Have you experienced not being able to fully breastfeed your baby? It’s painful.
And perhaps you secretly wish that it won’t happen again with your next baby.
But, have you analyzed what gone wrong? What mistakes did you make, or things that you can fix to make ‘next time’ better?
In this article, I would love to share with you 5 commons breastfeeding mistakes that I did while nursing my first born, which hinders me from exclusively breastfeeding him from the start.
Yeah, perhaps you’ll say: Don’t focus on mistakes. But I believe by identifying the mistakes, you’ll not fall into it again, and you’ll make effort on how to avoid it and how to fix it.
Let the story begins. Here’s my confession…
Table of Contents
- 1 My #1 Mistake: Not gathering enough information
- 2 Mistake #2: Not surrounded by supportive health care personnel
- 3 Give your milk supply a head start!
- 4 Mistake #3: Separated from baby after birth
- 5 Mistake #4 Not surrounded by supportive spouse /family OR they have no idea HOW to give correct support
- 6 Give your milk supply a head start!
- 7 #5 Playing a perfect housewife role and …
- 8 NOT dedicating the first two weeks solely for yourself and your baby.
My #1 Mistake: Not gathering enough information
I knew from the start that I wanted to breastfeed. I did my research on how to prepare for breastfeeding, but not extensive. I was lazy. I read article that breastfeeding would occur naturally and I rely on that. I thought every mother would be able to breastfeed smoothly. So I just waited for it to happen.
I didn’t research which birth method is the best for breastfeeding. I opt to use pain killer (yes, just one jab on thigh), not knowing that drug used during delivery may affect how drowsy a newborn is, and that may affect the early start of breastfeeding.
Shortly after discharged from hospital, my little boy suffered from jaundice. Being inexperience parent with little knowledge, we followed doctor’s suggestion to top up his feeding with formula to speed up jaundice recovery. Yes, the jaundice went away, but my milk supply suffered. If only I knew that formula feeding is not the only option I had for dealing with jaundice, perhaps I would be able to exclusively breastfeed my first baby right from the start.
Mistake #2: Not surrounded by supportive health care personnel
Shortly after birth, I was given my newborn baby to nurse. For 10 minutes perhaps. But the baby was fussy. You know what the nurse said, ‘your milk has not come in, that’s why baby is hungry. If it continues to be like this, we may need to give your baby formula.’
That’s not a typical comment from a pro breastfeeding health-care personnel. If I had enough knowledge about breastfeeding, I could easily reply her that newborn has enough reserves to survive up to 72 hours and colostrum ( the early phase of milk) would suffice him. So again, mistake #1 play a role too here.
My baby was put in the nursery based on nurse’s advice, so that I could get some rest. Mistake #1 and #2, because a pro-breastfeeding nurse would have advised us to room-in with baby. I was at fault too, not knowing how important it is to room in with baby. By putting baby in nursery, you miss the earliest opportunities to know your baby, her hunger cues, and chances are you’ll miss some feedings, especially if the nurses are not cooperative enough to bring the baby to you regularly.
When I came to clinic for a follow-up one day after discharge, the doctor criticized me for not eating enough, causing me not having enough milk, and again, warned me to feed my baby formula milk if my milk supply doesn’t improve.
Imagine my feeling, a first-time mother, sleep-deprived and tired, wanted to get doctor’s advice, only to get criticized.
Well, some of you may think that I’m too exaggerating the condition. But believe me, taking care of mother’s physiological aspect is as important as taking care the mother and baby physically. If not, why post-partum mother are at higher risk of having depression? Answer it yourself.
So this is why, having supportive health care personnel is very critical in your breastfeeding journey. This is especially crucial because they play a BIG role in the early days of breastfeeding.
Give your milk supply a head start!
Start preparing for breastfeeding even before your baby arrives with this FREE checklist.
Mistake #3: Separated from baby after birth
Do you know that what happened on the early days of breastfeeding may affect your milk supply on long term? This is especially true for the first hour after birth.
Spending the first hour after birth with your baby by skin-to-skin contact, cuddling, and nursing have been proven to increase the success rate of breastfeeding. With my first baby, I didn’t experience long skin-to-skin contact with my baby. Only 15 minutes and the nurse quickly placed him inside a warmer to ‘keep him warm’.
