Scared my breastmilk will dry up...

[brightongirldownunder]

DS is 8 days old and was 10lbs at birth - he been feeding at least every 2 hours and in his first week actually put on weight. However I feel like my breasts are reducing in size too much and am so scared about my milk drying up. Hes so hungry and I'm desperate to feed him for a year as I did with my DD.
Am I just stressing out too much? I panicked like this with DD but although she was big, certainly not as large as DS. Are there any supplements I could take?
Is this a common phobia?

Try to be led by your ds, his general alertness, weight gain, wees, poos etc. Is he visibly/audibly swallowing milk, latch fine etc?

My breasts reduced in size when dd was around that age because they started to adjust from being rock hard, engorged lumps to breasts that were responding to dd's feeding pattern (frequent/non stop).

Do you have a local breastfeeding group that you could go along to in order to help you with your confidence.

The size of your ds is irrelevant btw. Hence why you can bfeed twins/triplets/continue to feed a child well into toddlerdom. Your breasts are very clever.

Just feed him often (no schedule, not only every 3h) as long as he seems to need more and your supply wil adjust. Also make sure you drink lots of water/juice and eat enough and healthy.

They say oatmeal helps a lot (so porridge or musli every morning) and also fenugreek capsules. Whenever i feel my supply is not enough i spend two days nursing dd a lot (like a growth spurt really), drinj hot chocolate, eat musli (i take oats and mix them with sultanas, walnuts, fresh pieces of apple and banana anf milk) every morning, and usually i find by the afternoon of the second day supply is back up.

Your body will produce more if ds needs more, so just keep nursing him, you're doing the right thing! Just because your breasts aren't engorged doesn't mean he's not getting enough. Just keep weighig and checkig diaper output to be sure but it sounds like you're doing fine.

Congrats on the birth of your DS

I know its not easy, but try not to stress! You sound as if you are doing really well!

At the clinic where I gave birth to DS, which was a breastfeeding specialist clinic, they said to put your baby to the breast at least 15 times a day at first.

He may not feed every time, but just nuzzling will alert your boobs that they need to make milk. Have confidence in your body, it will make enough milk for your baby!

listen to music while you feed to help you relax - stress is not so good for supply. It doesn't actually matter too much what you eat. Try and keep fluids up though.

Keep at it - you did it with your DD, you can do it again with DS!

I think this is normal so don't worry. My DD was 10 2 at birth so I feel your pain... But the best thing about them being so big is that they are such good feeders. I would just carry on with what you are doing, feed on demand - in the early days I was feeding nearly all the time. Sounds like you are doing everything right

How are things today?

Don't worry that what you eat/drink will affect your milk. Of course bfing will make you thirsty and eating and drinking to appetite (and trying to eat healthily) will make you feel better, but your milk will not be affected if you prefer a cake to an apple right now.

Boob size isn't related to the amount of milk in them, it's hormone related, so if they're reducing in size it just means the pregnancy hormones are fading. I went up to ff cup when my milk first came in but reduced gradually over the first few weeks back to DD. I'm still two cup sizes bigger than pre-pregnancy but I assume I'll reduce still further once I stop BF-ing and my hormones return completely to normal. The more frequently you feed the more milk you'll produce so if =you've any concerns about supply just offer the boob more often. BF-ing does make you very hungry and thirsty to start with but that seems to stabilise after a while too.

Hi sorry I haven't been back till now - still trying to balance life with 2 kids! He's filling his nappy regularly, latches on though is happier on left breast than right. I think its just that he's feeding so often. Tonight he's totally rejected the right breast, so do i keep feeding him on the left?
All your advice is so right and I feel really stupid as I know I'll probably be fine I just think the stress from my relationship and broken sleep is probably paying havoc with my supply.
I will go to my breastfeeding group next week....