Feeding at 8 months: is this enough?

[HalfBakedAlaska]

My ds is nearly 8 months old. I am worried because my milk supply seems to be dwindling and I am finding it harder and harder to express anything at all. I'm back at work so I can't bf on demand and I can only express once a day, when he has gone to bed. I also restarted my period a couple of months ago, which I feel has impacted on my supply. He seems perfectly happy and has always been a big baby, but I wanted to bf til he was a year and this is looking unlikely. His schedule is currently:

7am: big bf
8am: solids
10.30am: snack
12 noon: solids
3pm: bf (expressed in bottle)
5pm: solids
6.30pm: bf followed by formula "top up" (8oz, so not really a top up at all.)

Does this look ok? And does anyone have any advice for upping my milk supply? Thank you.

I've read on here that many people find it harder and harder to express as time goes on so that might not be an indication of a dwindling supply, however if you are having other problems with supply, that doesn't seem many bfs in a day. I think your best bet would be to get rid of the formula feed at bedtime (why is it there?) and perhaps introduce a bf dream feed at around 11?

We've had the 6.30pm bottle top up since day one on the recommendation of our HV, as he was such a big baby and would often cry because he wasn't satisfied with my bf only. Also, we used to dream feed (formula again) at 11pm but was told by HV a couple of weeks ago that we should definitely cut that out because there was no way he should be feeding after bed time past 6 months. He doesn't seem to miss that feed now, but it's so hard to tell if he needs more!

I'm worried that he's not getting enough in the day but I'm not around to give it to him. Also, freezer smilies of expressed milk are starting to look seriously depleted. :(

Supplies not similes!

You were possibly sold dud advice by the HV on your milk not being enough - bf babies very often cry and fuss and feed all evening and this is nothing to do with needing formula, more to do with building supply.

If you're giving formula anyway and struggling to express, you could try switching the expressed feed for formula and just stick to bfing when you are home and around to do it. You may need to feed a bit more in the evenings for your supply to catch up, but this would be better than it dwindling further and you ending up totally ff.

Just so you can compare my 8mo has four feeds a day last bf at 6pm then a ff at 6:45 (he has refused boob after bath since I had mastitis). He might feed more if he's having a grumpy day for whatever reason, but never less. I don't think I could express much now either but ds seems happy

I went back to work when DD was 8 mo, at the time she had a bf in the morning, an expressed bottle at 10 am, another at 2pm, then bf at 6pm and again at bedtime (and sometimes in the night if she wasn't feeling well).

On my days off I would feed her as often as she wanted, about 6-8 times a day, that way on the days I was expressing I'd have enough milk. I also expressed at work during lunchtime, that way my boobs were starting to feel full and I could get a small bottle's worth per breast (if you let milk build up for too long the hormones will tell your body to produce less, so it's a case of taking milk out in as regular a pattern as you can, apart from at night).

I would bring back the evening feed and maybe try to express earlier in the day or even in the morning, apparently you're supposed to get more milk out first thing than in the evening, which makes sense if you haven't been feeding in the night. A pump isn't as efficient as a baby so you're giving yourself more of a chance there.

I'd also speak to a bf counsellor (for example ABM has a helpline, tel:0300 3305453), they can help with building your supply back up.

Good luck

Thanks all. Really reluctant to start getting him up for a later feed again as he is sleeping through, and this tends to be when I express - so if I feed then then I won't be able to express, iyswim. I know supply is supposed to match demand but even when he was tiny and I was feeding every two hours and expressing a few times a day I never seemed to make that much - certainly expressing more than 1-2 oz at a time has never really worked. Will definitely try to talk to someone on the helpline. Thank you!

Expressing is no indicator of supply though, I fed my first to 17 months and couldn't express a drop, literally nothing came out. Haven't bothered trying with my second!

If you feed when you are home and give formula when you're not, you won't need to express. As clearly expressing doesn't really get milk out for you, feeding the baby would be far more effective, and better at keeping your supply up. Babies are good at getting milk out!

As a comparison this is what we have done since I returned to work 4 days a week (away from him 8am-7pm) when DS was 10mo:
6-7am bf on n off
7/8am breakfast
Mid morning snack
12 lunch
Mid afternoon snack
5pm tea
7pm big bf (often in the bath)
Bedtime - bf
Night time - bf on demand - usually at 4am & sometimes also at 1am. I co sleep with DS from the time he wakes. Makes it easier as I can go back to sleep

I bf on demand the other 3 days & supply seems fine.

DS is 14mo now & that timetable is still spot on, apart from a few nights where he sleeps through til 6am & I don't get woken at 1am or 4am - makes for a v big morning bf!

Expressing was too much of a hassle so didn't bother at work. I think at 8mo I would have tried but at 10mo & with him eating solids well I felt I didn't need to.

DS refuses milk (cow, goat or ff) when I am away and as he is very sturdy we stopped worrying about it. In fact his nappies were awful when we insisted he drank some so we were saved from that!

Your HV may be v well meaning but she is talking bollox. Some kids need bm during the night. I know this from my own experience and shared experience via local mums groups I belong to. (Groups of mums who all bf like LLL). I highly recommend joining your local LLL group as you will hear real life experience from bf mums who can counteract the theoretical advice HVs & other HCPs share. I wonder if their advice is based on ff babies....

Check out the Isis website for reassurance that waking in the night is v normal for the vast majority of kids until the age of 2+.
www.isisonline.org.uk/how_babies_sleep/normal_sleep_development/

Hope that helps. In your circumstances I would drop the bedtime ff & spend a week doing lots of skin to skin & bf on demand to increase supply. Also dont judge supply based on pumping as my ability to pump is dwindling the older DS gets. However he seems to get loads out himself.
At this stage your supply will react instantly to demand more than it used to.
Good luck.

Thanks folks. That's really useful. Maybe I will stop worrying about the expressing so much and just concentrate on feeding him when I am around. Have been feeling so guilty about going back to work and not being here for him for feeds. But I think expressing is just not going to work for much longer.