Starting breastfeeding after 5 weeks

[An89]

Due to issues I could not bf baby - I was expressing and getting a decent amount (almost 300mls a day from 3 pumps).
I have started bf - daytime only, night is still formula however I am trying to express too. When I express now I get 30mls if I'm lucky. Also my breasts used to leak at night and now since bf during the day they don't.

Does bf lead to less when you express and lead to less Leakage at night?

I thought bf would lead to more of the above due to increase supply

The more your baby sucks, the more milk you will produce, so keep going.

And well done on pumping so much for 5 weeks!

Unfortunately what you express is not always an accurate indicator of what you're producing. Babies also remove milk more efficiently than a pump, so maybe there's less cause for engorgement at night now.

It could just be that your body is adjusting to the new feeding pattern.

Prolactin levels are highest at night so your best bet is to breastfeed at night.

And yes, baby is a lot more efficient, so you should try and put him at the breast as much as possible instead of the pump.

Ideally you'd just stop formula feeding now and spend as much time as possible with baby on the boob on and off all day and night to build up supply. It means not going out much and prioritising this. Much more effective than slowly tapering off formula and second guessing amounts.

Night time is the best time to offer boob but if not it's really important to pump at least twice between 11 and 6 because that's when baby would be ordering milk for tomorrow.

I exclusively pumped for months before moving onto boob so I know how hard it is. Well done you!

Your supply is calculated mainly on what is removed at night. Not at the day. So if you’re not breastfeeding at night then supply does drop off.

Thank you so much.
I am worried about baby getting enough milk, he still produces 6 wet diapers / day but this is a lot less than previously. How did you overcome the fear baby wasn't getting enough from you whilst transitioning from formula to bf?

I kept an eye on wet nappies and got baby weighed to see weight progressing in right direction. Also have baby more skin on skin with you, have a bath together / lay with baby / latching on more often, will all encourage production and esp at night as others say.

Definitely get baby weighed every week, eat loads of oats to increase your supply and if baby isn’t putting on enough weight ask your GP to prescribe Domperidone for you to take to increase your supply.

Fennel tea is also good for supply!

You can also get bf cookies online which definitely helped my supply