To ask about breast milk supply

[newmum1611]

Sorry posting here to hopefully get more responses.

I have a 17 day old baby who is ebf. I’m not sure if my milk is decreasing. I was easily producing 40-90ml each breast when pumping and he was going 3-4 hours between feeds. Last night and today he has been feeding every hour and when I’ve expressed I’ve barely managed 30ml. Is this a sign my breast milk supply is going down?

Thanks in advance x

Sounds like your baby is cluster feeding, they do this now and again. Try not to stress and just feed him whenever he wants and hopefully he will settle into a routine again. He’s very small yet.

That all sounds really normal. How much you can express (unless you’re EP), isn’t a very good indicator of your supply as babies are usually much more efficient than a pump. Feeding more regularly helps boost supply as they approach growth spurts. That said, 3-4 hours is really long between feeds. I don’t think mine went that long until closer to 7-8 months. Every 1-2 hours is more the norm, so sounds like you’re doing fine!

No it isnt. After a while your body strts to regulate how much you need to produce, Your baby cab get more off than you can express. It is pointless trying to measure. The focus is on is your babay putting on weight and growing, and is he satisfied. Some babies do get into a habit of feeding small feeds hourly which is ok if all is going well but can be a bit unhelpful. It can be tiring for the Mum and sometimes the baby is snacking on the foremilk and not drinking the more satisfying richer hindmilk. If you are concerned it may be worth trying to eak him out a bit longer than an hour to encourage a good fee. Usually, the night feeds are the best and therefore the most important so don't tempted to give a bottle in the night. Talk to your health visitor. Babies also often have a hungry spell when they have a growth spurt. He should be back to his birth weight by 6 weeks, anything over is a bonus. If he feeds every hour you will not get anythingh on expressing

The LLL woman told me that breasts are production lines rather than warehouses, so your body is very very good at responding to a request for more milk especially once you've got feeding more established

And your baby is much better than a pump, so don't use the pump as an indicator of how much your baby is getting...

Picked this up late but I remember the bf class I went to they did a great analogy.

Cut an orange in to quarters and try to suck the juice through a straw from one quarter, that's what it's like for baby to get milk when they only latch to the nipple. , squeeze the orange with your hand and that represents how much milk comes from expressing. Actually put the quarter in your mouth and suck and that represents a good latch.

It shows that baby gets a lot more milk when on the breast than from expressing.

My dd would only stay on for 10/15 mins at a time, however her weight gain was fine and I carried on ebf for 13 months so don't panic about the volume you express, it's generally alot less than what baby can get out

Sounds perfectly normal and like baby is having a growth spurt to up your supply. All totally normal and in a day or so it will reduce in frequency. Cluster feeding completely normal too so roll with it, you’re doing a great job!