Sean's teacher is back, and she is having difficulty keeping her supply up while pumping. What can she take?

Fenugreek always worked for me, and relatively fast too. (as in about 12 hours later). Tell her to also eat oatmeal! Cookies, regular oatmeal, etc. HTH

I have always had EXCELLENT luck w/More Milk. It works almost instantly!!! http://www.motherlove.com/ Most health food stores carry it as well ;)

I have always used fenugreek to help me and I'll also be sure to drink 2 cups of Mother's Milk Tea a day and have a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. Drinking enough water really helps too and NURSE, NURSE, NURSE!! If she's pumping, she needs to be sure that she is not nervous when she pumps and be sure that she nurses as much as she can while she's with the baby.

Ann

How much fenugreek?

Make sure she's using a nice electric pump. Those little hand pumps can lead to supply issues.

you've probably already thought of this but is she drinking enough water? that always helps too.
as does mothers milk tea.

I have used fenugreek to up my supply and to then maintain and it works great. I have read to take three tabs three times a day. The main rule of thumb is to take enough that when you sweat it smells like maple syrup (and it really does). I usually take three tabs in morning and three tabs at night and it sustains my supply fine. She will have to find what works best for her, but I would start at a higher dose. When I first took it I woke up engorged the next morning it really works quick!

Megan

SAHM to
Landon 10-23-02

For the fenugreek, you can take 2-3 capsules 3X a day as long as you are not hypoglycemic or asthmatic. I always take 3 capsules 3X a day until I feel the supply is established then go to 2 capsules 3X a day for 2 days then stop. Usually it works out to be about a week or a week and a half.

HTH!!
Ann

The right dose for fenugreek is 3 capsuls 3 times a day. If it doesn't start to work withint 10-14 days then we say to stop the use.
she should also eat a big bowl of oatmeal in the morning. :) An RX of domperidone would be my choice as a last resort.

Can she add more pumping sessions? If she could add a session or 2 during the day that would help. Also, she should be pumping on the wknds as well, even adding one in the early morning or at night would be helpful. Adding another 10 min or so to a session can help too. If she has 2 pumps alternating between the 2 is a good idea to help stimulate more ducts.

I think most pumping moms get into a slump... seems to happen at about 9 mo. Is her supply ok when she's not pumping (like on vacations and wknds)? If her supply is ok, then I'm not sure taking supplements will help all that much since it would be a pumping issue not a supply one, kwim? I know that's kind of an unpopular opinion, but it seems like once you go down the road of galactagogues, you just keep going and can't really stop taking them.

See this link too: http://lalecheleague.org/FAQ/increase.html

HTH~