Anything else i can do....

I have a 7 month old special needs daughter(no labels yet, but she has seizures, low muscle tone, reflux, feeding issues and allergies). I EBF my last three kids and donated thousands of oz of milk but since we missed that she wasnt sucking for the first 6 weeks and just swallowing my letdown my supply almost vanished. i was only pumping .5oz COMBINED every 2 hours. now i can get about 2-3oz every 3, 7pumps per day. She takes 25-30 per day and i have never produced that much even with domperidone 40mg/3x a day, fenugreek, blessed thistle, teas, oatmeal, water, etc. It probably doesnt help that i have 3 other kids under 6 and a husband who works 60+ hours a week:/ AND ive been sick since right after christmas so im sure that isnt helping. Im persuing donor milk and had been getting some as needed from a friend but is there any chance at this point that i will be able to increase my supply and provide for her needs?? we have started introducing solids but have discovered she has allergies(gluten, milk for sure). it doesnt bother her when i have gluten and she gets my milk(im lactose intolerant so idk if milk through bm would bother her but i dont think so bc i know my donor friend drinks milk...) and she has an oral aversion to most pureed type textures:/ id love any advice....

It sounds like you are doing everything you can! Give yourself a break knowing that you are working so hard with pumping (which is a lot of work), and with 3 other young children and a busy husband.

Have you tried Malunguay / Go Lacta? I have similar milk supply issues & have done just about everything I can. I'm not successful as of yet, but I do have hope. Honestly, the best thing you can do is to find out WHY your not producing enough. Contact your OB/GYN and request that they test your Prolactin, Estrogen, & Progesterone levels.

See, the thing is that all these supplements work on different things. Domperidone increase your nipple sensitivity that sends the signal to produce more milk. Fenugreek increases prolactin; Shatavari is an indian herb that increases estrogen.

If you want someone to talk to, PM me & I'll give you my email address.
Kathi

avalonkat wrote:Domperidone increase your nipple sensitivity that sends the signal to produce more milk.

This is incorrect. Domperidone is a dopamine-blocker, the side effect of which is increasing prolactin levels. Prolactin is the hormone that controls milk production. It has nothing to do with nipple stimulation, which actually increases oxytocin levels.

To the OP, milk production is about supply and demand. The more frequently you breastfeed or pump, and the more milk that is removed from the breast as a result, the more milk you will make. This was proven when your daughter didn't nurse well for the first 6 weeks. Your body got the signal that it didn't need to produce milk, so it almost stopped. The way to recover it is to breastfeed on each side for 10 minutes every 2 hours and pump afterwards for 15 minutes with a double electric, hospital grade pump. It will take a lot of work and a long time to see results. Most Lactation Consultants agree that it takes as long for your supply to recover as it took for it to decline. So it could take you 6 weeks of hard work before you make enough milk to exclusively breastfeed. Babies are more efficient than pumps at removing milk from the breast, but only when they are breastfeeding correctly. You could also try a supplemental nursing system like Lact-Aid to get more stimulation if your daughter doesn't breastfeed for long because she gets frustrated there's no milk. That's what happened to me.

It's also important that you're eating enough calories (an extra 300-500/day) and drinking TONS of water. Make sure you get rest too. Breastfeeding and pumping every 2 hours means you won't be getting a lot of sleep. But I've seen my milk supply significantly increase when I've gotten more sleep the prior night. It's a balance. You can probably take one 4-5 hour stretch to sleep at night, but you will need to get up the rest of the night to breastfeed and pump. It's hard but you can do this!