DS2 12mo and milk supply seems to be going - why??

[scarlotti]

Title says it all really - have been doing bedtime and wake up bf and all has been well. He's been a bit ill recently although I'm not sure that has anything to do with it.

Last week or so, he's been getting stroppy at both feeds and bobbing off and on, then being unsettled at the end. I've had to top him up and he's been fine. He's not getting enough and I don't understand why as I've never had a problem before.

Is this just a natural end to it all?

Some people can manage to continue bfing on only 2 feeds a day some need to feed more than that to keep their supply ticking over. 12 months is really too early to self wean and anyway that doesn't involve a drop in supply just a slow cessation of feeds (can also involve doing a couple of feeds a day then nothing for a few days/week then starting up again) over a long period of time (normal weaning age is 2.5 - 7 y/o).

Have your periods started back up yet? Some people experience a drop in supply around ovulation and/or start of period (I did with DD1 but not noticed it with DD2 or DD3).

If your DS has been ill he may have not been feeding as efficiently which may have lead to the drop in supply. As you are now supplementing after a feed that means even less milk is being removed.

Obviously if you want to end bfing then now would be a good time to stop but if you wanted to continue you could start offering at other times of day or switching from breast to breast (left then right then left then right etc) so that DS is really stimulating your supply and doesn't get the chance to get frustrated.

Thanks for the reply, I will have a think as to what I want to do and then take it from there I think.

Periods came back about 6 months ago, as soon as he dropped some daytime feeds!