I didn’t object because I don’t have enough knowledge to begin with, so I just follow what I thought ‘a standard procedure’, which was wrong (again, mistake #1 plays a role, too). I should have gotten my ‘right’ to have skin-to-skin contact with my newborn. Other non-critical medical procedure such as weighing and such can wait.
Another important thing to do right after birth is to practice rooming-in (having your newborn always placed in the same room as yours). When a baby is placed in the nursery, you become dependent on nurses to bring your baby to you. Ok, if the nurses are supportive, they may send your baby regularly for feeding. But sometimes, nurses can be very busy, you need to request many times to bring your baby in.
By placing your baby in nursery, you also miss the very first opportunity to learn about your baby’s hunger cue. If you could identify your baby’s cue early enough, you may be able to avoid the great fussiness that happens because baby already too hungry.
I learnt this the hard way. I didn’t really learn about my baby’s cue and rely too much on what the nurse said. As the result, I got shocked on the very first day we brought the baby home because he’s so attached to me all the night. So, once again, the bottom line here is avoid separating with baby right after birth.
Mistake #4 Not surrounded by supportive spouse /family OR they have no idea HOW to give correct support
Your family loves you and your baby so much. I can assure that for sure. They also respect your decision to breastfeed the baby. But without knowledge, how would they be able to support you the correct way.
Typical example would be like this. Taking care of newborn can be very exhausting. You need some rest and that’s when your family could help you by taking care of the baby while you catch some sleep. But problem occurs when the baby starts crying for hunger, but your family does not want to disturb your sleep.
Formula feeding to the rescue. You know, introducing supplementation when it is not necessary can RUIN your milk supply. And that’s the beginning how your milk supply can suffer.
Older generation -my parents included-could not stand a crying baby long enough. They associated every cry with hunger, which is incorrect. Can you believe that, I was just having my quick shower, only to find that my mom has already fed my baby because she thought the baby was hungry and could not wait until mummy finished the shower. Ridiculous!
So, you can see from the examples, how family may ‘accidentally’ make your milk supply worse by giving incorrect support.
I was at fault too, because I should sort of ‘educate’ my family member on how they can support my breastfeeding effort.
Another example – this is a real case that I read from ‘a guide to making more milk’. The husband was trying to be helpful by cooking his wife a warm soup for her meal for the first few days. And surprisingly, her milk supply starts to dwindle down quickly after that.
After investigation by lactation consultant, it turns out that the culprit was the soup, because the soup uses a generous amount of sage leaves, one of herbs known of its milk reducing effect.
Are you going to say that her husband is at fault because cooking soup for his wife? Of course not! But simply because he doesn’t know about this milk reducing herb, is what cause the milk supply issue.
So again, here we see how critical it is to make sure your family member know how to support your breastfeeding effort correctly.
Give your milk supply a head start!
Start preparing for breastfeeding even before your baby arrives with this FREE checklist.
#5 Playing a perfect housewife role and …
NOT dedicating the first two weeks solely for yourself and your baby.
I have a perfect mother (at least, in my opinion). She can do anything. I admire her so much such that I want to do things exactly like what she does. I’m so obsessed that she can do basically many things postpartum without much help from the surrounding family, like she’s been washing her baby cloth (by hand) right from day one. FYI, my father was overseas when she gave birth to my elder sister, so she was literally alone.
I know you’ll say that I’m so silly lol, but yes I was, and I was tempted to do this ‘perfect housewife’ thing. So I refused to have more rest when my baby is sleeping (insisted that I’m not tired at all) when at night I turned into swaying zombie. I still took a good amount of household chores when in fact I didn’t even need to think about it. I was so stubborn.
Only upon reflection on why my breastfeeding has become so challenging, I realize that this is one reason I didn’t get a great start. I thought I shouldn’t ‘waste’ my time the whole day only to nurse, sleep, change the diaper, bathe the baby, and all. When the truth is actually YOU SHOULD. When the truth is actually you should ignore anything else and focus on taking care of your baby and yourself.
This is especially important in the first two weeks (read here to know why). Now the baby is your priority and anything else can wait. Another thing to focus is YOURSELF. I know it is not easy to get a good rest in the early days with your newborn, but try your best. If you have totally-wreck night sleep, try to catch some naps while your baby naps.
