no breast milk at night

[issywoo]

am getting quite worried that i'm not producing any milk at night - after 10pm i find that i'm empty and ds gets really angry with me - he's only a week old so is this likely to get worse? what can i do about it? have tried expressing but it hurts my nipples so much and nothing comes out. have had to give him formula during the night and then breast milk at 6am. any advice?

I'm mostly bumping this up to the top...
But main thing is, even when your breasts feel empty, they aren't. In fact, you produce the best quality (well, in a sense) high fat milk when your breasts feel empty, as opposed to the more watery milk that makes the boobs feel full. The milk flows more slowly when boobs seem empty, so the baby may get impatient, but that doesn't mean you don't have any. I would strongly encourage you to ditch the bottle as night feeding is very valuable over-all for the milk-producing hormones.

Issywoo, can't agree with Zebra more. I was also worried when my boobies looked and felt "empty" so early on. Your little one is only a poppet and he will soon get a much stronger suck to deal with that lovely thick rich hind milk. My boobs have NEVER been empty even when they have been chewed on for an hour and look like old socks so don't worry that you haven't got enough. Personally, I would stop with the bottle as it's so important this early on to establish a good milk supply - the bottle will only hinder this. Make sure he's latched on properly then let him practice till his hearts content. Boobs that have previously been "fiddled with" a couple of times a week are bound to get sore when sucked on almost continually by your wee one - proper latch or not! but (and I know it means sqwat to you now) it will get better. Hang in there sweetie. Keep us posted

Issy - please, please don't make the mistake of feeling your breasts and deciding they are empty. They are not. There is milk there, I promise you....but if you keep on with the bottle, there won't be. Frequent feeding day and night is the only way you can build up and sustain a good milk supply. Giving bottles at night prevents this. Please do speak to your midwife about this or call a breastfeeding counsellor.

Agree with everyone here Issy - night feeds are crucial for milk production. I see from another thread that your nipples are sore and you are going through lots of lansinoh. That could be a sign that your latch is not as good as it could be. Get your midwife to observe a feed, better still contact a local B/F counsellor. Once the latch is better, nipples will feel better and milk production goes up. Stick in there, it will get better.

issywoo, don't forget to drink lots of fluid, and don't bother expressing until your milk production has calmed down a bit.

Bundle - drinking lots of fluid doesn't help with bf. Drinking to thirst is fine

Issywoo ... I totally agree with everyone ... try to persevere ... you need your ds to suck often at this stage to stimulate your mild production.
My dd is 5 weeks and two days old and although I didn't have any major problems feeding her in the early days I can only say that now we have truly established feeding ...
My nipples hurt up until dd was about a week old but by making sure she was latching on properly EVERYTIME, the pain soon went ...
Keep at it ... talk to a b/fing counsellor ....
Thinking of you

sorry tiktok, i didn't mean lots & lots , just enough. I try to sit with glass of water within reach when feeding because when I'm busy I forget to drink and it's an ideal opportunity to top up.

Yes, bundle, lots of mothers experience a sudden thirst actually during a feed, and a glass of water helps. This is drinking to thirst

tiktok, while you're here....I'm expressing the 3 days a week I'm at work (but not when I'm at home) and having varying success - sometimes 3 or 4 oz, a real struggle, others 7/8 oz when I can feel the letdown actually happen. do you think this has anything to do with my part-time expressing? dd2 is 10 mths and feeds a couple of times during the night as well as during the day on demand, during my at-home days. I try looking through photos of her during expressing but that only sometimes helps..

Bundle, best thing is to call the bf line and get to speak to someone and share all the details. Could be your technique, could relate to the amount you have available (I would expect a higher yield on the days closest to the weekend, when you have had a couple of days and nights of frequent feeding). Hope this helps a bit