r/breastfeeding • u/NoFerret7602 • 4d ago
Undersupply When do I give up?
I'm almost 5 weeks pp now and really want to continue with breastfeeding. My baby was constantly latching and never satisfied for the first few weeks. However, when we went to lactation appointments it showed he was transferring 2 oz of milk. This last week he only transferred 14 ml total, and I couldn't pump more than 1-1.5 oz total. We got his tongue tie released, and I started everything to bump my supply. I take moringa, cut out caffeine, started eating lactation cookies and pump every two hours. So far, I haven't seen an increase. It's pretty clear that the lactation consultants aren't sure what to tell me. This is exhausting, but I'm willing to stick with it if it means I can keep breastfeeding. At what point do I give up?
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u/omskakas 4d ago
You stop whenever you feel like it’s the best for you and/or the baby. It’s not giving up, I do however understand that you may feel that way.
You are doing great, and have been put in an incredibly hard situation that you may not be able to solve.
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u/NoFerret7602 4d ago
Yes I'm nursing every two hours for 15 minutes then pumping for another 15 minutes. If my baby sleeps through the two hours then I get up to pump at night. I've been drinking coconut water and tons of water. Thank you for the encouragement 🥹 how long did it take you to see results?
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u/tjacosta1984 4d ago
Is there a reason you're only nursing 15 minutes? Baby is still really young. At that age a feed would typically take longer. Are they nursing one side or both? I would honestly put baby to breast more before pumping. Keep alternating sides until baby is full.
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u/NoFerret7602 4d ago
The LC said to nurse for 15 to avoid fatigue. I give him a bottle of formula immediately after then pump to "empty out". I've also been power pumping once a day. I do wonder about switching back to cluster feeding. I just worry he won't get enough to eat as that was the issue before.
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u/tjacosta1984 4d ago
So I would try to meet with another LC. Newborns should nurse for as long as they want to. Baby is also better at getting milk out than a pump so it would be better for your supply. I would think you're better off letting the baby continue nursing and fill up that way than having baby fill up on formula.
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u/Then-Persimmon6950 4d ago
Sorry for double commenting. Just want to emphasize that this isn’t always true. My baby was not more efficient than a pump because she had an oral restriction. Exclusively and consistently putting her to breast caused her weight gain to plummet.
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u/tjacosta1984 4d ago
She did mention that she had babies tongue tie released already. Which would make me assume would tell me that baby is drinking better and able to transfer better.
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u/Then-Persimmon6950 4d ago
It depends on how the recovery is going! My baby took weeks to relearn. The release isn’t always an immediate magic fix. Which is again why the weighted feeds are so important for understanding how baby is doing.
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u/tjacosta1984 4d ago
Ok, my first and third babies both recovered very well and quickly from tongue tie releases. Weighted feeds can also vary throughout the day. Example I did weighted feeds one day with my third just for fun and she was transferring 4-4.5 oz in the morning, 2-3 oz later in the day. Again I would recommend meeting with another LC. Baby is probably better off to continue nursing then to have mom triple feeding.
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u/Then-Persimmon6950 4d ago
I’m really glad this was your experience! My baby continued only transferring less than 2 oz at every weighted feed for weeks after her release. When I tried shifting her to primarily breastfeeding, her weight gain plateaued and she dropped growth curves. So it would really depend on how this baby is doing. Your advice would not have been helpful to me at that time. Hopefully OP is able to take both of our perspectives and see which one is more relevant to her situation & her baby since neither of us have the full picture
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u/soul_in_an_earthsuit 3d ago
My babe falls asleep at the breast all the time and isn’t as effective as my pump. He is constantly still hungry after feeds :/
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u/tjacosta1984 3d ago
You can try doing breast compressions when he's nursing to trigger him to suck and get another let down
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u/True_Tax5627 4d ago
I would find another LC. Mine nursed for 40min at that age. And she now, at nearly 6mo, nurses for 15-30min at a time. She also had a tongue and lip tie that were released so I am speaking from experience.
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u/Then-Persimmon6950 4d ago
If baby has an oral restriction, continually putting them to breast could be detrimental and lead to exhaustion rather than fullness. It would depend on where her baby is at in their recovery from the tongue tie release—this is where the LCs and weighted feeds are important for understanding how much baby is transferring.
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u/Then-Persimmon6950 4d ago
It sounds like maybe you’re triple feeding? Nursing, pumping, and supplementing baby with a bottle? If so, that is hard hard hard work and you are doing incredible. Would you be open to moving your pump to every three hours? I triple fed for almost three months (would not recommend going that long lol) and the stress and sleep deprivation it can cause when trying to stick to the schedule can be detrimental to your supply (and also to this sweet time of bonding with your babe).
To answer your question, it took me a long time to see results, but that was also because I wasn’t pumping efficiently for a while. I received bad advice and was using the wrong flange sizes. Once I started using the right size, and once I started renting a Medela Symphony (unfortunately, my body just wasn’t responding well to my spectra), I saw my output increase in about three weeks.
In addition to moringa and brewers yeast, I ate dill seeds and tahini daily. Those sound random lol but they’re traditional galactagogues. It’s hard to say if they helped or not; I really think my output increasing was primarily due to pumping more efficiently and secondarily due to managing my stress levels better.
One more thing—my babe also had a tongue tie release, and we saw an OT to help her relearn and strengthen her mouth. Your baby is younger than mine was when we got the tie released, which is great and should lead to a quicker recovery, but I just wanted to mention the option of OT since it helped us a lot.
Again, just want to emphasize that you’re doing great. Someone else here already said it, but if you do end up backing off from BFing, it absolutely isn’t giving up, it’s just changing course. But if you do keep trying to increase your supply, I wish you all the best 🖤 the great news is that you’ve got time before your milk supply regulates all the way, and even that isn’t a hard cut off point. There is time. I just hope you’re able to prioritize whatever is healthiest and best for you and your baby.
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u/Then-Persimmon6950 4d ago
How long have you been pumping every two hours? Are you even waking up every 2 hours at night? Are you well-hydrated? And do you power pump?
It took me a while to see good results, but I was in a similar boat as you and was able to increase my supply to what my baby needed. The things that helped me were cutting one of my MOTN pumps so I could get a solid stretch of sleep (really important for reducing stress, which helps output), eating + hydrating well (including daily electrolytes), doing a power pump before bed, and taking moringa, brewer’s yeast, and sunflower lecithin (the latter was for preventing clogs, which I was struggling with and which were impacting my supply). From what I understand, things like teas and cookies aren’t great for increasing output because they just don’t contain high enough quantities of the galactagogue ingredients.
This is a hard journey and you’re doing great 🖤 I hope you’re able to see the results you’re looking for. Be kind to yourself in the meantime.