Low milk supply journey

I have said many times that yes, breastfeeding is simple but it is not always easy! There are so many factors that come into play to make it difficult, like a poor latch, or low milk supply, or getting thrush or multiple other infections, or simply lack of support etc...

Recently I found out a good friend was having trouble in an area I had no problems with...milk supply (I was a milk machine, so much so that if I did not regularly feed every three hours or pump if I was away from my baby I would get a plugged duct.) But, there are many women out there that do have trouble with this issue. So many in fact that there are tons of products out there to assist these women. Since I am not the expert in this area my amazing friend has agreed to share her journey to boost her milk supply and her baby's weight with us! I will be posting the progress here so stay tuned!

My friend Lisa, who is a wonderful breastfeeding mother of 4, thought she would have nursing down to an art by now. But, she recently discovered that her fourth baby is falling on his growth chart. This is not something completely new to her as either her first or third baby prompted her to take fenugreek to help get her milk supply up. She is back on fenugreek now and with the help of Motherlove's More Milk Plus, her sister's excess milk and a strict regiment from her doctor she hopes to boost her lovely boy up the weight charts. Here, in her words, is the start of her milk boosting journey.

"I'm ready to up my dose (as per my doctor) and to also include Motherlove's More Milk Plus. We are on week 2 of giving supplemental milk after each feeding. I am so thankful to my sister for giving me her leftover pumped/ frozen milk! In 9 days my son gained 14 oz!!

He has a weight check next week, after which I will stop the supplemental milk and give it another week before yet another weight check. This week my instructions are to up the number of nursing sessions and also to try to get some pumping sessions in my day - not necessarily easy to do!

This is the most aggressive instruction I've gotten for feeding any of my babies; 2 others also had weight-gaining issues. I am somewhat annoyed at all the extra attention I have to give to feeding my baby - breastfeeding is supposed to be so easy! But I am thankful to have a plan to get us back on track. Until then I will continue to thaw extra milk every night and wash bottles daily in anticipation of maintaining a milk supply that will satisfy my hungry little baby!


And for anyone reading this who thinks that only first time moms make rookie mistakes, last week I was nursing my baby while enjoying crushed red pepper on my pizza. Somehow some of the pepper fell into my son's eye! He was quite upset, his eye got puffy and the skin around his eye was blotchy. The on-call pediatrician suggested to rinse his eye with contact solution and call Poison Control. The nice woman at Poison Control said to take a shower with him and let the water run down his face. We happened to be traveling so the shower was not an option. After a good 5 min my son finally stopped crying, opened his eyes and actually smiled at me! The puffiness went away and I am thankful he will not remember this incident as an adult." - Lisa