (consider me a wino or a cider gal) but there I was in the warm bubble bath with music playing, candles lit, a beer on the toilet by the bath and Walker in with me to nurse. It was quite the sight! The baby sucking is so much better than pumping as well. At least, for me. I could never get the hang of pretty much subjecting the girls to the abuse of the pump and found hand expression worked better for me especially after a kidlet had nursed a bit first.

Hello, I agree with the others. I would feed on both breasts every 1 1/2 hours for a few days and that will bring it up and you can ask for prescription. Also, rootbeer gets it going I have heard :)

Thats funny I was craving a rootbeer yesterday maybe my body was telling me something.

What do yall know about meds for stress? I think this is the culprate probaly explains why my hair is falling out by the fists full:(

If your hair is falling out by the fistfull it could be stress or just a normal aftemath of pregnancy. I lost tons of hair after each pregnancy and plugged the drain on a regular basis. It is a common thing really. It lasts a few months and then subsides. Also, any great looking nails you may have got during pregnancy may disappear again too. :(

Seriously root beer? wow. I had a glass of it last night so I guess I am good to go! LOL