How to improve milk supply?

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  • #478
    Anonymous Incognito
    Participant

    Hello, I recently joined this site so I am rather new here and unsure where exactly to post this. Me and my wife have been trying to induce lactation for going on a full year now. She has been taking 30 mg of domperidone 4 times aday (every 6th hour) and has also been taking, Hops,fennel, fenugreek and goat’s rue. So far we barely are able to get any milk.

    We have tried nursing every two hours and pumping also but to no avail. We have since become a bit demoralized and it seems to have negatively effected her current milk supply as well.

    Is there something we are doing wrong that we am not aware of?

    #481
    Eternalcontentment
    Participant

    The mind set is a big part of making milk, stress in other areas of life, worry over if there will be milk. The way that the nipples are suckled: Believe you me I know how the milk ducts can be turned off, not suckling hard enough, too hard, and not getting a feel for where the milk reservoirs are, and not suckling like a baby–that actually munches from the back of the nipple where the reservoirs are toward the front.
    There are foods that will turn off milk production, like mint and oregano and others.
    Estrogen blocks prolactin so if your wife is on replacements they need to be the lowest possible dose. Birth control pills cause the woman’s body to feel like being pregnant and you don’t want to lactate while pregnant. When the baby is born estrogen shuts off so prolactin can bring on the milk.
    Two foods that really stimulate milk in my wife are dried apricots and green peas.
    Don’t give up and keep reading and experimenting. My wife started lactating 3 years ago when she was 60 and though it took reading anatomy and physiology of the breasts and the pituitary gland it happened after about 5-6 months.

    #482
    Anonymous Incognito
    Participant

    Alright, I will try that. I think we should do more research and as you say keep trying new things that she may respond better too. Thank you very much for the advice. Also may I ask which protocol did you and your wife choose?

    #483
    Eternalcontentment
    Participant

    To Anonymous Incognito:
    As far as protocols go we just realized how often a baby suckles at first and suckled every two hours except at night. We went to bed late and got up early, sleeping about 4-6 hours. As time went on and milk came in we can go 8-10 hours now but choose to suckle for our own enjoyment about every 3-4 hours. Inducing when not after having a baby goes through a different system. What you are doing is training the body like Pavlov’s dogs, a stimulus and a response. The right set of stimuli creates a desired response. The mechanism is already there after having a baby, it has been responding to hormones and stimuli for nine months.
    As you already know the way that the penis and clitoris are stimulated has a lot to do with success. There are nerve pathways from the nipples to the pituitary gland that have to be stimulated in just the right way for prolactin, the milk producing hormone that works on the mammary glands, and oxytocin, the releasing let down hormone that works on tiny muscles surrounding the glands to contract and squeeze milk down the line. The idea is to train the pituitary gland of a non post postpartum woman to respond to properly stimulating the nipples. Also just like sex if a person is not mentally into it or distracted by worries or afraid that they won’t be able to perform the proper messages are counteracted. If you were being stalked by a lion or a killer in a dark alley this is not the time to breastfeed, eat, poop, or have sex, so the body responds by releasing Adrenalin and dopamine to charge up the heart, increase blood pressure by constricting blood vessels, stop the intestines and stomach from working and dry up secretions. Dry mouth. There is a lot to be said for coming into a breastfeeding session calmly, lovingly, and not being distracted by something that would set off the fight or freight response.
    Your wife should not take in very much caffeine and we found that it takes much more herbal tea than most people think. My wife drinks about a half gallon per day. A lot of people swear by oatmeal and so do we. Some have found that goat’s rue works in reverse on them.
    Since you already know that domperidone is not fixing everything, by blocking dopamine, it might be safer to wean down some on the domperidone.
    We buy our herbs in bulk and make up our own concoctions of teas and shakes. Let me know if you would like to know more.
    We are curious about what you thought about our true stories in the Nursing Tales section.

    #489
    Anonymous Incognito
    Participant

    My mistake I just read your post there. Frankly I am a bit envious at your connection with each other, but hopefully me and my wife can eventually have a similar relationship with each other. We are both currently in our 20s so we have a bit of time a head of us to figure this out I hope. Your story was no doubt inspiring and I really hope to achieve something of the sort eventually.

    #514
    Eternalcontentment
    Participant

    Thanks, Anonymous Incognito. Your heart is in the right place and I’m sure you will.

    #515
    Eternalcontentment
    Participant

    Has your wife had a baby? If not it is harder to get it to work but is possible. There is a protocol to trick the body into feeling like it is pregnant with birth control pills and then stop them. I don’t know much about it but it is used and works.

    #516
    Anonymous Incognito
    Participant

    Actually that’s the protocol we just started, today would literally be the first day we tried this. I will keep you updated on our progress if it works out well or not. Also you don’t have to thank me, I should thank you instead. As I said we were very demoralized and down in the dumps. You and your story kinda made us look on the positive side and lead to us trying this protocol in the first place. Oh, and to answer your question no we have not had children and not sure we plan on it as of now.

    #518
    Eternalcontentment
    Participant

    Best wishes and we look forward to hearing from you on your progress.

    #520
    Anonymous Incognito
    Participant

    So far it has been 4 days or so. Not much change. I am a bit worried about the dosage of Estrogen on her pill. its only 0.20 instead of the norm 0.30 or 0.35.

    #521
    Eternalcontentment
    Participant

    Remember it takes 9 months to get the mechanics up and running for a baby to breastfeed. I don’t know how long this plan is for but think about all of the preparation that a woman’s body does during pregnancy. For those of us who have watched our wife’s body change it was slow and steady. The breasts become slightly larger and the color of the nipples darken. The size of the breasts really doesn’t change much until after the baby is born and estrogen shuts down and prolactin brings on milk.
    As far as the amount of estrogen for this protocol I don’t know. But menopausal hormone replacement is about .3. What you are doing is a different thing than menopause. So whoever you are following must know the right dose. Hopefully you are following one of the well studied and established protocols like the one from that doctor in Canada.
    Best wishes.

    #535
    Anonymous Incognito
    Participant

    Aye we are following one of those. I do so far see changes in her breast size. Maybe half a cup or one cup or so, also they are far softer than normal.

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