With permission to post, my friend is struggling with her milk supply.  
Below is her email to me.  Since this email she has started 4-5 capsules 
of alfafa, a negative pregnancy blood test, .80 thyroid screen which she 
has no earlier base line, no new meds.  I'm stumped and looking for some 
insight from you wise ones.

Thank you!
Jennifer Moss Corbin, IBCLC, LLLL
Charlotte, NC



My nursling is 22 mos. and I have experienced a dramatic decrease in my 
milk supply over the course of the past three weeks. I have gone from 
oversupply (block feeding at 4-hour intervals) to almost nothing when I 
hand-express. No one can seem to figure out what is causing this.

About 4 weeks ago I started noticing hormonal symptoms like I associate 
with my body trying to ovulate. After about two weeks I was noticing an 
increase in the amount of hormonal symptoms, which is consistent with 
early pregnancy for me and I have a history of false negatives(I’ve been 
pg 3 times before). I began to suspect pregnancy and tested at about three 
weeks after noticing symptoms. I got a negative. 

Some of the symptoms I was experiencing (and still am) were: frequent 
urination (once every 1-1.5 hour), swollen gums that bleed sometime when I 
brush, hair loss, nausea when I haven’t eaten in a few hours, fatigue, 
occasional dizziness, breathlessness, heart rate increased, wild mood 
swings, acne, constipation/gas, noticeable forgetfulness, mouth ulcers and 
sores on my head (very weird, I know, but I have had these at the 
beginning of each pregnancy). I am sure that there are more I am 
forgetting right now. 

No new stresses. No “lifestyle” changes to account for the supply drop.

Not quite 4 weeks ago my nursling started wanting to switch sides while 
nursing. He had been nursing more frequently than is normal, but I 
attributed to his having an on-and-off sore throat. But I took more notice 
when he began switching sides, because we have NEVER done that. He started 
acting frustrated and began asking to nurse several times an hour. He 
never seemed satisfied. He was shaking my breasts and squeezing the 
nipple, trying to get it to shoot out. I finally asked him what was going 
on. He told me that there was milk, but it was harder to get it to come 
out than he is used to. (Not in those words, of course!) He started 
telling me “nursies not working right” whenever we nursed. He even woke me 
the other night with his tossing in bed and crying. He was having a 
nightmare and, in his sleep said, “Other side, please!” 

Several days later, during which we had been nursing several times an hour 
for most hours of the day, I tried to express some milk and got FAR less 
than what was normal for me. Two days later I tried to express and got 
nothing. 

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