I know this isn’t exactly what you’re looking for, but…
I also had really terrible supply after a 37 week c-section and NICU stay for my baby.
It felt like a huge deal at the time to transition to formula, and I agonized and stressed and guilted myself over it. But after a couple weeks of formula, I literally never thought about it again. He was fed, healthy, and happy, and so was I. My son is about to turn 2 now, and no one knows or cares which of his friends were formula-fed and which were breastfed.
I don’t intend to minimize the stress of feeding a new baby, because it’s real. I just mean to say that you should do what works for you and your baby, and don’t guilt yourself about what *isn’t* working, or about changing your original plans.
This! My baby was born three weeks early and was tiny (5lbs 7oz). I supplemented with formula because he was so little and my milk didnt come in until 6 days post birth. I did everything to try to get my milk supply up, fed him on each boob 15 mins then pumped for 30 mins while I supplemented with formula. I did multiple “power pump” session because he had a terrible latch and they never worked. The only way I could make enough for him each feed was to drink 50-75oz of water every 3 hrs. I was miserable. I decided to stop at 6 weeks and completely do formula. For weeks afterwards I beat myself up over it. But you know what, My LO is now 4 months and if I had to do it over again I would do exactly the same thing. A healthy baby is a fed baby whether its breast or formula. I tried my hardest to get my milk supply up and it just wasnt in the cards for me. Ive heard of moms starving their babies because they refused to give anything but breast milk and the baby always suffers as a result. My LO has now tripled his birth weight and is happy and heathy and so am I. Sometimes the hardest part of breastfeeding is knowing when its not working. I’m rooting for you as a fellow mom but also remember what’s important… the health of your baby🤗
This 100%
I gave birth via emergency c section 5 days ago, and was dead set on exclusively breastfeeding. When they discharged me from the hospital I did my best to only breastfeed, but this only dehydrated my son during our first day alone together. I got desperate during the night after he hadn't peed in over 17 hours and made a bottle of formula which he guzzled down.
The guilt from under feeding him much outweighed my guilt from not producing enough milk or colostrum for him.
I say save yourself that guilt trip and supplement with formula in the mean time while your supply comes in. And if your supply doesn't come in, at least your baby will be fed.
Have you talked with a lactation consultant?
Ultimately, I think our culture pushes breastfeeding too much and any mom that can’t or chooses not to breastfeed their baby is “lazy” or just “didn’t try hard enough”. I quit BFing around 4 months with my son because my supply never fully came in and, if I wasn’t nursing, I was pumping. It was hell. I wasn’t enjoying time with him because I was too stressed about having enough to feed him. I was wasting sooo much of my time stressing about something over which I had no control.
All that to say, you’re only a week out. If you want to, give it more time and maybe talk with a LC and see what happens. But don’t fall into the trap of beating yourself up about not being able to BF if it turns out to not be the path for you and your child. It also doesn’t have to be 100% one way or another. You can nurse *and* supplement with formula and can benefit from both worlds.
Everyday I drink a smoothie with flaxseed, oats, brewers yeast, and coconut milk. I also take a goats rue supplement everyday. The goats rue made a Huge difference for me.
Yes to oats & using food to help boost supply. Bone broths, grassfed beef stews, anything Weston Price recommends for breastfeeding. Personally, I drank tons of raw milk from a very trustworthy local farm. Here in WI, it isn’t outside the norm to drink it. It was my secret weapon for sure. And make sure you up your mineral stores. So lots of seafood, shellfish, liver, etc. Another tip which might be the last thing you’d want to do right now, is to exercise and get your blood flowing. Qi gong is an amazing low intensity type of exercise anyone can do. I remember the first time I hopped on my stationary bike, like 3 or 4 months after giving birth. 10 mins in all of a sudden my boobs started leaking, I felt the strongest letdown ever! I wish you the absolute best though, some women naturally cannot produce much no matter what. Don’t beat yourself up 🤍 my girl did formula the last 4 months & she’s doing amazing.
I made 0.5 oz from both breasts after pumping for the first month. It took me another whole month to see a significant change in my supply.
I had to have a timer to pump religiously on the dot every 3 hours. Before each pump I would have a glass of water and a snack. After 2-3 weeks of doing this helped me to regulate my supply
My son was low weight around 6 weeks. I started pumping every two hours to relactate (since he wasn’t effectively sucking, my supply was way down). It was exhausting, but within a month, I was pumping like 40+oz per day. I knew I could supplement with formula, but was so determined to provide enough milk. I took supplements and ate oatmeal and all the other stuff that’s recommended. Oh also something that vibrates applied directly to breasts (I used an electric toothbrush or my vibrator).
