What To Do When You Start To Dry Up While Breastfeeding?
December 3, 2009 by Guest Author
Filed under Breast Feeding Supplies
i have a friend and she been breastfeeding for about 3 months. im planning on breastfeeding for at least 2 months bc thats when i dried up with my 1st child. my question is, is there any type of medicine or home remedy or anything to help produce breast milk? my friend is 19 and and im 22. i dont know if being young has anything to do with it.
The fact that you “dried up” around 8 weeks is pretty telling. Around that time is when most women stop having too much milk and their supply fully regulates which is a time that many women misinterpret a normal change in supply as not having enough and start supplementing. It is also the time that a baby with a poor, but not awful latch may in fact stop getting enough milk -not because mom doesn’t have enough but because their latch is too poor to get all the milk that is there. When mom had too much it wasn’t a problem that they only got the “easy” milk, now that they have to truly empty the breast (both to get enough and to stimulate supply) a poor latch won’t do.
There are herbs and prescription medications that can help with true low supply. Fur in your case I think a lot of your problem is a lack of support and a lack of knowledge. Please join a breastfeeding group as soon as possible, and read as much as possible.
Is your milk supply really low?http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/low-su…
Is my older baby getting enough milk?http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/enough…
Hidden Hinderances to a Healthy Milk Supplyhttp://www.breastfeed-essentials.com/hin…
Information is Your Ally in preparing to breastfeed:
10 Tips for Successhttp://www.kellymom.com/bf/start/prepare…
La Leche League
FREE in person breastfeeding support and meetings
International: http://www.llli.org/webindex.html
USA: 1-877-4-LaLeche
IBLCE – International Board of Lactation Consultants Examiners
Listingshttp://www.iblce.org/
According to Ob/Gyn’s your body will produce as much milk as your baby needs. So maybe you should step up producing milk.
Pump or breasfeed every two hours to build up your milk supply. Freeze any extra (with the date written on it) so when you do dry up or go back to work – you will have a few weeks worth.
Pump every two hours – I know it feels like your boobs are out all the time – but it is worth it. You are tricking your body into thinking you need more milk so it will produce more and more…
Good luck – age has nothing to do with it.
If you have a pump I have heard great things about the 10-10-10 method…. pump 10 minutes on 10 min. off for 1 hour, repeat every 7 days. this should stimulate your supply like a baby would during a growth spurt. nurse the baby as much as possible, on demand. pacify the baby at the breast. If you must feed a bottle pump at that time if possible. when you pump milk, freeze it do not feed it to the baby after pumping if you can directly nurse.
you can also, drink mothers milk tea or take a supplement of fenugreek and or blessed thistle.
eat oatmeal
drink malted milk (ovaltine./horlicks)
drink LOTS of water
take a prenatal vit. with IRON
EDIT- also some BC pills will reduce your supply. I believe the mini pill is the only one recommended for nursing mothers.
also AVOID STRESS
Age has nothing to do with it. Diet, feeding habits, and genetics do. If you eat, drink, and take your vitamins like you’re still pregnant along with allowing your breasts to be stimulated by the baby sucking on them, rather than pumping, there should be no problem with production. However, some women just cannot produce enough to no fault of their own, and if this is you, then there is not much you can do about it. If your milk to going good and begins drying up for some reason (mine tried to once when my son and I both got sick,…neither of us was eating well) get a pump and pump every half hour until you are making what you used to in a certain time frame. It’s a pain in the butt, but it works. I did that and I was happily engorged the next morning.
its very possible to just dry up.
pippin: my mom dried up over night when i was 3 months old. and i was ebf’d so its not that rare.
anyway, make sure youre bfingo n demand.
milk production also has to do with hormones.
Age has nothing to do with it. I recently had a milk supply issue myself. I have resolved it by taking fenugreek and nursing frequently.
Hope this helps!
It’s really VERY rare to just ‘dry up’ while breastfeeding. Breastmilk is made on a supply/demand basis — the more you nurse, the more milk you make. As long as baby is nursing as often as he needs to, and you are eating a remotely adequate diet, you should have ample milk for as long as you wish to nurse.
With your first baby, were you nursing on demand, or on a schedule? Most women who ‘dry up’ (or think they dry up …) do so because they are expecting baby to nurse on a set schedule — often as infrequently as every 3-4 hours. That’s not enough to keep a milk supply going in the early weeks/months. Most newborns will want/need to nurse about every 2 hours (with or without a couple of longer stretches at night) for the first several months.
Also, if you were pumping (went back to work early?) that can cause supply problems, because some women do not ‘let down’ as well for the pump.
FInally, if baby was getting bottles along with breastfeeding, that often leads to major problems. What often happens is that mom sees that baby is fussy, so mom worries about her supply, and offers a bottle. At the next feeding baby doesn’t’ nurse as well (because she’s full of formula, that digests more slowly and/or because she nurses differently at the breast than on a bottle nipple), so mom gives another bottle. So baby gets more and more bottles, and mom nurses less and less … until her milk DOES dry up, and she is sure that she just ‘didn’t’ have enough milk’ or ‘dried up after a few weeks.’
While there are herbs and even some prescription drugs that can help with a low milk supply, at this point I would just focus on being sure that you nurse your baby as often as possible. If you have any problems or concerns, contact a lactation consultant. And be sure to avoid ALL supplements and all bottles (unless clearly medically indicated — baby is dehydrated/still losing weight after the first week or so) for the first month or two.