Milk almost dried up! Can anyone help

[Newmumhere40]

We introduced formula to combi feed at about 6 weeks for many reasons. We are now at 4 months and there is barely any milk coming and I'm so sad. I'm sorry I introduced formula so soon and allowed this to happen.

Is there any hope of getting my milk to come back in!?

You need to bf more often spend the next week at home and ofen boobs every 2 hours around the clock.

I'm trying to pump but practically nothing is coming out 😭

Lots of skin to skin, offer the breast often,.

Thank you! He takes the boob no problem then looks up at me like "is that it?"

Don't panic! It's not too late to get referred to an NHS infant feeding consultant via health visiting team - I'm pretty sure they aren't just breastfeeding specific. They're fantastic. When mine was low, they suggested double pumping and/or doing three boobs each feed (eg left, right, left and then the opposite next feed) to build up supply. If you're expressing, I'm sure they'd have advice for that, too. Might not be much fun, but hormones are stronger at night, so pumping at around 3am would help supply.

I ebf for 6 months and feed for 3 and half years. 2 years later I can hand express a few drops but I could never properly express. Pumping is not a measure of how much milk you have.

The only way is feeding more, you can definitely do it if you want to. Offer breast first at every feed, formula after if still seems hungry.
Express in between feeds too to encourage supply, but don’t worry if you do get much out at first, keep at it. Babies are much better at getting milk from the breast than pumps are, and some women never have much success expressing but feed their babies fine

Ps to add to above, as he is feeding from your breast longer reduce the formula , this will encourage him to feed more often. You might have to breastfeed every couple of hours for a few days to get things going

It’s really possible to get supply back up. Offer boob at every feed and keep going until they are drained.
definitely worth calling support eg NHS or la leche league

Boobs don’t empty - they produce milk in response to demand. It’s like turning on a tap. The flow isn’t as fast as with a bottle and they have to work a bit harder at the breast hence the look!!

Thank you all. I will do all of the above. Just did skin to skin since I posted. Offered boob twice and have been pumping since then. Fingers crossed. @MrsPatrickDempsey I am aware of the situation, advice is what I need.

Pumping is no indication of how much milk you've got. I exclusively breastfeed for 2.5yrs and pumped for the first month whilst baby was in NICU, loads of milk - tried pumping again a few weeks later and totally freaked by nothing coming out but it was fine!

To increase supply you need to feed, feed, feed. Loads of skin to skin. Three boob feeds. You can get there x