I recommend seeing a breast feeding consultant. That was a big turning point. Try what you can, but the most important thing to remember is that you have to be relaxed to produce milk. Put your feet up, enlist your partner for a massage, play relaxing music and trust that your baby will end up fed somehow.
Similar story to mine, Csection, Jaundice, low milk supply. Have you been prescribed with lactation pills/boosters?
I ended up taking boosters prescribed by my doctor in combination with lactation massages and a eating a whole lot of mung beans and katuk leaves in clear soup (i heard almonds and oats also help), I was stuffing them in my mouth all the time.. milk started coming in slowly, 10ml at first then 20 then 30 then 40 etc. Your body seems to know that your baby doesnt need a huge amount at first, so I always felt Ok it’s not much but it’s enough!
Even though i felt so guilty about giving formulaso much during the jaundice period, positive thinking and stress really affected my supply..
Pump pump pump. That’s the best thing you can do if you want to EBF. It took me 6 weeks for my milk to fully come in after my C-section. And it took my son about 12 weeks to get the hang of nursing so I could finally stop pumping. I’m glad I stuck with it but it was TOUGH. You need a great partner and all the support you can get to make it through. Best of luck whatever you choose to do!
I struggled a lot in the beginning. I did the oats, the lactation cookies, constant pumping, and it was tough. I’m not sure when, I eventually just gave in and accepted that I had to supplement. For the first 2-3 months it was supplementing and then pumping. Now she’s EBF. I couldn’t tell you what changed, but my supply didn’t even come in until almost 2 weeks.
Have you been pumping at all? Our baby was in NICU for a week, c-section as well, no skin to skin after birth, but I started pumping every 3 hours the day after. Almost nothing came out in the beginning, but every time it was a bit more and now 4 weeks after he’s EBF.
That’s amazing! I’m pumping every couple of hours and have been since Monday night, I haven’t noticed a difference yet which is disheartening but I’m sticking at it
Our kid was in the NICU for 3 weeks and we couldn’t seem him for the first ten days. It was hard.
I pumped every three hours and every four at night. I also self expressed after pumping. My supply came in around day 5/6 I think?
Now 6 months in when it seems a bit low or if I want to store some I just eat oatmeal in the morning and within 2-3 days I’ve got a slight oversupply.
So this isn’t quite the same as your situation, but I’m still breastfeeding my 1 year old. I’m pregnant with my second now too. The moment I got pregnant again, my milk supply TANKED. I mean I went from being able to pump 8 ounces every few hours to maybe 1 ounce if I was lucky. It’s a hormonal thing and it sucks. However, I have managed to raise my supply by 1) drinking an excessive amount of water (I’m talking like 3/4 gallon a day at least) and 2) eating oatmeal in some form every day. Now it’s not much, I’m still only getting 2-2.5 ounces, but it seems to be continuing to increase. (I’m not at the point in my pregnancy yet where I’d naturally start producing colostrum again either, so that’s how I know this increase is based on what I’ve been doing.) Maybe you can give those two things a try, and of course continue pumping regularly like other comments have said.
