Why isn't my supply keeping up?!

[Emberblu]

I'm currently ebf ds who is 6 weeks old. I have always fed on demand and despite ALOT of pain and tears the first few weeks we are finally getting the hang of it.

However he has always cluster fed all day everyday not just for growth spurts etc. He has no tongue tie. As horrid as I find this I am happy to sit and feed him all day if he is getting all he needs.

However I am once again dealing with a frustrated screaming baby as my breasts aren't making/letting down milk fast enough to keep up. I thought by now my supply would have kept up with what he needs but the constant frustrating feeding doesn't look like it's going to end :(

I feel like my boobs are failing us and just want little one to be happy and satisfied. He was 95th centile when born and is gaining weight ok I think. I would happily ff if he would be happier. I can only express when he is on me and only ~1oz at a time but don't do that as he always feeds from both breasts each 'feed' (feeds tend to run together).

Does anyone have advice or similar experiences to share? I'd hoped it would be getting easier by now...

Meant to say I'd happily cluster feed all day but it's the crying and twisting off the nipple then crying for it then letting go cycle that's the problem.

Is he actually feeding all day? Could he be nursing for comfort rather than getting milk. Unless he is drawing well, your milk supply won't be building up.

Are you sure he’s hungry and not tired and just wanting to suck to sleep and then getting too full? I’m sure you know, but I didn’t and had a tough time with over tiredness with two of mine around that age.

Kind of a cross post!

Well, there's always patches where our boobs don't have enough until baby makes them have enough. 6 weeks is a big growth spurt so you are maybe in the 'don't have enough' few days of that. You will have enough shortly if that's what it is.

Otherwise I agree with the above, maybe he's tired and using feeding for comfort rather than going to sleep etc.

I'm not sure. I mean he does suck and swallow and I'm not taking him off so he could stay and comfort suck if he wanted but he seems to pull off and cry cos there's no milk coming... if he isn't sucking well how will my supply ever improve?! I feel guilty like he isn't getting enough :(

Is he really drawing the milk though, or doing that wee gentle sleepy suckling?

Do not worry about the small amount you are expressing, volume expressed does not reflect amount your baby takes at a feed.
Do you think it could be wind? I know some people say breastfed babies don't need winded but my ds1 definitely needed a good back rub in between breasts to get a rather satisfying burp up. If I remember correctly after 6 weeks things seem to naturally settle down and baby finds more of a pattern. Mine always did eat sleep play repeat. Dc2 always cried when I put her down, but that was just how she fell asleep. Wouldn't sleep from the breast, or on me had to put her down 2 minutes of crying and then sleep. They really are all different.
Might be worth getting him weighed just to allay your fears, but remember a centile drop can be completely normal.

As for growth spurt he's been like this for weeks. I'm sure he is tired but he won't sleep much in the day and can be up for several hours in the night too

Because being empty will trigger you to make more next time. The suck he did and then pulled off will too. Don't over think it.

I know it's very worrying but I've 3 and one on the way, all very little and needy and bf became so much easier when I was too busy to think too much. Baby stopped feeding or started fussing and I'd tried both boobs was immediate horizontal bob around the room in my arms and down into bouncer to sleep with dummy so I could run off to one of the others. It's amazing how often they'd just go to sleep.

I think it takes 24 hours for your body to adjust its supply to the babies demands.

If I were you I would find your nearest breast feeding clinic and let them see your baby feed and advise. I got myself in a real state over BF with DS1 and was pretty much camped out at breast feeding clinics for a while. They were a huge help.

And to second Sweetpotato, bf babies can be verily windy and colicky! But again, beyond winding them there's not much to be done other than a dummy and a nap.

I try and burp him between boobs but he'll often just cry an not burp cos he is crying. He does do sleepy suckling but this will be interspersed with big ones which I think is my milk letting down. If he is nursing for comfort what do I do when he's so upset off boob?! And if he isn't drawing the milk well is there any way to solve that?

Do you put him down awake to see if he'll settle? He might grouch for a bit, but it's possible he's not actually hungry or thirsty.

Thanks everyone for your advice. I suppose I'll just keep going for now . He will only deal with a dummy for a short time but I will see if I can get him down to nap with one.

He won't settle if I put him down sadly, he will just start to cry after grumbling. Same with walking around with him to try and get him to sleep. I know boob size doesn't affect it but sometimes I wish I had big milk filled mummy boobs 😞

If hes 6 weeks and has grown as expected, have faith in that. He's feeding fine. If he won't settle and won't go back on the boob, try standing up and putting him horizontal in your arms, facing inwards and take him for a brisk walk around the room. I pop a dummy in and hold it in place with my boob as I rock baby around the room. It often settles them and puts them to sleep quickly if they're tired. The movement and dummy while snuggled tight against you does it. Worked great for my new niece too when my sis was having the issues exactly you describe when I visited a few weeks ago (baby was 5 wks at the time).

Thank you I will try that too

It sounds like he's getting plenty of milk, if he's not sleeping much during the day then I suspect it's tiredness that is your problem rather than hunger.

It's a hard stage Ember and some babies just aren't that easy to settle but you probably won't know why so I'd stop stressing about fixing it, and things will be very different again in a few weeks. Just hang on in there.

Thank you. If it is tiredness any advice on getting him to sleep during the day? He usually feeds to sleep but obviously that's not working here

How long is he awake for? I think an hour and a half is about right at that age, which really isn’t very long. You could try walking in a sling or a buggy?

Try burping him and then wrap him up cosy. Down in a warm cot, moses basket or carrycot. Warm up whatever your using before you put him down. Either warm the cover on the radiator or put a hot water bottle in for a bit beforehand. Then the kettle's hot and you can sit down for a . Good luck.

Have you got a sling? My dd1 wouldn't sleep at all unless she was on me and upright, I got a sling and carried her round with me all day.

I think he is awake for longer than that other than boob dozing and when he does sleep is usually for half an hour but he is ok with sleeping in his Moses basket as long as he's asleep already . He is only happy in the sling for 10 mins or so and only as he is looking around. Sadly he's not happy being swaddled either and dislikes sleeping on his back too so won't go down well in a pram. He will sometimes sleep in his carrier but only so long as we are walking and wakes as soon as I sit down or stop. He's very alert and has strong neck muscles so tends to just look around as we walk 😅 My poor sleepy little man.