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Hi! I'm an LC and a fellow Amity Mama brought your post to my attention. You've gotten pretty good advice so far.
Some key points to remember:
1. Nursing will *always* provide better stimulation than pumping. The baby's mouth works in a very different way than a suck-and-release pump. The Purely Yours is a great pump, but you may want to consider renting a hospital-grade Ameda pump (that way you can use the kit that came w/ your PY) for a week and see if you can tell a difference.
2. If you're not at work, I would recommend having a nursing-only rule. That way you're not tempted to pump & bottle feed (and thereby reducing the amt of actual nursing she's doing)
3. The water, fenugreek, oatmeal are good things to try. You may be at a point where you would like to try a prescription medication. There are two: reglan and domperidone. They do require a prescription from your doc, and they do have some side effects, make sure you look an the information thoroughly.
4. If your daughter was in the hospital, you may have not been able to pump/nurse enough during that critical first two weeks. We know that the more you pump/nurse in the first two weeks the better your supply is long-term.
5. Are you still nursing at night? If your baby is sleeping through, I would recommend pumping at least once in the middle of the night. The reason is that if you don't, your baseline hormone levels will gradually drop over time...thus further reducing your supply.
6. Also remember that skin to skin contact can boost your milk supply as well. You may want to take some skin-to-skin naps w/ her on the weekend & consider co-sleeping if you aren't already.
I hope some of this has helped & that you can increase your supply. But remember, that any amount of breastmilk is better than none at all. So, if she ends up getting a bit of formula during the day...you are still doing a wonderful thing by nursing her every chance you get.
Take Care,
__________________
Amanda
mama to Spencer, Sarah, Megan and Thomas
"None of us are perfect, but our children think we are. The manner in which we treat them will be acceptable to them, even if it's wrong, because we can do no wrong in their eyes."
Learn about the #1 Birth Defect!
http://www.tchin.org/facts.htm
http://www.tchin.org/aware.htm
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