Breast milk supply suddenly decrease in evening

[Newmum241]

Hi, looking for advice / to know if this is the norm.
my baby is 5.5 months old and breast fed exclusively and has in the last couple of weeks started having the odd bottle of breast milk before bed so dad can feed.
I’ve been pumping in the evening when this happens.
however I’ve noticed that my evening supply seems quite low and and I’m worried my baby can’t fill up before bed from me alone. For example, I fed her tonight before bed and she still seemed hungry and then drank 100ml from her bottle before going to sleep. When I’ve tried to pump I’m getting about 40-80ml out (sometimes next to nothing!!) when previously I’d be getting 100-150ml.

has anyone else experienced this and what did they do to reverse it as I don’t want to rely on a bottle for evening feeds esp as pumping to get enough is tricky to do when I’m feeding throughout the day

can it also be linked to baby not feeding as often or as long in the day as they seem distracted

im now worried I don’t have enough to satisfy her and I do want to keep exclusively breastfeeding as long as I can

thanks

It's notoriously difficult pumping...nothing will get the milk and stimulate your supply like a baby can. And then it starts to become a vicious cycle as supply starts to drop. Milk production hormones are highest at night so this is also the worst time to skip BFing.

I would do away with the pumping altogether. Her dad doesn't need to feed her and it's just causing you hassle and worry. Let her stimulate your supply again, and at 5.5 months I wouldn't worry unduly that she's going hungry if she's feeding normally throughout the day. Wet nappies and all of that

Your LO is almost ready for solids. You can give porridge at bed time to help with night time hunger. Don't panic - their appetite probably IS going up and that's a good thing because it might help them take to solids! I think follow the PP's advice.

How much you can pump is absolutely no reflection on how much milk you can produce.

Your LO will be very practiced and very efficient at getting milk out.

Unless your LO has been drifting down the weight centiles or seems quite lethargic recently or has had actual weight loss then I wouldn't worry.

Also DH giving a bottle at the sane time that you pump isn't really helping you, especially if you're the one who has tho clean the bottles and pump, store the milk and prepare the bottle.

You could try pumping earlier in the day and stick to the same times everyday, so that your body gets used to producing extra milk at this time. So say if you're always at hone for 8am and 12 noon you could try pumping then. With DC2 I did it whilst they were feeding so it saved time.

And don't worry either about how much baby is having at one feed. BF babies between 6 weeks and 6 months take roughly 25 Floz/740 mls in 24 hours. It doesn't matter if they feed 10 times or 4, they'll still take the sane amount overall. It's not like feeding a FF baby who will need ever increasing amount of milk to get their nutrition