Also, pay attention to your food and drink. You want to have as nutritious food as possible to nourish your body, and subsequently your baby. Stay hydrated and drink enough liquid. Water, juice, milk, whatever. A normal adult needs in average 2 liters of water to drink per day. And now your body is working hard to produce precious milk for your baby. So, drink even more! Don’t let your busy schedule of taking care of your newborn prevent you from having healthy meals (PS: healthy meals postpartum is affordable. I’ll talk about it in the future post).
So here they are. Five common breastfeeding mistakes that I DID in the early days of breastfeeding my first born, which ruined my milk supply.
Wheww.. it turns out to be quite a lengthy post, but I sincerely want you to really understand how fatal each mistake could be.
Tell me, have you done the same mistake, too? Which one? Or do you want to confess some other mistakes that you did? I’d love to hear from you.
In the next part of this chronicle, I’ll tell you how I avoided and fixed these mistakes with my second baby, with some detailed tips that you may be curious about. Stay tune!
Dear Rina,
Great article on 5 common breastfeeding mistakes which can ruin your milk supply.
I was amazed by the fact that if you are not with your baby in the first hours after birth, this could affect your milk supply. And in today’s society this is a common practice.
I love you site in general. Thanks for reminding us that breastfeeding is so important.
Ilina
Dear Ilina, thank you for the compliment.
Urm.. perhaps I should rephrase my sentence here. I don’t mean that when you didn’t get chance to be with your baby at the first hour after birth, you won’t be able to breastfeed. But studies have shown that mother-baby pair who get skin-to-skin contact opportunities tend to have earlier milk-coming-in, less difficulty in latch on, and longer breastfeeding duration. Here is the article that discuss in detail the importance of skin-to-skin contact right after birth (it’s amazing!), and summary of clinical studies on the benefit of skin-to-skin contact.
I hope this clarify your doubts.
Hi,
Very interesting site. You will be amazed by the numbers of parents who would not even consider breast feeding.
I had major issues with this and had to stop just 3 weeks in but never received any support or advice how to continue. I was then horrified by my experience and thought I’d never do it again but coming across this site i would definitely reconsider for the second time round and take some of your tips on board.
Thank you.
Hi Katrina, I’m so sorry with your bad experience in breastfeeding your baby. I agree that new breastfeeding mothers are vulnerable and do need a solid support from the surroundings. I hope you’ll try again if you plan to have another baby because breastfeeding gives tremendous benefit to the child.
Wow, you explained a lot. I think it’s wonderful now how the hospitals let you room with your baby which could take care of one the mistakes. When I had my kids they hadn’t had that option yet. It makes a lot of sense to have your child in the room with you. I hope that a lot of expectant mothers will see this post and do their research. Hopefully many will learn from these mistakes.
Hi Kitty,
Truly agree with you. Now more and more hospital allows mom to room in with the baby, and that really helps new moms to learn baby’s hunger cue and definitely, more opportunities to breastfeed the baby.
Great tips. I can’t believe some of the things people in healthcare told you about breastfeeding. They should know better. It is awful they chose to criticize you instead of educate you. Maybe if they knew all the terrible things in formula, they would not push it on mothers. I am glad you learned these things. I wish you would have had a better experience from the start.
Very true, Kristie.
We learnt better from mistake, I guess. I don’t want other mothers to experience what I had, that’s why I share my story. I agree with you that healthcare people should educate themselves more about breastfeeding. But I see and increasing positive trend about breastfeeding awareness. Now more hospital are baby-friendly, and they educate the nurse to be lactation-certified.
If you are producing low breast milk out of one reason or the other, rebuild your production with the help of healthy nursing tea. I have experienced this tea with great results.
Great article on breastfeeding. Its great to see someone writing about breast feeding and promoting it. I agree with all 5 of your points. I have 4 children and breastfed them all. I did all of the 5 things that you suggested with all of my children and i still found it difficult breastfeeding. Women need to know that even if they do all 5 of the points you mentioned they still may have difficulty but they should keep going with it because it is the best for your baby……
Hi Jessica,
You have a good point here. My objective here is not to make this list all inclusive. Even when you avoid these mistakes, you may still have difficulty breastfeeding, but at least the learning curve will be easier.
You may want to read my article here about 30+ tips to make breastfeeding easier for new moms. You’ll find more tips over there.