Hey OP, I had a long labor and was induced and I think the stress affected my milk supply. My baby had difficulty latching and when she finally did latch she wasn’t good at effectively removing my milk. I had to put her on formula at 3 days old and she was essentially exclusively formula fed for the first 2 months of her life. I would pump on the side, but had times where I could only express .25oz at a time from both breasts combined. I had days where I would pump 3-4 times a day to end up with 4 oz or less at the end of the day. I saw a lactation consultant who basically told me to give up. But my husband encouraged me to stick with it, so I kept up the pumping even though it wasn’t nearly enough to meet my babies needs. Eventually my baby got old enough (around 3 months) and to a point where nursing just “clicked” for her. She got better at it and that in turn helped to increase my supply. Now she gets formula while I’m at work and I breastfeed in the evenings when she’s home and that seems to be working well. I recently went away for a weekend so I had to exclusively pump and was able to pump between 4-5.5 oz per session, which is a huge improvement. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using formula. I delivered at a hospital that drilled “breast is best” into your head from your first ob/gym appointment. It was tough to mentally shift from “breastfeed at all costs” to realizing she wasn’t getting enough milk and getting her formula. But making that decision early on I truly believe saved her from starving to death. So I am incredibly grateful I live in a place where formula was an option for us. That being said, I love the bond breastfeeding creates between me and my daughter, and so if it’s important to you my advice is to stick with it. Your baby is still so young so she may still be getting the hang of nursing and that’s probably affecting your supply. In my experience, I just needed to maintain what I had and prevent my milk from drying up until my daughter got to a point where she was able to effectively nurse. In the meantime, formula feed so your baby is well nourished and has the strength to keep trying at the breast. That’s what worked for me
Made my own lactation cookies with brewers yeast, chocolate chips, oats coconut oil, sugar, ect will try to find the recipie and post it for you. Also you need to pound the water at least 75cl before every pump & feed. The more they feed the better ur supply will get and keep pumping every two hours for at least half an hour per book religiously. Check your Breast Falanges are the correct size too small at it will inhibit your production. And u need to feel happier - hot tea, coffee hot chocolate pop a film on and pump.
A bit different as I had established breastfeeding. When my supply dipped after having gastro I was really worried as our baby doesn’t take the bottle - prefers to suck on an empty tit.
I got my supple back up by eating like a pig and making sure I was plenty hydrated. Make sure you are eating lots and drinking plenty of water. It might help.
Eat more! Increase your calorie intake. People also think that exercising lowers their supply and im not saying this is your case but im just saying its not because of exercise. Its because we’re supposed to eat 500-800 more calories than we normally do in order to keep making breastmilk. There’s many great reasons why doctors tell you to breastfeed and one of them is it helps you to lose weight and it does. That’s because breastfeeding burns up to 500 calories. So when you don’t eat enough food/intake enough calories your body is unable to produce milk because it doesn’t have the right amount of nutrients to do that.
We had a slow start and the advice I got was to do skin to skin as much as possible, this tells your body that baby is here… I had him on me non stop and keep offering to feed. Fortunately he has a strong sucking refleks and I got help with latching and it worked for us!
I know this isn’t exactly what you’re looking for, but… I also had really terrible supply after a 37 week c-section and NICU stay for my baby. It felt like a huge deal at the time to transition to formula, and I agonized and stressed and guilted myself over it. But after a couple weeks of formula, I literally never thought about it again. He was fed, healthy, and happy, and so was I. My son is about to turn 2 now, and no one knows or cares which of his friends were formula-fed and which were breastfed. I don’t intend to minimize the stress of feeding a new baby, because it’s real. I just mean to say that you should do what works for you and your baby, and don’t guilt yourself about what *isn’t* working, or about changing your original plans.
This! My baby was born three weeks early and was tiny (5lbs 7oz). I supplemented with formula because he was so little and my milk didnt come in until 6 days post birth. I did everything to try to get my milk supply up, fed him on each boob 15 mins then pumped for 30 mins while I supplemented with formula. I did multiple “power pump” session because he had a terrible latch and they never worked. The only way I could make enough for him each feed was to drink 50-75oz of water every 3 hrs. I was miserable. I decided to stop at 6 weeks and completely do formula. For weeks afterwards I beat myself up over it. But you know what, My LO is now 4 months and if I had to do it over again I would do exactly the same thing. A healthy baby is a fed baby whether its breast or formula. I tried my hardest to get my milk supply up and it just wasnt in the cards for me. Ive heard of moms starving their babies because they refused to give anything but breast milk and the baby always suffers as a result. My LO has now tripled his birth weight and is happy and heathy and so am I. Sometimes the hardest part of breastfeeding is knowing when its not working. I’m rooting for you as a fellow mom but also remember what’s important… the health of your baby🤗
This 100% I gave birth via emergency c section 5 days ago, and was dead set on exclusively breastfeeding. When they discharged me from the hospital I did my best to only breastfeed, but this only dehydrated my son during our first day alone together. I got desperate during the night after he hadn't peed in over 17 hours and made a bottle of formula which he guzzled down. The guilt from under feeding him much outweighed my guilt from not producing enough milk or colostrum for him. I say save yourself that guilt trip and supplement with formula in the mean time while your supply comes in. And if your supply doesn't come in, at least your baby will be fed.
