Squidge wearing grown up clothes @ 20 days old
Since Squidge hasn't taken to breastfeeding, and I'm finding the experience very stressful, I've been expressing as much milk as I can instead. At least that way he's still getting the best milk, just via a bottle, and where I'm not able to make enough, we top up with formula.
A few days ago (Thursday) I had a visit from the midwife who warned me that my milk stocks will start depleting soon since I'm not breastfeeding. Well, what I didn't expect was for me to start seeing that happen the same day... at the next express, where I'd normally comfortably get 100ml, I struggled to hit 50ml. It's been the same since, the numbers keep going down and that's with me putting in more time during each session to try and get that same amount of milk.
This is where I took to Facebook to chat to my October mummies group, to see if anyone had any advice on whether it's possible to 1) increase how much milk I'm expressing, and 2) feed via expressing for as long as I want to. That's where this awesome blog post was shared with me - it's given me the hope that I might be able to overcome my dwindling supply.
Since reading that I've started trying to express at night during Squidge's night feeds (something they recommend) and making sure I don't go more than 3 hours without expressing (if possible). It's early days, but so far the numbers seem to be going up again, albeit it slowly, and with a lot of effort. I used to express for 10 mins on each breast, but the advice the midwife gave me was for 10 mins on each breast, twice. And that's what it's currently taking to get the quantity I did just a week ago.
I've also tried massaging the breast during expressing sessions, which seems to help encourage a little more milk out. I've no idea how long it might take to get my stocks up to their previous quantity, but I hope it's not too long.
If you have any tips on keeping your supply up when expressing I'd love to hear them :)
Georgina <3
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Have you heard of fenugreek? I took it for a while when I had a dip in supply and it seemed to help! I also find that if I have any tension in my body at all I get less milk. If you have an electric pump try holding it on then doing something else completely, like reading blogs or a book, and not thinking about the pump. I'm always surprised how much I get when I do that!
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