no milk in the evenings

[juicygal]

Hiya

My Ds is 5 weeks today and i have been BF him but have had to give him formula in the evenings as a top up because it seems like there is no milk there for him to have.
He gets very frustrated by it and wants to be constantly at the boob but then gets cross. If i try to express in the evenings i dont get anything out but i've just done 20 mins of expressing now and got 4 and a half oz out so i know there is milk there.

He also has his last feed as formula so daddy can do it and i go to bed early and if we go out anywhere i'll take a bottle of formula or ebm (if i have got any) because i'm not comfortable doing it in public, although i also can bring myself to feed him formula in public either - not sure why cos i bottlefed my DD and DS. I guess i feel guilty, knowing that i should be feeding him but cant bring myself to do it. There was a girl BF her baby on the bus yesterday, i never noticed til she got off and was still feeding him as she was walking off and i wished i could have the courage to do that but then at the same time the old ladies were going on about it and wiped out any confidence i could have got from seeing the girl do it.

Sorry to go on, guess i just need some reassuring words

juicy, I hope you can phone one of the vol. orgs and get some support on this - NCT's is 0870 444 8708 but there are 3 other phone lines.

It's not at all unusual for babies to fuss in the evenings and for mothers to feel their supply is low at that time. I can't tell whether this is the case with you, as it's also normal not to get much out expressing when the baby has been feeding frequently - though it doesn't mean there is nothing there.

If there is an issue with supply, then the best thing to do is to stop the formula. Your baby is having at least 2 and sometimes 3 bottles of formula each day and that may be too much - breastfeeding needs round the clock stimulation to get going, and it's frequent removal of milk that drives the supply. Any bottles in the first weeks can undermine this and 2-3 a day will almost certainly do so....as for the breastfeeding away from home thing, this will come as your confidence grows

a baby is much better at getting milk out of you than a breast pump. don't think that because you can only pump a little out that there isn't more there. the best way to increase your supply is to feed feed and feed. your baby is asking you to do this.

Juicygal, don't give him any formula at all, and have him weighed once a week to see whether he's gaining at least 150g. That's the only way you can tell whether there's a problem with the milk - my ds3 cried all the time until he was about 3 months old, and it was nothing to do with hunger. Just grumpy.

If people don't like seeing you bfing in public then they are free to look the other way.

You sound tired and stressed - its ok to stay at home for a few days and get some friends who have kids to drop in for cups of tea and pep talks. You can do the supermarket shopping etc online. I was worried about my milk supply last week for ds3 who is now 5 months. I took advice to stay in bed/on sofa for a couple of days and feed a lot (have even gone back to night feeding) and it seems to have done the trick.