My milk supply seems to be running low. It has been starting to happen at night for the past few days and now it is happening in the day too.
Poor little Nic Nac is so frustrated.
But I think he is a lot smarter than me.
It really is taking me some time to learn his cues and figure out what he wants.
Case in poiont: 2 am last night.
He wakes up bang on time.
Waaaaaaa!
I give him the 60ml I’d pe-pumped a few hours before.
That should make him happy, I think, and put him back in the camp cot.
Waaaaaa!
Ok, now what? Maybe it’s wind. I pick him up and hold him, gently pat his back and try and sooth him. He seems to calm down. Back to bed we go. I enjoy a few precious seconds of lying down and then…
Waaaaaa!
I continue to sooth and repeat until I get to the point where I take him into the bed with me. This normally helps a lot.
Waaaaaaaaa! Waaaaaaaa!
Now he’s really upset.
But now I think I know. This is the dirty nappy cry.
“Is it your nappy, Nicky B?” (You probably think I’m insane asking a three week old a question, but when I motion to his nappy, he gives me a shy little smile.) And he doesn’t even moan as I change his nappy. He looks like a happy chappy.
And I sure am happy too. Feel really cuffed that we have figured this out. Back to bed now. Hopefully we can now get some rest.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Oh great. I can’t even remember what I did next. Soothing. Patting, dummy. I even grabbed my phone and started reading Nisha’s post about her lack of sleep with her kid. And sympathized. Hubby got up and went to the loo. I guess he is having an exhausting day today…
You are probably wondering why didn’t I just FEED him?
Well, I did have a left over 30ml that i gave him initially. The thing was, I knew my milk supply was down. I just had one precious bottle of previously expressed milk but I really wanted to keep that for the 5 30 feed. But by this point we were going on 4am anyway, so I figured, why not try and breast feed him?
And that is, in the end, what calmed him down. I have no idea how much milk he actually got, but I fed him on both sides and put him back to bed.
I had a brief sleep during which I had the weirdest dream about designing a dummy with a special cover so that it wouldn’t get dirty that would attach to your keys. I guess the mass bottle sterilization is messing with my head.
Woke up again at 530 with a prompt “Waaaaaaaaa!” and gave him that final bottle.
Sank back into sleep. Only got up again at about 8.
And then it starts all over again…..
The depressing thing is, especially in the morning, I could easily pump two 60ml bottles in one go. Now I was battling to do even a quarter of that.
I phoned my mom who suggested I pump less more often (the standard pump was around 40 mins but I have now switched to the premie which is just under 20 mins and a ten minute break in between).
At the clinic for his 3 week weigh in, he weighed just 160 g more, which isn’t bad, but could be better. The sister gave me this mixture to take for increasing milk supply: it consists of water, apple juice, rehydration drops and black current syrup and sachet.
So we now have a plan.
I just hope tonight goes better….
So exciting that he latched and fed at night! That could be why you had less in the morning but from what I understand the baby latching and feeding regularly will do more for your supply than the pump. My first never latched and I pumped and pumped but eventually had nothing left and switched to formula at about 8 weeks. I also used that same jungle juice recipe with both my girls and I think it did help. Mine also included some rescue remedy to help calm the nerves. At the very least it kept me hydrated. Good luck to you. I hope he keeps latching and you can do away with the pumping soon. If it doesn’t happen I can tell you that my formula fed child is just as healthy as my breastfed child. You are doing great and whatever way you end up going will be best for your Nic Nac.
Thanks, you always say such affirming things 🙂
It’s such a merry-go-round isn’t it? Please feel free to ignore the ass-vice that follows. I saw an excellent video on “baby talk” after my second was born, I’ll see if I can find the link – it’s not available to watch free online but this woman who has perfect pitch figured out like 4-5 universal newborn baby cries and what they mean – hungry, tired, uncomfortable (e.g. hot or cold or wet), and gas. Maybe another one too that I don’t remember. It helped me SO much to figure out when G had gas, and when he was hungry. I’ll see if I can find the title. I think it was produced in Australia.
Also, oatmeal, fenugreek, and dark beer are all supposed to increase your milk supply (I think fenugreek is the only one proven by science though).
It’s all a process. Hope you get some rest soon!
Here is a synopsis with links: http://www.luckymom.com/2007/01/detecting_baby_cries.php
Thanks, this is excellent!
Shoe it sounds hectic. Maybe he is hitting a little growth spurt?
I totally have the same problem. At around 10pm I’m low with milk, so if I don’t have enough expressed milk I help myself with 2oz of formula that gives me 3hr window to refill my boobies 🙂 I don’t do it every night, but I did need to do it two nights ago. His consumption also increased from 2oz to 3oz of expressed milk, so if I rest properly at night I manage to pump 6oz in total, which gives me two feeds for the night and i try to pump 1oz after each bfeeding, which is challenging sometimes, because sometimes he won’t let go off the boob for hours. Like today since 9am till 12pm on and off. Else is every 1,5hrs and I’m not suprised that by 10pm I’m low. I try to drink oatmeal with apple and quinoa with pineapple. With 3oz at night he can go for 3hrs.
I’ve started topping up with formula too -out of sheer desperation. Either he’s not latching / drinking right, or I just don’t have enough milk. You are probably right about him needing 3oz now, crumbs… And it is such a mission right now just to get together 2oz. And you’re right, the more he’s had, the better he sleeps.
I hope your supply picks up; it’s so frustrating to think that something so natural isn’t working the way it should. I’ve been using Mother’s Milk tea – http://www.traditionalmedicinals.com/mothersmilk/. Not sure if it really helps or if it’s just placebo effect (or no real effect at all?), but I’d hate to just stop and see what happens. No matter how you feed him, though, that you are is all that matters! Take care – you’re doing a wonderful job!
Yip, not sure if all theses things help, but for me I think pumping has helped. Thanks for the encouragement. 🙂
The Jungle Juice is a god-send it really does help to keep you hydrated and so help with supply. I agree add in the rescue remedy it really helped me get through those early days. I went through bottles and bottles of rescue.
Also try some of the following supplements they all helped with my production: fenugreek, I was advised by my lactation consultant to take it until I could smell it coming out my pores, I took 4 tablets 4 times a day, but I was trying to produce for 2 babies. I also took Prolac a homeopathic supplement that is awesome, it doubled my supply while I was on it and while supply did drop when I stopped taking it it was still higher than it had been before. Make sure you are eating enough protein, take your vitamins and get rest (I know everyone tells you this and it is so hard to do, but it helped my supply more than anything else).
If you really want your Nic Nac to only have breast milk your best bet is to put him on the breast everytime he is hungry, this will drive your supply better than all the pumping in the world. It may mean that for a while you have to feed very often, but supply will eventually come in this way. Personally for me it was too hard to do this for two babies and I accepted that I would supplement with formula and they have totally thrived.
Good luck and hang in there, these first few weeks (6 weeks) are the hardest and then it eases a bit and then again after 3 months it gets even easier and then before you know it your baby is already a big baby.