Bf once a day?

[Christelle2207]

Hi- ds is now 6 months. Bf has decreased to early mornings only (1 decent feed from each breast) plus sometimes a snack later in the day. Snacks will end when I'm back at work soon but is it possible to keep up bf if just once a day? I was expressing in the evenings till last week but now stopped as my evening supply has gone- I think morning supply still there for now (ds seems happy).but wondering if I should expect that too to dwindle.

[TheScience]

Is he on formula for the rest of his feeds?

I think it's a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' type question.

[tiktok]

I agree with TheScience - hard to predict accurately. But I would judge that it's too soon to expect a supply to stay with one feed a day just yet - 6 mths is too young. It will probably dwindle once you don't get the occasional opportunity to give the other feeds.

[Christelle2207]

Thanks both,yes ff the rest of the time. Tiktok do you mean if I had bf for longer I'd have a better chance of keeping up one feed daily longer term? Makes sense

[tiktok]

Yes - that's what I meant.

There's not a lot of research into this, but experience direct and indirect and knowing what we know about how bf works, indicates pretty strongly that to maintain a supply on one feed only a day is not likely to last long unless you wait until the baby is a toddler.

Women keep up a bedtime-only feed with their toddlers for a long time, but they don't ever start trying to do it until well over a year at the minimum.

It's just the way it works :)

[leedy]

Yes, I did one feed a day with DS1 for ages, but he was two.

[EatsCakeForNoReasonWhatsoever]

Also - what's your indication that your milk supply has dwindled in the evening? Is it just expressing? Because a baby is far more efficient and effective at removing milk from the breast so you may find that if you stick baby on instead of the pump that actually you can get some going, if it's important to you. It's not unheard of to just give morning and evening feeds at this age, but I think the evening ones are quite important as that's when the hormones are highest.
Listen to TikTok though, she knows her stuff :)

[Christelle2207]

Yup expressing no longer produces much at all and I now feel "empty" in the eves and reasonably "full" in the mornings. May offer ds some boob at bedtime in that case to try and extend bf a bit. Appreciate that I may be losing the battle though, first few weeks were very tough and I was determined to get through to Christmas (mix fed) and I did

[BertieBottsJustGotMarried]

In my experience expressing got harder as DS got older. By the time he was 8 months I could barely express at all and at 12 months nothing. However, he fed until he was 4. So your expressing output isn't an indicator of supply.

I would think at 6 months you'd need at least 2-3 feeds a day, try morning and bedtime, it might help :) and if not you've already done 2 months longer than planned, well done :)

[SunnyL]

My DD is 8 months now. For the last 8 weeks I've reduced it down to 1 feed a day (the early morning one as I'm too lazy to get out of bed). In the last week though she's given me indications that supply is dwindling. There is definitely still milk in there but its not enough to fill her up. I often find myself topping her up with 120ml of milk if she is cranky.

[Christelle2207]

Thats encouraging to hear. I too feed first thing (from bed) as so tired (is terrible sleeper). If I managed to press on for another couple of months I'd be really pleased.