I have seen a few posts here talking about taking some funny-sounding stuff to help increase supply. Where would you buy it, health food stores?? Does it work?

I am back at work now and pumping 3 times a day at work. I can get about 5oz from one side and 3-4oz from the other in the morning, during my 1st pumping of the day. But after lunch it goes down to 3-4oz from one side and 2-3oz from the other. I worry that it will stay like this, but my dd is now eating about 4oz and I know she will only keep wanting more as she gets older. I still BF at home and on the weekends, but I want to make sure I get enough during work to provide for my parents. (they watch her)

I have a friend who says pumping for longer helped her supply, she even said she got down to pumping 4 times a day and would get 8oz out of each side!! (she never BF, but pumped for a hwole year) But I can only do 15 mins at work.

Anyone got any advice? I want to continue BF/pumping until she is at least 6 months old.

Yup, I bought both blessed thistle and fenugreek to boost my milk supply, it worked for me, and I did get it at the health food store... about 10 dollars a bottle which lasted around 2-3 weeks...

make extra sure that you are drinking LOTs of water.
You need to drink one FULL glass of water every 2-3 hours and a couple of glasses of water on top of that for your own body.
No water = no milk production.
So make sure that you're drinking enough first because that's the simplist solution.

I never used anything but I know you can buy it online too. I did drink lots of water and also ate oatmeal and It seemed to keep my supply up.

your friend is right because the more you pump (or the more the baby nurses) the more you make. if you start pumping a few more times a day or just increase the amount of time you pump it will increase your supply. and as the baby needs more it should increase to meet her demand. that's how your body knows to make more, because the more she needs the more she will nurse and then your body gets the signal and makes more. and pumping is the same way but you may always get a bit less from the pump because they are not as efficient as a baby's mouth at getting the milk out.

 


I always tried to pump some off both sides even after the baby nursed. Sometimes I would get a few ounces and sometimes I would only get 1/2 and ounce but it made my body think that the baby needed the extra milk so my body started making more.

With my last baby (4th one) I got a good supply going. But I started the day I got home from the hospital. Baby was only nursing on one side at that time so I would pump on the side she didnt nurse on and then pump on the side she did nurse on. My body thought that it needed to make all that milk but baby was not really drinking all that so I had a lot of extra to freeze. I never had an issue of running out of milk. I recommend trying that if your baby is only nursing on one side when you nurse and if not then just pump anything you can when baby is done
 


Good Luck