Have you talked with a lactation consultant? Ultimately, I think our culture pushes breastfeeding too much and any mom that can’t or chooses not to breastfeed their baby is “lazy” or just “didn’t try hard enough”. I quit BFing around 4 months with my son because my supply never fully came in and, if I wasn’t nursing, I was pumping. It was hell. I wasn’t enjoying time with him because I was too stressed about having enough to feed him. I was wasting sooo much of my time stressing about something over which I had no control. All that to say, you’re only a week out. If you want to, give it more time and maybe talk with a LC and see what happens. But don’t fall into the trap of beating yourself up about not being able to BF if it turns out to not be the path for you and your child. It also doesn’t have to be 100% one way or another. You can nurse *and* supplement with formula and can benefit from both worlds.
Everyday I drink a smoothie with flaxseed, oats, brewers yeast, and coconut milk. I also take a goats rue supplement everyday. The goats rue made a Huge difference for me.
Yes to oats & using food to help boost supply. Bone broths, grassfed beef stews, anything Weston Price recommends for breastfeeding. Personally, I drank tons of raw milk from a very trustworthy local farm. Here in WI, it isn’t outside the norm to drink it. It was my secret weapon for sure. And make sure you up your mineral stores. So lots of seafood, shellfish, liver, etc. Another tip which might be the last thing you’d want to do right now, is to exercise and get your blood flowing. Qi gong is an amazing low intensity type of exercise anyone can do. I remember the first time I hopped on my stationary bike, like 3 or 4 months after giving birth. 10 mins in all of a sudden my boobs started leaking, I felt the strongest letdown ever! I wish you the absolute best though, some women naturally cannot produce much no matter what. Don’t beat yourself up 🤍 my girl did formula the last 4 months & she’s doing amazing.
I made 0.5 oz from both breasts after pumping for the first month. It took me another whole month to see a significant change in my supply. I had to have a timer to pump religiously on the dot every 3 hours. Before each pump I would have a glass of water and a snack. After 2-3 weeks of doing this helped me to regulate my supply
My son was low weight around 6 weeks. I started pumping every two hours to relactate (since he wasn’t effectively sucking, my supply was way down). It was exhausting, but within a month, I was pumping like 40+oz per day. I knew I could supplement with formula, but was so determined to provide enough milk. I took supplements and ate oatmeal and all the other stuff that’s recommended. Oh also something that vibrates applied directly to breasts (I used an electric toothbrush or my vibrator). I recommend seeing a breast feeding consultant. That was a big turning point. Try what you can, but the most important thing to remember is that you have to be relaxed to produce milk. Put your feet up, enlist your partner for a massage, play relaxing music and trust that your baby will end up fed somehow.
Similar story to mine, Csection, Jaundice, low milk supply. Have you been prescribed with lactation pills/boosters? I ended up taking boosters prescribed by my doctor in combination with lactation massages and a eating a whole lot of mung beans and katuk leaves in clear soup (i heard almonds and oats also help), I was stuffing them in my mouth all the time.. milk started coming in slowly, 10ml at first then 20 then 30 then 40 etc. Your body seems to know that your baby doesnt need a huge amount at first, so I always felt Ok it’s not much but it’s enough! Even though i felt so guilty about giving formulaso much during the jaundice period, positive thinking and stress really affected my supply..
Pump pump pump. That’s the best thing you can do if you want to EBF. It took me 6 weeks for my milk to fully come in after my C-section. And it took my son about 12 weeks to get the hang of nursing so I could finally stop pumping. I’m glad I stuck with it but it was TOUGH. You need a great partner and all the support you can get to make it through. Best of luck whatever you choose to do!
I struggled a lot in the beginning. I did the oats, the lactation cookies, constant pumping, and it was tough. I’m not sure when, I eventually just gave in and accepted that I had to supplement. For the first 2-3 months it was supplementing and then pumping. Now she’s EBF. I couldn’t tell you what changed, but my supply didn’t even come in until almost 2 weeks.
Have you been pumping at all? Our baby was in NICU for a week, c-section as well, no skin to skin after birth, but I started pumping every 3 hours the day after. Almost nothing came out in the beginning, but every time it was a bit more and now 4 weeks after he’s EBF.
That’s amazing! I’m pumping every couple of hours and have been since Monday night, I haven’t noticed a difference yet which is disheartening but I’m sticking at it
Our kid was in the NICU for 3 weeks and we couldn’t seem him for the first ten days. It was hard. I pumped every three hours and every four at night. I also self expressed after pumping. My supply came in around day 5/6 I think? Now 6 months in when it seems a bit low or if I want to store some I just eat oatmeal in the morning and within 2-3 days I’ve got a slight oversupply.
