Getting Stressed about Low Milk Supply - HELP !!!

[EeyoreIsFab]

DS is 17 weeks old. He had been sleeping through the night since beginning of Dec, but during past 2-3 weeks has been waking during night & every 3 hours the past two nights.

I have tried to express milk during day to make up for lower supply in evening, but only seem to manage 4oz & even with this 'extra' last nigh DS still woke up after 3hrs.

So now I'm getting really stressed that I'm not providing enough milk for him - any suggestions or pearls of wisdom would be much appreciated!

He is at a growth spurt age.

Expressing doesn't give a true picture of the amount of milk you produce.

Best way to build evening supply is to feed more.

You are doing a great job, and assuming everything else is ok (wet nappies, weight gain) then just go with the night feeding for a bit and hope he settles again after a while.

Sorry for bluntness, but I have wriggling baby, and didn't want your post to go unanswered.

Hi- my ds is nearly 20 weeks now and went through exactly this at 17 weeks. I was really worried about it and did exactly what you did- expressed in the morning and gave it as a "top up" at night. Even then, he still woke throughout the night.

He has never slept through but was only waking once a night, then it suddenly went to 3 or 4 times a night. I started wondering whether to wean him (HV advice) or offer a formula feed (friends advice) but decided to grit my teeth, stick with it and continue to 100% bf. I'm glad I did, because now, two weeks later, things are much better.

I think what Jelley said is right- it's growth spurt age. Is your ds a big baby?

I have a sneaking feeling this night waking is a sign of nearing weaning age, although of course they recommend six months and I intend to get as close to that as possible.

Sorry this has turned into a bit of a ramble. What I'm trying to say is that it probably is a growth spurt and that things will probably settle down again shortly. Although it's a pain to be feeding loads more than usual I used to remind myself that at least it was boosting my supply! Hope you find things settle down soon, as we did.

Nurse, Nurse, Nurse this is the very best thing to do to increase your supply.. although as a little booster you could eat Porridge in the morning and at night and also snack on Oat Cakes, Oat Cookies or anything with LOADS of oats throughout the day as they Naturally Increase Milk Supply.

Here are receipes for Oat Cookies;

No Bake choc cookies

2 cups sugar 1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup milk 1 stick butter

Boil the above ingredients for 2 minutes, remove from heat and mix the below ingredients in. Spoon onto wax paper and allow to cool.

1/2 cup peanut butter (if wished or replace with raisins)
3 cups of oats initially, add extra oats until mixture is very stiff
1 TSP vanilla

Giant Oatmeal cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1 cup flour 1 1/2 cups oatmeal
1 TSP cinnamon 1/2 TSP baking powder
1/2 TSP baking soda dash of salt
1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup applesauce 1 egg
2 TBSP butter 1 TSP vanilla extract
1/2 cup raisins* optional- chopped walnuts

Mix first 6 dry ingredients and set aside. Blend sugar, applesauce, butter, egg and vanilla until well mixed. Add remaining ingredients, drop by mounds of dough ( 3 TBSP each) about 2" apart on a greased baking sheet. Flatten. Bake 10-15 minutes until lightly brown around the edges. Cool on a wire rack.

*If you can find them, Sun Maid makes baking raisins in a pouch, they are wet and moist and superior for baking

I'm having same prob with 20 week old DS, went back to work full time 2 weeks ago so I express his two middle of the day feeds at work, 7 oz one and 5 or 6 oz the other (the most I can get). Feed him myself at 7 am, 6 pm and 11pm, and he's started waking in the night again after sleeping through for ages. He goes back to sleep though without a feed. Getting a bit fed up as now expressing AGAIN at midnight to top up the bottles for the next day, and he's draining both bottles so maybe would eat even more..

do you think I should start weaning a bit?

Thanks for replies.

