amitymamaThe Attachment Parenting Community

Q:

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How can I increase milk??

My daughter is 6 months old and is eating more and more jar food, and cereal. How can I still keep my milk supply up while she is eating less. I am afraid that I'm going to "dry up" before she is ready to be weaned. Any suggestions on what I can do short of being hooked up to my pump all day? (It's a manual pump and it is a real pain!!)

A:

You should bf her BEFORE you feed her the jarred food. How often does she bf? Mine was still nursing every 2 hours at that age, but it was not for more than 5 min, and only on one side. My dd is now 14 months and nurses 3 times a day - your milk supply will change to meet baby's needs.

- side note IMO rice cereal is empty calories, I'd just stick with sweet potato and avacado for baby's first foods.

Q:

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I do try to breastfeed her but usually after she eats the other food. The Dr. had told me to do that so that she wouldn't fill up on the breast milk before I fed her. She isn't thrilled with rice cereal very much anyway. I tried some organic stuff that I bought at the grocery store and she would actually gag every time I tried to feed it to her. I am trying to stick to jars of fruits and veggies now. Do you think that it would make a difference in my milk supply if I tried to breastfeed her first? Thanks for your help. Not too many people I know breastfeed. Which is a very unfortunate thing! I have to rely on websites like these to answer my questions. Thanks again!

A:

I would always bf the baby before offering solids until she is a year old. Breastmilk has everything your baby needs for its first year of life. Solids are introduced at 6 mo, as a sort of trial for babies to learn to eat from a spoon. She needs to fill up on breastmilk instead of solids. If she is still hungry she will eat the jarred food too, but don't be surprised if she can't finish a whole jar. The more you breastfeed, the more milk you will make, so yes it would help your supply.

Please post if you have anymore questions! Keep up the great work!

A:

If you are preparing to wean, that's one thing, but otherwise your doctor is wrong. His advice will cause supply issues in many women. BM first, then solids. Esp at that age! I also preferred stuff not in jars...DD liked food more for the tactile/social/toy thing so I gave her mushy banana, and soft sweet potato pieces, sometimes avocado and bf her as much as she wanted. usually she had 1-2 solid food meals per day at that age and worked up from there. She loves solids now at 13.5 months...but we mostly skipped the babyfood things and focused on finger foods. More fun for her and me! The book Super Baby Food is pretty good though I never really "made" baby food...just stuck to finger food since she was bf enough. Lots of people like Sear's Family Nutrition Book too. Rice cereal is icky. Trying making fine dry oatmeal in the blender, then cook. I think it tastes much better.

You can also add a pumping if you're really worried. Lots of women like oatmeal as a food that increases supply. Keep up your fluids, some also drink fenugreek tea. Spend a day or two maybe without any solids and just nurse nurse nurse if you think you're in trouble. If you co-sleep, frequent night feeding can sometimes make up for the decrease in day feeding.

Do you have a La Leche group in your area? If you get along with them, they can be great support and a wonderful resource (and free advice!)


oh, and gagging. Mostly gagging has very little to do with taste. Also babies make bad faces at new tastes even if they like them. Many babies gag a lot at first as they figure out how to coordinate gumming and swallowing. If she can cough things out, that's normal. It's when they can't cough it out that it's a problem. If she still pushes food out with her tongue (tongue thrust reflex) than it's really too early for food. Most babies are no longer tongue thrusting by that age, though.

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She isn't pushing the food out with her tongue. She loves food especially sweet potatoes and squash!! It's just the one thing that she gags on. It's really not a funny face. It's actual gagging like she's going to throw up. Thanks for the advice and the book titles. I will have to check them out. I was afraid that she would take too big of a piece of finger foods and end up choking. Not the case? I also have a teether that you can put fruits and vegetables in but it's kind of a pain. When I do use it though she loves it!! Thanks again for all of your help!

A:

some people worry more about choking than others. I sat next to her whenever she was eating, and gave her soft things, and later, breadlike things. (no raw celery, carrots, apple, etc...hard bits that break off.) I stuck with mushy, and later mushy-when-wet. If she doesn't seem ready, and doesn't sit up well in her chair or on your lap, then feed her, but I'd still make it the same foods, just mushed with your fork. A little hacking/coughing to clear her airway was nervewracking but fine...it's when they don't cough and turn colors that there's a problem! 2 weeks of coughing a lot, and then rarely heard again once she had the hang of it. But for several months, solids were a once-a-day thing...lots of people here wait until well after a year to start at all.

I never liked those teether things...to me, defeated the purpose which was exploring new textures. If I had a kid with tactile or developmental issues, I would reconsider, but generally, I think it's overkill or a temptation to leave your child alone with food too early. I am sort of radical, but this all stems from my view of food as developmental toy, not as essential nutrition at that age since she got all she needed from BM.

another idea...that teether might be a good idea for harder foods she'd like for her gums but you wouldn't give her yet...like raw carrot or raw apple. At that age, I sometimes let DD have thick carrot as a teether with supervision, but quit a few months later once she could break off pieces. Putting it in the teether might be a good idea. But I still think a bad idea for her regular food.