And So It Goes...

Poor Lydia has gotten the short end of the stick in so many ways when compared to the boys, but this last development is just too much: this week I've had to supplement her diet with formula! The boys never had any formula and I would have been slightly horrified if someone had given them some. I had an over-abundance of milk with both of them, and never dreamed that I would have a supply issue this third time around. But I have.

It started with Lydia increasing her night wakings from one to three to five, all within a week or two. I also noticed that I never felt "full", nor did I feel the letdown sensation nearly as often while I was nursing. Finally, the morning came when she latched on, sucked hard, and then let go and wailed. At this point, after almost a week of wondering and worrying, I finally accepted that, somehow, my milk had dried up and she was hungry. I immediately started pumping and drinking water to increase my supply, and was shocked to see that I could pump less than 1/4 of an ounce from each side. My milk really was almost gone, and my poor little girl had probably been getting hungrier and hungrier for more than a week.

There were several factors that could have contributed to this unexpected event, and my culprit-of-choice is the progesterone-only birth control pill that I had started taking 12 days before. Other possible contributors are Lydia's less-than-ideal (and very noisy) latch, which may have been providing insufficient suction for milk production (though she managed to get enough milk with that latch for the first 3.5 months), or maybe it was the 1-day overnight trip we took to Chattanooga 4 weeks ago that caused a dip in supply that I never fully recovered from (though I pumped 22 oz. while we were gone).

Regardless of why it happened, I've been in overdrive trying to correct the problem for the past four days. I've been pumping twenty minutes on each side every 2-3 hours during the day and once each night. I've also been choking down six fenugreek supplements, two cups of Mother's Milk tea, about a gallon of water and at least two bowls of oatmeal every day. The first day, I couldn't get more than 1/2 an ounce from both sides combined each time I pumped. I used what was left in the freezer and the little I had pumped to feed her that day. I made it until her last bottle of the day, just before bed, which I had to add some formula to to make it a full bottle. She took it fine and didn't even seem to notice that it was different. She had been in a great mood and full of smiles and coos all day, which only made me feel more guilty for not realizing that she was hungry before. It just didn't occur to me because I always had more milk than I needed with the boys.

After the first day, I quit taking the pill and continued all of the other "home remedies." I was able to pump a little bit more the second day, but still had to give her half-formula in each bottle all day. By the third day, I could get 2-3 oz. combined each time I pumped...still not quite enough to keep up with what she was eating, but getting closer. Today is the fourth day, and I think I may be almost back to normal. I am pumping 4-5 oz. combined each time I pump (5-6 oz. was normal in the past), and that is slightly more than enough to satiate her right now. Hopefully we are done with formula, and I will be storing up as much milk as I can fit in the freezer just in case something like this happens again!