I believe another mistake is constantly nursing. The fact is, no matter what others would like to say, a mom CAN run out of sufficient milk for a short time. If she’s been pumping, that’d be a great time to feed baby from the bottle – that way, baby gets fed and her body gets the rest and time to replenish that it needs. During my first breastfeeding journey, I’d have given up within a few months if I’d listened to those who say “nurse! nurse! nurse!”. I wasn’t able to pump, so I supplemented with formula – ONLY when I deemed it necessary. Meaning, not after every feeding, not once a day, but only when it was obvious I hadn’t given her enough milk.
There IS a proper place for supplementation, ladies. There’s also a place for just nursing the baby. The point is, use your own brain to figure out which one you & your baby need and do that. By the way, that baby is now 5 years old & she’s still breastfeeding.
For the other points, I made many of those mistakes with my oldest. I didn’t do much research. I allowed him to be in the nursery (once). I also had NO support in continuing to breastfeed him. At that time, I had no idea goat milk was a viable option, so I switched him to store-bought formula at 1 month old. For what it’s worth, even if I’d done everything right, even if I’d had the support, I don’t think I could’ve fed him my milk for long. No pump and a bad sore on my nipple that needed time to heal – time that was detrimental to my supply. At least with my now 5yo daughter, I had virtual support – just not any in real life. Anyway, I also didn’t do skin to skin with my son. By the time my daughter arrived, I had learned, thankfully. I’d done enough research that I didn’t *need* familial support, though it would’ve been nice. I knew listening to my baby’s hunger cues and doing what I believed she needed was the most important thing to our journey – regardless of what others tried to tell me. Skin to skin was a constant, too; I even tried wearing her (my beginning months in the babywearing field were so pitiful, lol! Point is, I was trying).
Now that I’ve had a baby with colic, I would like to put this out there as well: try to breastfeed. But pay close attention to what your baby’s telling you! My milk hurts my baby’s tummy, even with the probiotics we now give her (DD3). I decided that the benefits of breastmilk simply didn’t outweigh the amount of pain my milk puts her in, once I knew what to look for. Since I switched to goat milk formula & started her on probiotics, things are much, MUCH better! Colic is still there (she’s 4.5 months old), but she’s not screaming at every feeding, all day long. This has enabled me to figure out the best ways to treat her, pay attention to my other kids, and do the household chores that have to be done.
I really liked this post! It was very informative, and the author and I are in total agreeance – we need to identify and learn from our mistakes, or we’re doomed to repeat them.
Hi Chelie,
I really appreciate you taking time to share your experience.
We all love to hear each other breastfeeding experience, don’t we?
Having said that, what works for one mom may not work for others.
So, read as many resources as you can and learn on the go what works for you and your baby.
Hi Rina
I had to supplement my first child because I felt he was not getting enough from me . He was constantly crying and eventually I relented to mixed feeding because of the pressure. When I had my second, I was really determined and thank God I chanced upon this blog . It has not only been helpful to prepare me, but also understanding all the pros and cons about breast feeding. I would say the biggest scarifice would be time and not be able to enjoy some things if you choose to exclusive breastfeed, which is totally OK with me. I took your advice and pointers . My baby was a gentle sucker and since I also had to tend to my 2 yr old son, I had to pump and feed her through bottle with the Medela Calma teat and so, as and when, throughout the day, I will breastfeed her. So far the trqnsaction was smooth, she did not have any nipple confusion. The bottomline for me now is, if you choose to breastfeed, DO IT, no matter what method you choose. And yes, getting SUPPORT from the people around you is IMPORTANT. I have had enough of people telling me to supplement with formula or to add nestum to my milk so that my baby will be full longer. Total BS. She is not even 6 mths yet! A baby is a baby. They will cry. Their stomach can only take so much at a time. And after a while, you as a mother, will pick up on the instincts of what she wants by the cries. Every cries does not equate to hunger all the time.
The Spectra breast pump you recommended was a heaven sent for me in aiding me to express and I was able to keep some stash whenever I travel (really helps to place me in a peaceful state of mind). I hope this blog will be read by all expectant mothers so at least they can get as much knowledge as possible and have a proper headstart. Once again, thank you!
Hi Sophie,
Thank you so much for taking time to write your comment and sharing your story.
My heart feels warm reading it. It means a lot to me that other moms get benefit from reading my blog. So thank you very much for letting me know.
I do agree with you that better preparation leading to a better breastfeeding success. I also had similar story with you, my first was mixed fed, while the second was exclusively breastfed. Yes, it is not easy, but totally worth it.
