Drying up at 11.5 months?

[bunnyfrance]

Hi,

I went back to work when DS was 7 months - he refused a bottle and made up feeds in the night.

At 10 months, he started taking formula in a cup. As he was then getting enough milk in the day, I stopped night feeds (there were at least 2 at the time and they were tiring me out). Nightweaning was a huge success and he now sleeps 12 hours. I BF morning and evening and he has about 250ml formula in the day.

In the last week, however, he has been sucking for ages in the morning (20 minutes, when before it was about 5). A few days ago he got really upset an hour after the morning feed - I gave him some milk in a cup and he drank it all. He was much happier after that, so obviously hungry.

So, is it possible that my milk could be drying up so late in the game? How would I know? I would be gutted if that were the case - I really wanted to keep going until at least a year!

Thanks for any help!

I'm sorry, but yes.

It's a matter of your personal biology. If the level of supply stimulation drops below what your body requires, then you dry up. It happened to me at about 12mths with DS, though much later with DD.

Dropping evening/night feeds seems to be a common precursor, as overnight hormonal activity is important in maintaining production.