Low milk supply in afternoon/evening?

[MatronicO6]

Have a gorgeous 8 week old and trying to breastfeed but it is so bloody hard. Doing demand feeding and despite reading they will feed every 2/3 hours, she is every hour during the day. Very rarely she will go 2 hours!

It is particularly problematic in the afternoon/evening. She wants to be on my breast all the time. She cries to come on my breast then cries when she is on it, presumably as there is not a fast flow. I do also think she has developed feeding as a sleep aid and sometimes she may be annoyed as she wants to sleep.

I thought it was low supply but been assured by HV and GP that is unlikely as her weight gain is good and lots of wet nappies but and that it's 'normal'. But it doesn't feel normal, it's exhausting and I am stressed out everytime I leave the house as she will inevitably start roaring to be fed.

Is anyone else going through this or has gone through this? I really wanted to breastfeed for at least 6 months but if this is going to be the norm I think I'd rather save myself the stress and exhaustion and switch to formula. Think I'd be able to enjoy being a new mum much more.

But if anyone has any advice? Tips on how I can improve I'd appreciate it, as I would like to keep it up.

My DD feeds hourly. She's 24 weeks now. It is hard work. I feed her regularly in supermarket car parks as I can't do the 15 minute drive there, shop and get home in time for her next feed.

She occasionally goes longer.

You can try to hold off each feed for 5 minutes or so to extend the time between feeds or if they ask for milk, leave it 5 mins before you feed them, this hopefully gets them to feed more when they do feed and go longer between feeds.
That didn't work for me. DD used to cry for milk and it gives me anxiety attacks when she screams and I couldn't deal with the extra crying.

Another method that I've tried is expressing and giving her a top up after a feed. If I gave her an extra 50/60 ml after a feed, she'd go 2.5 hours before asking for more. After giving her an extra 60ml I reduced it down to 30/40ml and when she was in the habit of feeding less regularly I stopped the top ups. She fed like this for 3 days and reverted back to hourly feeds so maybe it's something that I have to keep on top of.

Babies feed for more reasons than just hunger. It's frustrating. Every baby is different. Some go longer between feeds, some are snackers.

Sending hugs

Shes tired and thats her way to fall asleep but is struggling to fall asleep. Had this with both of mine. I rocked them to sleep until I could do gentle sleep training

Been through this recently. It felt like she had sucked me completely dry. As far as I was aware, she was telling my body to make more milk. When she was about 8 weeks I spent hours just switching hang sides, over and over and over for hours and hours and hours. She is 20 weeks now and things are mu h more manageable now.

My baby had weight gain issues at the start as I had a low supply, but the constant sucking (and pumping) got my supply up to normal. If you have no weight gain issues just accept it for a while and it will pass.

Sounds like you are doing a great job. It is normal for supply to dip a bit in the evening as baby and mum are tired. My breasts used to feel so empty in the evening. She'll also be cluster feeding to try and up your supply and hopefully go a bit longer at night. Mine used to feed every 2 hours during the day and solidly from 5-8, feeding and dozing. At 8 I handed her over to my husband who gave a bath and bottle to allow me to get a few hours sleep before the night feeds. It is a phase that will pass.

This sounds like cluster feeding which is there way of upping your supply. However if you are sure she's had enough then recommend getting your OH to finish bedtime. Babies can sometimes stay unsettled when they can smell mum and your milk still. I have done this with both of mine and my husband sorts their bedtimes out, always has and hopefully always will! My oldest is now 8 and the youngest nearly two. Still works a dream.

Yes this is normal. 2-3 hours is the norm for SOME babies (such as my Dc2 who did this from birth), but plenty feed hourly for a good few weeks (such as my dc1 and dc3). It's also normal for babies to use breastfeeding as a sleep aid. I always say, if you're feeling like a 24/7 milk factory then you're doing it right! Also it's warm so babies will feed more frequently as they get hot and thirsty. The good news is, this does improve. The bad news is, I didn't really see much in the way of improvement until at least 12 weeks so you've a few weeks to go. Once it gets better, though, breastfeeding is so incredibly easy and convenient it does kind of outweigh the earlier cons. That being said, there is no shame in stopping or combi feeding so if that would work best for you, then do it.

This is totally normal and necessary. It’s called cluster feeding. Falling to sleep on the boob is also normal, it’s how they’re comforted. Try to feed baby before you go out although to be honest I wouldn’t really try to go out in the evenings for the first few months, as that’s when they want to feed more…. Its fine to feed when out as well, though obviously can be inconvenient.
Things get much easier as they get bigger and can go longer between feeds.

Thanks so much everyone, it is so reassuring to hear others have gone through this and whilst it doesn't fit into the Googled 'norm,' it is not completely bizarre.

I just hate the idea of her going hungry and her cries just break my heart. Think I will persevere for now and try to pump to have quick topups available and enable OH to take her so I can have a break.

Totally normal. You have no way of knowing if your supply dips in the evening – which is an old wive’s tale really. Much more likely is that babies are bellends in the evening. It’s the witching hour and they will test your nerves and patience with cluster feeding, on-off-on-off feeding, crying, general tiny bastardry. They grow out of it.

It does get better! The first 12 weeks are awful but the payoff is then you can leave the house with nothing but the baby and a changing bag, instead of having to faff around sterilising bottles and premixing formula and so on. Breastfeeding buys you freedom in the long run; but the short term is killer.

I run a weekly breastfeeding group in South East London & wrote this blog after discussing tips with the families in the group.

It is a really tough stage and these days many mums are unfamiliar with normal breastfed baby behaviour. This makes us doubt our bodies & worry that our babies are hungry.

www.baby-thrive.com/blog/cluster-feeding-pumping-headspace<a class="break-all" href="https://www.baby-thrive.com/blog/cluster-feeding-pumping-headspace" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Blog here

All sounds normal and right on track. Cluster feeding is a pain I agree.

Incidentally breastfeeding is how I got onto console gaming. Nothing else to do when sitting for hours with a giant nipple tassle.

Try a workout - a good exercise session really boosts supply.

I had a running pram back in the day or did the Jillian Michaels 20 min shred dvd, however there will be loads of you tube hitt workouts etc. I found (12 years ago) a good workout boosted my production so much I was able to donate milk to the local neo natal unit