Is my milk drying up?

[MorelloKisses]

So I am in the process of moving from EBF to mixed (mostly bottle) in preparation for return to work.

On advice we switched to bottle for all day feeds and night feeds in in ego, giving just one bf forts thing and one at bedtime.

The first day and night was as expected with really hurting full boobs, I expressed to feel more comfortable, about 7oz in total that day. Day 2 less pain and expressed about 4 oz, today(day three) quite soft boobs, expressed just 2.5oz

Also last night DD (6mth) woke at 9, 10 and 11. I bottle fedat 11 but b4 had been sleeping till 1.30.

Is my milk drying up...was she hungrly as there was no milk at bedtime feed?

I am quite emotional about the transition and really don't want to quit completely

Thanks

Sorry for typos, she just woke up and I was trying to type super fast...silly me

Hmm, it's hard to say - supply is normally fairly robust at 6 months so it should adjust, but you have dropped a lot of feeds and baby may also be going through a growth spurt and be trying to up your supply. Is there a particular reason why you switched to bottle for any night feeds as well, as they'd definitely keep your supply going if you can manage it? I did EBM rather than formula when I went back to work both times, but still BF directly for any feeds when I was actually there

Hi, I only switched night on advice from a nanny who is trying to see how much she actually feeds at night

When are you going back to work? Might help with giving you other suggestions to know a time scale.

Stopping all those feeds so suddenly may well have impacted your supply. There is no reason why that cna't be reversed though :) When your breasts get full/engorged then they also have a large amount of FIL (feedback inhibitor of lactation) in them which tells your body to stop milk production. Demand feeding keeps the milk production relationship balanced and as baby starts sleeping at night etc the change is nice and gradual.

Of course she may have just been perverse last night . Or having a growth spurt. Or teething and wanting more comfort. Or anything really .

Oh and I'd be questioning the nanny's knowledge of bf as seeing how much she takes from a bottle has sod all to do with how much she takes from a bf at night.

Hi, I have 6 weeks till I go back to work...

There are so many opportunities do do the wrong thing and make a mess of it all

Sob

Agree with the others you should BF at night to maintain your supply. When I went back to work after each kid I've BFing in the morning before breakfast, as soon as we get home in the early evening and then at bedtime plus any nighttime feeds. Days at home I've done all BFing, no bottles. DD1 got EBM in a bottle at nursery, DD2 would only take milk from the boob so at nursery was given water in a cup and then slowly converted to cows milk once she was over a year old (for a long time she didn't think much of cows milk). DS has a dairy allergy so has water when he's away from me (he hates soya milk ).

But you need to do what is comfortable for you and your LO, your supply will be robust and responsive to demand after 6 months so BF when you want to and don't listen to a nanny if you don't want to ( or indeed us!). FWIW I've never 'prepared' the kids for the transition to nursery by introducing a bottle at home, DD1 was fine with a bottle even though she's never had it before, DD2 would only drink from an open cup. My nursery was flexible enough to cope with both.

Ah don 't worry, I know it seems really stressful but you will be fine. How many hours a day will you be leaving her? It is perfectly possible to feed wen you are around and have her take formula/expressed when you are not. It just sounds like you jumped into it pretty fast and now you are stressing :) There is no "wrong", it is just about finding out what works for you and your situation.

Chances are she just had a fretful night last night. 6 weeks is plenty of time though to go gradually and replace one feed at a time rather than doing them all at once. It will be easier on both you and her. Your milk supply will adjust just fine so long as you are feeding her during weekends/days off and other times you are at home eg morning and evening.

You might find she pretty quickly doesn't take much milk while you are work. Many babies prefer to just have food and water int he day and then bf at home. You might find she starts feeding more at night to make up for it or jsut to reconnect with you. It is normal, it doesn't mean you have no milk.

Hi all, I just wanted to let you all know it seems ok!

Thank you for your kind words :-)

It seems that it was a big change for my boobies (baby was fine though) and i seem to be fine feeding morni and night now. She is no longer feeding after midnight, so that is night feeds out

Thank you all