Advice - Drop in milk +possible growth spurt = nightmare!!!

[mamabear2b]

My ds has just turned 17wks and seems to be going thru a growth spurt if his demands for food are to be read right but I've also - despite being on the mini pill - had my period for over a week now and my milk seems to be dwindling.

I can normally express 3-4oz with a pump but can only get 2 now (combined l&r breasts)

I read somewhere a good way to boost your milk is to spend the day with baby feeding every hour or so and expressing as much as possible in between (nap times) which I'm willing to try but he gets really upset and quite agressive when there is nothing for him to drink

Has anyone else had this problem and what can you suggest?

mamabear - this could be a temporary glitch, no more. A 17 week old is unlikely to want to spend the day doing nothing much but feed and cuddle - this is suggested for newborns. He is gonna get cross if you keep trying to put him on when he wants to do something else

You will not be empty, believe me.

It is also normal for pump production to slow - if you need to express more, just express more often.

Nothing else in your post even hints to me that you are not meeting your baby's needs.

HTH

My milk supply always drops when I'm due (and having) my period (they came back at 5 months despite exclusively bfing). You'll prob find your supply goes up again in a few days

I found DS would feed more often and for longer at these times

Thanks for the replies bleeding computer had a paddy and wouldn't let me in!!

I missed out on the original post that ds only feeds for 5-7 maximum on each side, after that time he comes off looks at me as if I've turned the tap off, tries a few more times then refuses to go back on. I've tried to feed him again 1/2 to 1 hour later but he doesn't seem to want it.

I was a bit worried as other mums I have spoken to are all complaining that their little one is on for 1/2 to an hour and this made me think either he wasn't getting enough or I wasn't producing enough for his needs, hence the milk boosting session.

Souns a wee bit like my ds - he's 14 weeks and still a frequent feeder but doesn't spend long feeding. Every week or two he has around 24 hours of feeding even more frequently then I tend to feel quite engorged the next dat day. He still cluster feeds in the morning and feds 2-3 times a night!!

I sometimes wonder if I don't produce a lot of milk at each sitting (so to speak) hence the frequency. He's thriving on it so obviously gets enough in total.

oops, meant cluster feeds in the evening.

Sounds just like ds liath, he feeds every 1 1/2 to 2 hours from 5 till 9 then goes to sleep till 12.
I've been trying to keep his feeds at 2 hours in the day for the last week or so (before he could go for up to 4 hours before feeding) and I've found he can be resettled without a feed and will sleep till 6 if I'm lucky but heaven help me if I miss one of the feeds in the day becuase he wakes at 12, 2, 4, 6 then conks out for a nice big sleep leaving me wandering round the place like zombie!!

I'm sticking to 2 hourly feeds for now in the hope of upping the milk and have accepted that some days I'll just have an in-bed day feeding and sleeping - poor me!!

Hi,

My DD is 17 weeks too. About 3 weeks ago I thought my milk was dissapearing as she seemed to want to feed lots in the evening and I didn't seem to have enough milk, my nipples were agony. This went on for a week and then I started to produce more milk, it was crazy how much they filled up. I might add that since then she feeds for no more than 15 mins at a time and seems to empty each boob. It turns out it was a growth spurt. I do find I'm having to eat more, small amounts more often.

Good Luck, I hope your DS is just having a growth spurt too.