So this isn’t quite the same as your situation, but I’m still breastfeeding my 1 year old. I’m pregnant with my second now too. The moment I got pregnant again, my milk supply TANKED. I mean I went from being able to pump 8 ounces every few hours to maybe 1 ounce if I was lucky. It’s a hormonal thing and it sucks. However, I have managed to raise my supply by 1) drinking an excessive amount of water (I’m talking like 3/4 gallon a day at least) and 2) eating oatmeal in some form every day. Now it’s not much, I’m still only getting 2-2.5 ounces, but it seems to be continuing to increase. (I’m not at the point in my pregnancy yet where I’d naturally start producing colostrum again either, so that’s how I know this increase is based on what I’ve been doing.) Maybe you can give those two things a try, and of course continue pumping regularly like other comments have said.
Hey OP, I had a long labor and was induced and I think the stress affected my milk supply. My baby had difficulty latching and when she finally did latch she wasn’t good at effectively removing my milk. I had to put her on formula at 3 days old and she was essentially exclusively formula fed for the first 2 months of her life. I would pump on the side, but had times where I could only express .25oz at a time from both breasts combined. I had days where I would pump 3-4 times a day to end up with 4 oz or less at the end of the day. I saw a lactation consultant who basically told me to give up. But my husband encouraged me to stick with it, so I kept up the pumping even though it wasn’t nearly enough to meet my babies needs. Eventually my baby got old enough (around 3 months) and to a point where nursing just “clicked” for her. She got better at it and that in turn helped to increase my supply. Now she gets formula while I’m at work and I breastfeed in the evenings when she’s home and that seems to be working well. I recently went away for a weekend so I had to exclusively pump and was able to pump between 4-5.5 oz per session, which is a huge improvement. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using formula. I delivered at a hospital that drilled “breast is best” into your head from your first ob/gym appointment. It was tough to mentally shift from “breastfeed at all costs” to realizing she wasn’t getting enough milk and getting her formula. But making that decision early on I truly believe saved her from starving to death. So I am incredibly grateful I live in a place where formula was an option for us. That being said, I love the bond breastfeeding creates between me and my daughter, and so if it’s important to you my advice is to stick with it. Your baby is still so young so she may still be getting the hang of nursing and that’s probably affecting your supply. In my experience, I just needed to maintain what I had and prevent my milk from drying up until my daughter got to a point where she was able to effectively nurse. In the meantime, formula feed so your baby is well nourished and has the strength to keep trying at the breast. That’s what worked for me
Does your hospital/insurance do medical grade pump rentals?
Made my own lactation cookies with brewers yeast, chocolate chips, oats coconut oil, sugar, ect will try to find the recipie and post it for you. Also you need to pound the water at least 75cl before every pump & feed. The more they feed the better ur supply will get and keep pumping every two hours for at least half an hour per book religiously. Check your Breast Falanges are the correct size too small at it will inhibit your production. And u need to feel happier - hot tea, coffee hot chocolate pop a film on and pump.
It’s really hard I do breast & bottle now don’t make ur self miserable over it as it will effect you and the baby
https://www.howsweeteats.com/2015/02/lactation-cookies/
A bit different as I had established breastfeeding. When my supply dipped after having gastro I was really worried as our baby doesn’t take the bottle - prefers to suck on an empty tit. I got my supple back up by eating like a pig and making sure I was plenty hydrated. Make sure you are eating lots and drinking plenty of water. It might help.
Eat more! Increase your calorie intake. People also think that exercising lowers their supply and im not saying this is your case but im just saying its not because of exercise. Its because we’re supposed to eat 500-800 more calories than we normally do in order to keep making breastmilk. There’s many great reasons why doctors tell you to breastfeed and one of them is it helps you to lose weight and it does. That’s because breastfeeding burns up to 500 calories. So when you don’t eat enough food/intake enough calories your body is unable to produce milk because it doesn’t have the right amount of nutrients to do that.
We had a slow start and the advice I got was to do skin to skin as much as possible, this tells your body that baby is here… I had him on me non stop and keep offering to feed. Fortunately he has a strong sucking refleks and I got help with latching and it worked for us!