Cheers.
Rina
Hi Rina
I am almost into tears by reading post on five mistakes. I am also a mother of 4 months daughter and i could related to each line as happened with me. My milk supply is very very low almost like drops. I feel very sad because i am giving top formula feed to my baby since her birth because of low supply.
Probably Reasons are same like yours.
I spend hours searching google for remedies to have exclusive breast feeding but no improvement.
People say my baby’s weight is also less
Please guide me what to do with your experience and knowledge.
Please
Hi Archana,
I can understand your frustration. I’ve been there before and I was not able to fully breastfed my son. But still, I continue to breastfeed him with whatever milk supply that I have and top up the rest with formula.
Breastfeeding is not all or none. No matter how little milk you have, it is still a precious gift for your baby.
Having said that, I can totally understand your wish to exclusively breastfeed your baby. Have you consulted a lactation consultant? She may be able to give you a specific plan on how to bring back your baby to breast and build up your supply. She can also rule out if there’s any problem with baby’s anatomy or your breast anatomy that may hinder breastfeeding.
My suggestion is: you can try building up your supply by pumping 15 minutes 10-12x a day. You may get drops at first, that’s okay, but I hope it will signal your breast to make more and more milk. And use a hospital grade breast pump such as Spectra S1/S2. Because you are going to pump very often, you need a heavy duty pump, or else it will break easily.
Second, you can try to bring back your baby to breast. Rather than bottle feeding him, use an at-breast supplementer (SNS system) to get the formula milk fed to your baby via a small tube taped close to your nipple. This is not only allows your baby to associate breast with milk, hence more eager to suck, but also to stimulate your breast at the same time you are feeding your baby. I’ll warn you though, this is not easy to do and needs a learning curve.
I wish you all the best, Archana.
Remember that you are already doing the best for your baby, don’t beat your self up. You’re an awesome mother.
Rina
Also issues that maybe hidden, my milk supply suffered because come to find out, after my baby became dehydrated and solely breastfeeding for the first month, she has a tongue tie that was hard to diagnose and wasn’t found until we went to a Lactation Specialist. I didn’t even know there are different types and that this could have even been an issue. Now we are behind and working really hard to get my supply back up.
Very true, Jacqueline.
Tongue-tie, if not detected early, may affect milk supply because the baby was unable to remove milk from breast effectively.
This is why, it is recommended for moms who are worried about their supply, to monitor the babies’ diaper count, as an indicator whether the baby gets enough milk, and possibly weigh the baby regularly.
I hope you will be able to build up your milk supply soon.
Rina
Great article. I’m expecting my first child and I want to breastfeed, so this was great advices. BUT it is absolutely incorrect that an average adult has to drink 8 litres of water per day. I had to read that twice. Drinking 8 litres a day would make you very sick. It’s kinda individual how much water you need (based on weight and health), but an average healthy adult needs between 1,5-2 litres of water a day. And then you may be needing more when you breastfeed.
Hi Betina,
Many thanks for the correction. I guess I mixed up between 8 glasses of water and 2 liters of water, lol.
Have a safe delivery and great breastfeeding journey!
Rina
Good article
Thank you!
Oh my, why didn’t I come across your website while I was pregnant?? Chanced upon your website cos I googled about reviews for Medela freestyle. Anyway, the mistakes you’ve mentioned are so true and unfortunately I did encounter most of it. I am a new mom to my three and half months old son. Honestly speaking it was so hard for me at first and it didn’t get any easier. Even my own parents doubted my supply and suggested supplementing. I was so adamant about breastfeeding my baby. I persevered even though I had to nurse him every hour. Then came one fine day (about a month ago), my baby’s PD told me to supplement cos my baby’s weight gain is on the lowest percentile. I gave in. It felt as though I had lost a battle and it was a bitter and sad moment for me. Now I feel as though my supply has dipped. My baby gets fussy when I’m nursing him. It’s very stressful for me. And when I’m stressed, my supply gets even lower than it already is. 🙁
Thanks for a good write up for me and other new mom’s to relate.
Hi Syahila,
I’m glad you can relate to what I wrote.
And yeah, stress is a big killer to milk production. It’s not easy, but.. try not to stress too much about it.
As one author said, your worth as a mom is not measured by the ‘oz’ of breast milk that you can give to your baby.
