Adventures in nursing, update

Still not producing enough milk. I started taking a drug called domperidone. It's typically used for something gastric, but one of the side effects is that it increases lactation in individuals where low milk supply is caused by low prolactin hormone levels. It's used to treat reflux in infants, so it's safe for the baby and all the evidence is that it's not secreted in milk except at very low levels.

I started taking it about a week and a half ago. I started at 20mg three times a day, then bumped up to 30mg a couple of days ago (at our last Dr appointment). The next bump will be to 30mg four times per day, which I will probably start doing sometime over the weekend.

I'm drinking Mother's Milk tea four or five times a day. People online complain about the taste, but I think it's actually fairly pleasant. It tastes vaguely licorice-y. I was taking fenugreek capsules (three, three times a day). I've now transitioned to More Milk Plus, which contains goats rue in addition to fenugreek. Goats rue is supposed to stimulate growth of additional breast tissue. I ran out of the tincture that I'd been taking from the birth center, which probably had some of the same things in it. The tincture tasted awful, so I'm not disappointed that it's gone.

I've been trying to nurse Sterling before every bottle so that she gets some from me, then just the extra she needs from the bottle. I haven't managed to accomplish that every time. I've also been trying to pump more, but that's also proved to be challenging. I've been nursing Sterling every 2 or 3 hours through the day, then trying to pump afterwards... but if I'm home by myself and she doesn't want to be put down, I can't really pump. I haven't quite figured out the logistics of holding her AND pumping at the same time. If Mike is here, it's much easier. I've been trying to either nurse or pump every hour when I'm home. I would say that I've accomplished that goal for maybe 3 or 4 hours a day for the past week or so.

Typically when I pump, I get maybe a half an ounce (if it's been a while since she nursed). I'm actually hopeful right not that something might be starting to work because when I just pumped, I got 1.7oz! That's like 3 times what I've ever gotten in one session before. It's at least enough to make me feel validated and like it's worth continuing with this whole project. It's really discouraging to spend this much time and not see any change in output. I'm spending roughly 4 hours a day trying to feed the baby using my boobs (nursing and pumping)... and still not managing it. I'm mildly hopeful that things might be turning around, but I don't want to get too excited about it in case they're really not and tonights pumping result is just some sort of fluke.