How I’m Boosting My Milk Supply

When planning to breastfeed, you don’t expect to be told that your baby isn’t gaining any weight and that you’ll need to boost your milk supply. This is especially true when you never had problems with your milk supply in the past.

Well, this time around that is exactly what has happened to me. My baby boy was born 10lb 2oz on August 15th, and after a few days of being out of the hospital, he lost 1 pound which I was told was the maximum he should lose so we’ll have to monitor him. 

After a few more days he had only gained a couple of ounces, which was still not enough. My midwives weren’t too concerned because he looks like a healthy baby. He’s pink, alert, pees and poops regularly. By looking at him you would never think this baby was having a difficult time gaining weight. We got him checked again after 2 days and he had only gained a 1/2 ounce. It was around then that we decided to top him up with either a bottle of breastmilk or formula after every feed, as well as taking supplements to help boost my milk supply.

Finally, our final appointment Rowan finally weighed 9lb 15oz, meaning he’s almost back up to his birth weight! Hopefully once he’s up to 10lb 2oz again I won’t need to supplement anymore and breastfeeding will be smooth sailing from there.

Here are a few things I’ve been taking to boost my supply:

• Fenugreek is a herb that can be found in most health food stores. Take the recommended dose it says on the bottle (I take 2 capsules 3 times a day). Also, fun fact it makes you smell like maple syrup! I didn’t believe it until I smelled it myself as I was feeding Rowan.

• Lactation cookies are amazing and delicious! They’re probably my favourite supplement to boost my supply haha. The special ingredient in them that help increase your milk supply is the brewers yeast added to them.

• Guinness because, again, the brewers yeast. Other beer will also do the trick, but I was told Guinness works the best. 

• Pumping will help boost your milk supply between feedings. I often try to pump after every feeding to make sure it increases before the next time I have to feed my son.

• Domperidone is a prescription my midwife wrote for me to also help increase my supply. I really didn’t want to get a prescription, but it was highly recommended since this is well known for increasing a mother’s milk. I’ll be taking this for the next couple of weeks.

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Thank you for reading my post about how I'm boosting my milk supply. I've learned a lot these last couple of weeks and hope my knowledge will help someone else who is also struggling with their milk supply as well.