Calling all EPers..

[ted]

I salute you. How do you do it??
I think I'll soon be taking your route. The only time my dd is nursing
from me is the middle of the night feedings. Rest of the time she's
not even latching. She just screams outright. It makes me feel like a
failure. but then, I'll accept I'm a failure when I give up giving her
my milk in any form possible.

So my question is, REALLY, how do you do it? I'm taking fenugreek and
oatmeal in hopes of improving supply. DD is consuming more than I can
pump so I pretty soon need help. By help I don't mean supplementing
with formula. That's a distant, last option.

Are there any medications I can take to improve supply? Is it worth it
or does it offset the benefits of bfing? How many times do you pump
and how long each time?

Anything else you can fill me in?

Thanks.

[calliaz]

ted wrote:
>
> I salute you. How do you do it??
> I think I'll soon be taking your route. The only time my dd is nursing
> from me is the middle of the night feedings. Rest of the time she's
> not even latching. She just screams outright. It makes me feel like a
> failure. but then, I'll accept I'm a failure when I give up giving her
> my milk in any form possible.

IMHO, EPing takes a lot of determination. There are many
days I want to stop. But it is worth it. :) Even though I
produce a scant 8-9 ounces a day and have to supplement the
rest, I still do it.

> So my question is, REALLY, how do you do it? I'm taking fenugreek and
> oatmeal in hopes of improving supply. DD is consuming more than I can
> pump so I pretty soon need help. By help I don't mean supplementing
> with formula. That's a distant, last option.

> Are there any medications I can take to improve supply? Is it worth it
> or does it offset the benefits of bfing? How many times do you pump
> and how long each time?

I take domperidone 40mg 3 times a day. I don't know where
you are, but it is not approved by the FDA in the US. You
can, however, order it from pharmacies out of the country.
The one I order from takes about a week to get to me. Many
people find that it boosts supply greatly (but not so much
for me). You could also try adding Blessed Thistle and
Marshmallow to your herbal routine--but I never saw much
effect from them.

> Anything else you can fill me in?

There are a lot of tips out there about using hot and cold
compresses and massage while pumping. I get a lot more by
using gentle pressure and massage. Joining the Pumpmoms
Yahoo Group is also good.

Jennifer in AZ
EPing for Carter, 4.5 months

[Larry McMahan]

ted > writes:

: Are there any medications I can take to improve supply? Is it worth it
: or does it offset the benefits of bfing? How many times do you pump
: and how long each time?

If I remember correctly, I believe you live in Canada. domperidome is
available there, and is probably the best pharmaceutical galactogogue
available.

If you live in the us, you may have to order it from across the border.
:-)

Good luck,
Larry

[CY]

IBCLC's can REALLY help with your kind of question. Your supply would
probably improve greatly if you could get her to latch, which is the
underlying problem. Maybe you could focus your energies on getting that
solved and everything else may resolve itself. The type of pump you are
using can also impact your supply. Best are hospital grade pumps. LIke the
other posters said, it takes a great deal of committment to EP, so getting
baby back to breast would be your best solution IMO.

Good luck!

CY
"ted" > wrote in message
om...
> I salute you. How do you do it??
> I think I'll soon be taking your route. The only time my dd is nursing
> from me is the middle of the night feedings. Rest of the time she's
> not even latching. She just screams outright. It makes me feel like a
> failure. but then, I'll accept I'm a failure when I give up giving her
> my milk in any form possible.
>
> So my question is, REALLY, how do you do it? I'm taking fenugreek and
> oatmeal in hopes of improving supply. DD is consuming more than I can
> pump so I pretty soon need help. By help I don't mean supplementing
> with formula. That's a distant, last option.
>
> Are there any medications I can take to improve supply? Is it worth it
> or does it offset the benefits of bfing? How many times do you pump
> and how long each time?
>
> Anything else you can fill me in?
>
> Thanks.

[Karen Askey]

I'm pumping exclusively for my cleft-affected son. I have had no supply issues
but that is because I was still nursing and am still nursing his brother.
Having a nursing toddler around really is the best thing to build up supply!
Even so, I didn't pump all that much at first for him, but enough that he has
not had to have formula. I don't know if my milk was mostly dried up or if my
body had to adjust to the pump. Now I can pump just fine and have a freezer
stash.

So, I'm not sure I can really help you! But pumping more often and drinking a
lot of water helps. Even if you aren't getting much out of the pump, your body
will adjust and begin making more milk if you keep pumping every 2-3 hours.
There will be certain times of day where you will make more and less milk. Try
to figure out what time you can make more milk than others and really take
advantage.

Also, if you still have the time, when you seem to be "done" at the pump and
not producing, stay with it for another 10 minutes. You might get another
letdown or at least your body will adjust eventually and start producing more
b/c of that as well.

I sympathize with you and I know pumping exclusively is difficult at times. It
helps when you know that you are giving your child the best you can give. For
me, it makes a huge difference knowing that I cannot nurse at the breast but I
can at least still give him my milk. My PPD would've been much worse (I think)
if I couldn't pump for him.

Having said all of that, I'm not sure I would've done all this if he had been
my first child. I didn't have a very good support systerm for bf when my first
son was born until I found this ng and my LLL group. Even some folks who know
what a staunch bf I am don't understand why I pump. They are astounded when I
say I plan to do this until DS is 13 mo (to adjust for him being a month
premature). I get slightly different variations of what was said when I was bf
my son, such as, "Oh, you'll get tired of that long before a year is up," or a
general snicker. And then there is my mom who said, "Well, at least you won't
be doing that for as long as you're breastfeeding James." She was urging me to
wean my first son at 6 months and has said some crack about him being too old
to nurse at least once a month since then, so that's been 2 years.

Join the pumpmoms group at yahoo and also seek out a LLL group near you for
more support. You don't have to join LLL to get their help. Check it out and
see if it's for you.


koa
Still nursing James, 02/06/01
EP'ing for Joey 04/02/03 (BiCP)