Is my milk drying up?

[sproutpudding]

Hello and sorry if this is a stupid question...

My DD is 9.5 months old, ebf for the first 6 months. 2 months ago she went down to a breastfeed first thing in the morning and last thing before sleeping, and her 2 daytime feeds were replaced with a bottle. Now she just has the morning bottle, plus the 2 breast feeds.

She's still apparently feeding away cheerfully but my breasts have shrunk pretty much back to their original size (as far as I can remember!) and I don't have that buzzy feeling when I let down any more. And I don't leak! (Which is lovely.) There's still some, I had a squeeze after her last feed just now to see. I don't want to panic and bottle feed her, but I'm anxious that there's very little there and that she's not getting enough.

Is my milk drying up and how will I know when it has done?

Not sure how you know if it has dried up, but make sure you are taking on enough fluids yourself. Good luck.

It all sounds very normal - my boobs stopped leaking around 10 months and started to look rather deflated and shrivelled TBH. Feeding continued, they eventually started to plump up a bit about another 6m or so later (mostly because I put on weight I think)

I stopped feeling the letdown even earlier I think, the milk is still coming you just don't get the tingling so much as time goes on. I am fairly sure she would let you know if there was no milk coming out

Very very normal, I think. Your DD would totally tell you if there wasn't enough milk there!

absolutely normal!
it happens to everyone, and she will let you know if there is no milk, trust me lol

Thank you both very much.

MumOfMadTwo I'm probably not drinking enough, good point.

festivefriedawhingesagain thanks, that's very reassuring. She's a hefty baby with a healthy appetite so she probably would let me know pretty quickly, heh heh.

Oooh, goodness, more replies - thank you! I am glad this is normal, it's all a new experience for me and I don't know anyone in real life who's breastfed whom I can ask!

DS2 let me know there wasn't much there (7.5 months, 2 feeds a day, no letdown feeling, etc) - after a couple of minutes on each side he would refuse to latch on. He'd then cry, and when offered a bottle he'd drink the whole thing. If she's still happy to feed she's probably getting some.

Thanks MumNWLondon, nothing like that is happening at the moment anyway. It's good to know something so specific.

Sorry about what happened to you though.

Probably my fault - I BF at 7am, 6pm and 10pm but offered a (3oz) botle at 10pm feed after BFing as didn't want to get up in night once back at work. (He was also having 2 other bottles during day). It worked and he slept all night BUT it meant that he thought that once he'd finished on the breast he'd get a bottle, and I also didn't have newborn teats on so the milk came out of the bottle pretty fast.

Wasn't an issue at 7am as he got breakfast, and I probably had the most milk then, but he refused to feed for more than a couple of minutes at 6pm and 10pm. I'd latch him on he'd suck to see how much/how fast and then pull off. Because he wouldn't suck much my supply dwindled further. Which made him even less interested.

hi - quick one but actually soft boobs are NORMAL, if they are bigger and harder then that's a sign of engorgement and that your LO isn't meeting demand.... I haven't had letdown since DD2 was about 12 weeks, and no leaking at all really, but she's still very much a bfed baby and was excl bfed for 6 mo.
So in answer to your question - it doesn't sound like your milk is drying up and as long as you keep feeding her, you'll keep making it