You are still a great mom!
Take care,
Rina
Hi Rina,
My experience with breastfeeding was extremely complicated, frustrating, and filled with plenty of tears. I had every possible thing that can go wrong – did go wrong with me. I wish I had found your website sooner. I would like to add this to your list of options.
1. Look into baby supplemental nursing system where you have formula in a syringe taped to your breast. The baby latches onto your breast and the tiny feeding tube. The baby is getting formula and stimulating your breast to produce breastmilk at the same time. We did this for a good 3 weeks. It was extremely hard. Day and night for every 2 hours. Each feeding lasted about 30 minutes to an hour because we had to set it up and get baby to latch.
2. Lactation nurse recommended using extra slow flow nipples with the tommy tippee bottles to feed the baby formula after you have nursed your baby to top them off. This encouraged baby to prefer the breast versus the faster easier bottles. I wish we had this ready as my baby also had jaundice and lost a whole pound in 5 days and we were told by our pediatrician to give her formula. We tried advent bottles but it leaked milk all over her and was was too fast flowing.
3. Supplements that helps with making more breast milk. Fenugreek works on most people and is very effective. Fenugreek does not work on people with thyroid issues. Thyroid issues need to try Goats Rue, Moringa, and Shatavari.
4. My baby was on formula and the bottle for about a week. She was still able to get back onto the breast. Baby will always prefer your breast over bottle so don’t give up.
For those that feel they need to quit. Either quit early or keep going because I have yet to see anyone with it worse than my situation.
1. I have hypothyriod issues so that put me way behind at the start.
2. I had gestational diabetes.
3. I had adema (swollen legs) for a whole month postpartum.
4. I had a 3rd degree (closer to a 4th degree tear) that took the doctor a whole 30 minutes to stitch me up.
5. Girls, if you have a c-section or a really bad tear, lower your beds so that when you are nursing it is easier than climbing in and out of bed at night. I was so stressed with baby that my stitches came lose 5 days into being sent home.
5. I had an infection with my wound / tear. I was put on antibiotics for a week. I also had a really bad allergic reaction to the medications.
6. Baby had jaundice.
7. I basically didn’t heal until 5 1/2 months later. I was seeing my OBG about once a week to get my wound burnt to control unwanted growth. I did see 3 OBG, 1 registered nurse who specialized in taking care of pregnant women, and 2 surgeons.
Good Luck
Thank you for sharing your story. Very inspiring for other moms not to easily give up.
This is all well and good for mothers who don’t have premies or babies who need medical attention immediately after birth. Born via unplanned c section at 30.5 weeks, my twins needed to be taken to the NICU immediately after being born – I couldn’t hold them or feed them, and they couldn’t be breastfed for over a month. Please add a note to posts like this that acknowledge that this advice isn’t feasible for all mothers.
Thank you, Kim.
You are right that this is not possible for NICU babies.
I’ll add notes to the post.
Hi Rina,
I’ve just found your website and surely I should have read it before my twins were born.
I had low supply with my first, aged 5 now, he was very hungry, I didn’t know anything about breastfeeding and was told to give him formula. I did it and kept on pumping 4/5 times daily to express maximum 180 ml (about 6 oz), one of the seven meals of the day.
When I discovered to be pregnant with twins, I was sure not to be able to breastfeed my babies. I have sleeping issues and suffer from anxiety, so my husband is taking care of the babies during the night. I couldn’t have nursed both on demand. Moreover, I had a c-section at 37 weeks and the babies needed to stay under observation for one entire day. No contact after their birth.
Now my babies are one month and four weeks old, I pump 7 times a day and express 7 oz, not more. I’m doing most of the things you suggest, but I can’t increase my supply. I can’t breastfeed both babies (I tryied, but I’m alone at home and I’m not able to put both at the breasts). I try to do it first with one, then with the other, but often both cry.
I’d like to have a bit more supply, but I don’t know what else I could do. I borrowed a good pump (couldn’t choose the shell size…), pump every three hours, do the breast compression while pumping, take supplements and stay hydrate…
With twins is very hard indeed!
Thanks anyway for your advices.
Hi,
Having twins must be hard.
Unfortunately, I haven’t had anymore advise. Enjoy your babies. I totally understand your wish to get more supply, but even this amount that you get right now is wonderful gift to your babies.