Worried I am not producing enough milk for baby

[Rachy51]

Hi all,

Advice needed.

My baby girl is 10 weeks. I have been exclusively BF up until around 6weeks then since I have been giving the occasional bottle at evenings for my sanity.

Baby has always been hungry. At birth fed like a dream on off for 12 hours. Very active feeder and loves contact naps.

In the early hours / mornings I feel fuller baby feeds well I can hear lots of swallowing and she seems satisfied usually sleeping for a few hours. As tea time approaches she becomes fussy as the breast, suckles constantly but a Connor hear the swallowing very regular. It's got the to point either I am exhausted due to no sleep or she seems that upset she isn't getting milk that I have resorted to a small top up of formula which gives me a stretch of about 4-5 hours. I was initially pumping but getting quite small amounts that I would rather put her to the breast.

She is passing urine in all nappies and opens bowels once a day sometimes more! Not been weighed recently but last time had gained 500g in 2 weeks from 6-8 weeks which I was told was ok?

is this normal? Do I need to pump again?!!!

My babies were both a nightmare in the early evenings. Fussy and difficult to console, nothing to do with feeding although obviously I'd try to feed as I'd try anything to calm them down. It got better as they got older.

4-5 hours between feeds is a really decent chunk of time at 10 weeks so that wouldn't be something I'd be looking to stretch either. I don't think I ever got more than 4.

It all sounds normal to me.

The evening cluster feeding is normal - they feed more to build supply. Formula top ups undermine your supply - if you take away that breastfeed, the stimulus to make milk is not there and your body makes less milk. Unfortunately bf is very exhausting!

Cluster feeding in the evening is totally normal. It's at that point, and overnight, that we produce prolactin which is important for building your supply. The feeding team explained it like the more they feed in the evening and overnight it's telling your body to produce more for the next day.

As pps have said, that time of night seems to be peak kicking off time for babies. The witching hour. Dreadful, so I feel for you.

Don't worry about pumping, it doesn't work for everyone and it is no indication of how much milk you're actually producing. Babies are pros at getting milk, machines can't replicate that for everyone. I tried machine pumping, barely got anything out. Manually hand pumping worked a lot better but still not really what would have been a full feed. I'd carry on with the breast feeding as all seems normal, it's bloody hard but baby sounds like they're thriving. Hunker down during those evenings, have your partner bring you wads of water and snacks too.

“Baby has always been hungry. At birth fed like a dream on off for 12 hours. Very active feeder and loves contact naps.”

Just to add, this is very normal behaviour. Saying baby is a hungry baby etc just feeds in to the idea that something is wrong or not normal. All bf babies feed frequently! Their tummies are tiny and breastmilk is digested v quickly. Things do settle after 3/4 month mark.

Thank you for all the advice and reassurance!!! Think I'm having a wobble but we keep going