How I Got My Milk Back

I felt really silly for sharing my last blog about breastfeeding on Facebook. I didn't think anyone would read it or that people would be offended by it... However, this was not the case. I found that there are several other breastfeeding moms who have been in a similar situation, or women who are pregnant and wanting to breast feed successfully, or women who have been successful that wanted to offer their support, encouragement and advice.

Here is how I got my milk back. It was a Friday when I decided I wanted to go back to exclusively breastfeeding. I was down to only a couple feedings and they were mostly during the night. I was pretty empty on milk. I had a few bags of Mother's Milk Tea in my pantry so I was going to start with those. I'm cheap and I wanted to stretch the tea bags as far as I could. I would steep the bag in the biggest mug I have (covered for 10 minutes, just like the instructions say) and then I would get a small mug and steep the same bag in that mug for another ten minutes. The instructions on the box say to drink 3-5 cups a day... so I used 3 different bags a day, but got 6 cups total. I drank the tea for 3 days.

Then one of my dear friends let me borrow a tincture that contains 6 different herbs: fenugreek, fennel, nettle, goat's rue, blessed thistle and raspberry leaf. Not gonna lie, it tastes nasty! So I started the drops Sunday afternoon. I did 3 or 4 droppers full (mixed with a tiny bit of water just to wash it down) four times a day. I used the drops for 5 days. After the five days I was back to exclusively breastfeeding.

During the five days I had to wean Levi off formula. It made the most sense to me to drop one feeding a day. I wasn't comfortable just cutting it out completely and expecting him to be satisfied with what little amount of milk I was producing. I did offer the breast as much as possible to get the stimulation my body needed to keep producing.


Exactly one week after my decision to go back to exclusively breastfeeding my fenugreek capsules came in the mail. I read on kellymom.com that I could take up to 12 capsules a day. So I was taking 3 capsules 4 times a day. One side effect is that your sweat smells like maple syrup... well I wasn't smelling anything! After taking the herb for about 2 weeks I finally started smelling the maple syrup.. ha! It's not that I wanted to smell like waffles, but I heard that that's how you know it's actually working.

Levi had his 6 month check up last week. I had decided that I wasn't going to freak out about his weight or allow the doctor to freak me out. It was a true test of where I stand on my decision. When I put him on the scale he was 10oz less than what he was two weeks before at our wic appointment. I felt God's peace and didn't freak out. After the nurse left I fed Levi on one side and when the doctor came in we weighed him again and he was up 10oz... I know he did not eat 10oz off ONE SIDE! Even the doctor said the scale malfunctioned. Needless to say, I'm not trusting scales anymore! :)

So although he hadn't gained any weight in two weeks, at least he's not losing weight. His length is great (70th percentile) and his head is growing great as well. He's active and healthy.

I would like to say, I'm not ignoring my doctor's expertise. She's a very intelligent woman, but at the end of the day, he's my baby and I have to do what's best for him.