It changes day to day. When things go badly I need to remember that the next day will probably go differently. She has started to feed more contentedly at the breast, now going some feedings without requesting or requiring supplementation after. Other times, she’s so eager for food she won’t hold her latch so we have to supplement first. In general, I think I’m making more milk, and she’s getting more.
I’ve been going to acupuncture as one of the ways to address my low milk supply. He identified low kidney chi, which we’ve been trying to activate with the acupuncture and herbs. He’s started to see some movement in that direction, which is encouraging. Stress and anxiety, putting myself out there as an advocate and “can do” person, are his diagnosis for how I drained my kidney. This makes sense to me without feeling like I”m blaming the victim. I really enjoy the sessions as I can feel the energy moving through my body. I know it’s doing something!
I’ve also been to a naturopath. She has been kept up to date on my progress through my midwife, as they work together (the naturopath is also a midwife and was at my delivery). She’s trying to treat low progesterone levels.
I’ve also continued with pumping and hand expressing of milk to keep supply moving and get some more milk to feed back to her.
I hope – maybe even expect – that at some point, some combination of these methods will right whatever isn’t working well with my body and pep up my supply. And in the interim, I’ve found 2 other people willing to donate extra pumped milk, so it looks like we can significantly reduce the amount of formula she’s getting (which isn’t too much to begin with, anyways!).
I also made a resolution today to focus on the positive and use positive affirmations about this topic rather than negative. So:
I love breastfeeding my baby.
I love and trust my body. My body makes milk for my baby. My baby loves my milk and grows strong and healthy.
My body makes more and more milk for my baby.