You are holding that perfect little newborn in your arms.  You have been waiting for this day for so very long.  After some blissful days, you realize your baby isn’t satisfied.  She wants more milk than your body is offering her.  Now what?!

I have been there.  With my first born, she wanted to eat non-stop.  I can’t even put into words just how stressful that was.  Struggling with a low milk supply may be one of the most difficult things a new mom and baby go through.  There were so many tears and I would do absolutely anything to product enough milk for my beautiful baby girl.  If you are reading this, you probably have faced this struggle, or maybe you are now and are looking for help, or just somebody who understands and really gets it.  I do.  I get you mama, so keep on feeding, you are doing an amazing thing for your baby.

There are options to help boost your milk supply.  If you are struggling, be sure to reach out to a lactation consultant to help you one on one.

First, and most important – nurse that baby.  Nurse on demand.  If you have to spend the weekend in bed with your baby doing nothing but nursing, do it.  {I know, not always realistic, I have 3 little ones, I get it}.

Eat Oatmeal.  Whether it is a bowl of oatmeal or oatmeal cookies, etc., eat some oatmeal.

Pump after you nurse.  I remember those early days, nurse. Pump.  Eat.  Nurse, pump, eat.  Repeat.  It was exhausting!  But very worth it.

Switch Sides.  Give baby the opportunity to empty both breasts at a feeding.

Lactation Cookies.  You can find some recipes from some friends of mine by following these links.  Sewlicious Lactation Cookies or Boobie Boost Lactation Cookies or these lactation cookies.

Stay Hydrated.  Drink a ton of water.  I cannot stress this enough!  If baby is eating, be sure you are drinking.

Fennel can be taken as a vegetable, herb, tea, or by using the Fennel essential oil.

Prescription.  With Maggie, I was prescribed Reglan.  I’m not sure if it actually helped or not, but I took it hoping that it would.  I was so desperate and searching for something that might help.

Fenugreek.  Taking Fenugreek can help to increase your milk supply.

Blessed Thistle.  Taking Blessed Thistle can help to make more milk.

Milkflow by UpSpring.  This is the best of all worlds.  While I was leery at first because it is a drink mix packet and I usually don’t care for those, I gave it a shot. I was really excited to receive our complimentary samples for review.   It’s so simple to dump the packet into a glass of water that you should be drinking anyways, but you can also add it to a glass of juice if you prefer.  Aside from the fact that drinking Milkflow helps keep you hydrated, it is made with fenugreek, blessed thistle and anise.  Are you seeing how many of these suggested things you could do to increase your breastmilk supply that you are doing when you use Milkflow by UpSpring instead?  I like the refreshing berry flavor of the packets and that I don’t have to take even more vitamins daily while I try to boost my breastmilk supply.

I was so excited to see if drinking the water with Milkflow made a big difference for us, but figuring out a scientific way to tell was tough.  I feed baby Henry on demand.  I don’t really pump at all.  So, I don’t have a definite answer one way or another.  But, I do know that when he is having a growth spurt, I will start drinking the packets in my water for a few days and he doesn’t seem hungry all of the time, so I think they helped.  I know that it definitely isn’t hurting anything.  It encourages me to drink more water that is filled with things that can help our breastfeeding journey go smoothly.

Have you ever struggled with producing enough milk while breastfeeding?  What were your struggles or successes on your breastfeeding journey?