How to make my 6mo DS drink more bm

[moonprayer]

My DS has been not keen on boobs since 4mo. Every time when I feed him, he always stays on one side for about 5min and then stops and looks around, even I stay in a quiet and relatively dark room. Then if I wait and try again, he will make a few more sucks and turn away again. This could happen several times. But if I try the other side, he will have another 5min of good feed before he turns away again. I don't know why he does that. Is that because my milk production has become less? If I pump and then feed him with bottle, he can actually take more. I am worried that my milk production is getting less and less as every time he just doesn't finish either side. I tried to pump after each feed but it hurts to pump hard... What should I do to make DS drink more milk? Why doesn't he finish the full feed? I heard some babies refuse breast at about 4mo, but I thought he would have grown out of it by now... Thank you for any advicei

Nothing you mention suggests a low supply. Could he simply be a very efficient feeder? Its not unusual for a baby to feed this quickly at this age.

Are there any other signs that you may be worried about? Is he gaining weight? Is he bright and alert at times?

If you think he's not getting enough, could you offer an extra feed in the day?

Dd was a 5 minute feeder

And did one side each feed

Thank you JiltedJohnsJulie, he is gaining weight but off the initial % track. Another reason I am worried is that I try to pump during the day and I only get about 110ml 4hr after I feed him (I was pumping because I am going back to work next Monday and I wanted DS to get used to bottle-feed), which is a bit less than I thought... I read somewhere that baby may need 150-200ml each feed at around this age? If I use bottle to feed him, he can take as much as 220ml... Am I worrying too much?

Yes

How much you can express is absolutely no indication of supply. Your body will produce exactly what Lo needs at this age so it might take a while to get used to the extra demand you are making by pumping. Also, some women, including me, successfully bf but can never express more than a drop.

Think the amount of ebm he should be having works out like this. He has 25floz over 24 hours. Divide that by the number of feeds he has. That is the amount you need to give of ebm at each feed. Have a read of childcare and the bf baby

I exclusively fed for 6 months but could only ever get 30ml off when pumping. which was fine anyway because refused a bottle
My dd became very pro at bfeeding at around 4m and it was only 5 mins. When you say he takes more from the bottle, there is no way of knowing this, he only takes longer.

Enjoy the fact that you are not tied to bfeeding for long stints and can have your life back.

I couldn't express at all but dd used to gulp when bf as my let down was so fast.

Ah, I didn't know that... Thank you everyone... I am a bit relieved, though I don't know what would happen when I start working next week. I don't want to give up my special bond with my DS through bf, but just have no choice... Hopefully I can still maintain the fun bfeeding time every morning and night...
However I do wonder whether all the working moms normally express milk for the babies daytime need, or using formula?

working mum here, would LOVE to use formula but dd has other ideas! so its ebm for us still.

I express at work for DS.

Was seriously weird and uncomfortable doing it at work in the beginning. Im a couple of months in now & it's totally fine and everyone's used to it. They even had someone's leaving do with me expressing in the (very small) room last week.

My DD will also give up on boob 1 but then have another decent go if I put her on boob 2. I take this as a sign that boob 1 was fairly empty (not completely empty necessarily, but not as nice and full and therefore easy to feed from as boob 2). in theory I'd prefer her to empty boob 1 properly first but she clearly can't be bothered prefers to move on to boob 2 so I now just switch boobs as soon as she stops bothering with boob 1.

oh and it's 5 mins per side here too.

sorry that was in response to your OP not your question about expressing

Hi miniple, that's exactly what my DS does. It seems that he is just a lazy boy and doesn't want to work hard to get hind milk... Also this starts from when he was 4mo. I just doubt whether he gets enough, an whether my supply will become less because he doesn't drain either side at all..

Start working from today :( will see how it goes..