My DS was 9lb when born & put weight on at a steady 7oz until just before Christmas, then it dropped to about 4oz & only half an ounce in the last two weeks. HV said this is 'normal' for a bf baby, but also suggested I start to introduce a couple tsp of food a day.

i'm not sure your hv is giving you the most up-to-date advice. they do drop off the centiles every now and again. i'd only worry if lo is losing weight or consistently dropping down the centiles - they are prob using charts for ff babies i bet anyway. sounds like you are doing a great job - i wouldn't have thought you need to start weaning unless you really want to. current advice is to wait until 6 mths to allow gut to develop and reduce the risk of allergies. you will always make enough milk for your lo - just feed more often and your boobs will do the rest. i used to worry about low milk supply in the evening, but started to feed every 1.5-2 hrs in the late afternoon and early evening before bed to top her up. she too went through a growth spurt around 4 months (and still is i think at 7 mths...) hth

oh meant to say - if your hv thinks it is normal for bf babies then why the need to wean? curious...

My Ds was the same...are you sure he's hungry though? He could be waking out of habit. It may be worth trying giving him a quick cuddle & see if he'll settle and thus go a bit longer between feeds.

Keep going - it is worth it and it will stop eventually - honestly!!

Eeeyoreisfab- your situation sounds so smilar to mine. Mt ds was 9lb3oz at birth and like yours gained about 7-10oz at first, dropping to around 4oz a week. Your HV sounds like mine too- standard advice to start weaning!

DCB, you mention about the charts being for ff babies, did you manage toget a breastfed from birth chart? I've always wondered whether there's a big difference between the two?

p.s- Will be giving your recipes a go Determination!

GemmityGem- it's interesting you say your ds will settle in the night without a feed- I tried this last night with mine, and he went down and slept for another couple of hours. Might be as chocolateshoes says and a habit. Not sure how to break it though! You must be knackered expressing so much, working full time and up in the night. I feel for you.

What has your hv said about weaning? I weaned my dd at 22wks when she was 15lb14oz, this was about standard in the group of us who had our babies at the same time. However, my ds was heavier than this by 18 weeks. Perhaps boys get to weaning age sooner? What weight is your ds now? Does he show any other signs of wanting to be weaned? and more importantly, how do you feel about it? Do you think you can stick it out til 26weeks?

i'm not sure that when to wean has anything to do with their weight - more about the maturity of the gut i think

My DS2 and DS3 started doing this at this age - I remember wondering if they needed weaning, but stuck it out and carried on without weaning for another month. DS3 started sleeping through a bit more just after this.

I think it's just another growth spurt. I started feeding every 2 hours or so during the day (even if he didn't look hungry) just to bump up my milk.

Good luck

itwasbanou, our DS must be close in age then, mine was born 7 Oct..

milk crisis seems to have resolved, in fact i think was just panicking, apparently the second week back at work is when a lot of women find the milk supply drops, cos of stress etc. I can't say I've got an excuse to be stressed cos we have a nanny, but my DH has been away for 3 weeks which has been tough.

anyway, regarding weaning, I'm intending to start giving tasters of food (just veg, baby rice, porridge, fruit) from 5 months, and very gradually build up. Can't see it will do any harm. Not to fill him up, just to get him experimenting a bit with tastes. have you already started with your DS?

re weights, I don't know, he was weighed when we were in Europe beginning of Jan, and was fine, and he looks healthy, if not slightly porky, don't have a health visitor cos am working in Central Asia, he's had jabs etc (last set for 4 months old we brought over in the plane in a coolbag, and then got a slightly odd Armenian woman doctor to come to the house and give them; she had no equipment and asked for vodka to swab him with (I love the former Soviet Union!)

But he seems to be thriving.. he has slept 12-7 for about the last 3 weeks, I must say I'm quite ruthless in the night, he sometimes wakes at 3 and has a minor whinge, I know he's gorged himself at 12 so just wait and he always drops off again.. (cruel mummy!)

by the way the new world health organisation bf baby charts are online here

www.who.int/childgrowth/standards/chts_wfa_boys_z/en/index.html

oh gawd it's feeding time again...

Yes, very similar in age- he was 3rd October, but our set-up is a lot less exciting! What a lucky baby to experience so many different cultures so early on, would love to do that.

DCB, think you're right- the HV who suggested weaning said it's 6 months now because of worries over damage to the kidneys, which they now think mature later than once thought.

It's interesting to see that others have had this at a similar stage. Am planning to hold off weaning as long as possible, we're just taking each day at a time and setting new targets to get to. There are so few calories in pureed fruit and veg i don't think it makes much difference really, it's more about new tastes isn't it-and there's plenty of time for that!