where has my milk gone?

[Cosmo89]

Completely over-reacting most likely but..

I express in the morning for the dreamfeed at 10pm/11pm. I've been used to getting 4oz from the right breast, which has gone down to 3oz in the past week. At best it takes 20 minutes, at worst 40. I feed DS from the left - not at the same time (because he kicks his robotic nemesis out of the way most of the time), but before.

This morning I expressed a lot later (at 930 rather than 730) - my breast didn't feel full in the same way and it took about 40 minutes to get 2oz.

Is this going to be a problem? A bit worried...

[Cosmo89]

should have added, the reason that it was later this morning is that DS is now in a new habit of waking for 2.5 hours every night. He slept finally at 530. I got to sleep at 6...so we all overslept somewhat.

[BertieBotts]

Don't panic! It's normal, you're just adjusting to on-demand supply rather than post-birth-hormones supply.

I'm guessing your DS is about 3 or 4 months old?

Hang on I'll find you some links.

[tiktok]

Cosmo, I'm taking it your baby is beyond newborn?

It can be normal for expressing production to decrease with very established breastfeeding.

If your baby is still young, it may be a sign that you would be better off expressing more than once - pointless expressing for 40 mins, far better to have two sessions of 20 mins - and maybe to increase the breastfeeds your baby has.

[BertieBotts]

kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/pumping/pumping_decrease/

Scroll down to "What is normal when it comes to pumping output and changes in pumping output?"

Also, you might experience this soon if you haven't already:
kellymom.com/bf/got-milk/supply-worries/breast-fullness/

[tiktok]

How long does your baby go without a breastfeed over night? How many times does he bf over 24 hrs?

[Cosmo89]

Thanks for the links! I'll investigate.

hmm - i'm going to find it difficult adding pumping sessions in during the day. Already loopy enough rather than adding to my new sofa bound lifestyle.

Hi tiktok -DS is 14 weeks. I bfed him last night at 6-64pm, with a formula 2oz at the end. He had a dreamfeed at 10. I then bfd him at 3am from the left for 30 minutes. He bfd in total of 4 times yesterday. He hasn't been weighed for a bit, as we had an atrocious night before the baby clinic and I just couldn't do it. He was tracking the 50th centile.

I've also stopped taking the fenugreek supplements I was on because I was wondering whether they were pointless....starting to think not!

[Cosmo89]

And I don't seem to feel let downs now... from c. 8weeks - recently I was feeling them very strongly...

[tiktok]

Thanks for the extra detail, cosmo - I'm assuming your baby has formula as well as the breastfeeds and the expressed?

4 bfs a day plus 1 expressing a day is not normally often enough to maintain a milk supply with a baby as young as this....especially if the formula has been introduced some time ago.

To protect your milk supply, you will need to breastfeed more often or express more often.

Infrequent breastfeeding is 'safe' if full bf has been well-established for several months - that's why working mothers of babies aged, say, 9 or 10 mths can feed when they are with their babies, while the baby has formula when they are apart. But at 14 weeks, things are not so flexible.

[Cosmo89]

Hmm. Actually it is usually 5-7 times a day in total - I think I miscounted, and I didn't include a feed (there are sometimes 2) at night. And the formula is an addition at the end just before bed.

[Cosmo89]

5-7 times within 24 hours that is, with one formula 2oz and a 5oz bottle of expressed milk at 10 or 11.
And I forgot to say I pump before bed too, but have always had low results at that time, so the morning helped me to get the main body of the dream feed together.
Would it also be relevant that he had his tongue tie sorted 10 days ago? He was diagnosed quite late. Since then he's feeds have seemed to have sped up slightly but I do wonder whether he's getting enough - we used to spend an hour or more feeding, now it's always more like 25 - 30 minutes.

[tiktok]

Speeded up feeds are normal as a baby gets older :)

It's just not possible to say if you are producing less and in a 'risky' stage, Cosmo - easy enough to be sure with 4 feeds in 24 hours at 14 weeks (because it's way fewer than usual) but not so easy with 5-7 feeds in 24 hours because you are getting a bit closer to the usual.

Whatever - you can increase supply and the milk taken by your baby by using both breasts at least once each time, and feeding more often.