please help, did you have less milk second time around?

[thewaffler]

Please help, am unsure what to do and feel like I'm going round in circles in my head....

Dd was ebf until 8 months when I returned to work - probably longer as had built up an impressive expressed supply. From about 3 weeks we introduced a bottle if ebm that dh have her at 10pm to give me a rest, get him involved and her used to the bottle.

Have done the same with ds, he's now nearly 5 months and has been ebf up until a couple of weks ago when introduced a ff at 10 as wasn't able to express enough (he has 7 oz, dd only had 4/5).

I have been feeding on demand for ds, although have to say he's an extremely contented and undemanding baby, but I did feel like I was feeding a lot over Xmas period and he had dropped below his line - I know there isnt cause for panic by dropping a bit, but he's only on the 2nd percentile, so dont feel we have much room to play with.

I've noticed that ds has long feeds but is only really feeding for the first part, the rest is comfort sucking - he pads his fingers and does his 'milk drunk' face, rolling his eyes back and.dropping to sleep pretty quickly. Dh suggested a 'top up' to see whether he was still hungry after a feed, so after I had fed from both sides at 7am, offered him a top up and he guzzled 6 oz. Since then, I've offered a top up after each meal and he's had whatever I've offered - usually about 4/5 oZ. Case point just now,.woke from a 2 hr sleep, grizzlY wanting food, put him on boob and he fell asleep almost instantly again, but had the bottle, so was clearly still hungry.

Not sure what to do? I know latch etc fine, but experience of expressing this time compared to dd, feel like I have less milk - is this common? Wondering whether to continue with top ups, or is there an easy way to increase my own supply that doesn't involve lots of sitting on sofa expressing, as difficult with dd jumping about - or is my son trying to tell me he's had enough and its time for ff?

Any advice appreciated, especially from those who have mixed fed before

Ok you may feel less full and milk production may have settaled down quicker this time round as you've done it before. But the only way you can tell if milk production is not enough is if baby is not having enough wet nappies and isn't growing well enough.

Droping just below his line is nothing to worry about baby's can drop upto 2 centiles and it's not a problem so a slight drop is not an issue unless you are worried about him otherwise.

Toping up is only going to reduce your supply so unless you are ready to stop it's counter productive. Have you tried offering the first side again after he has finished the seconed?

Breast are all about supply and demand the more you feed the more you will make. (Unless really ill) So to up supply the best way is to feed more often. Switch nursing in your case is probably the best thing to start with, this mean's offering one breast, then the seconed then switching back to the first and offering as many side's he'll take untill he's had enough.

Expressing is no indication of suppy and a lot of women can't express but can happly feed there baby's with no problem.

Thanks MigGril, I haven't heard of switching before, so I'll give it a go. He ie definitely producing wet nappies, so that's good. I've only been doing top ups for a couple of days, so going that it won't affected supply too much - only concern is that he's wolfing bottle down when I've already offered both sides, he either falls to sleep quickly, or suckles and plays without eating much or simply doesn't show any interest and I'm worried he's still hungry. I know falling below line isn't a big cause for concern at all until its below 2 percentiles, but I wonder where you can go from such a low starting point as the 2nd percentile!

I'll try and add another feed in as well as trying this switching to see if that helps in the meantime