Breast milk has entirely stopped!!!!

[Dalmatian0]

Baby is 4.5 months old. I have always nursed and pumped daily. 15 days ago the amount of milk I pumped started to reduce and it is now as low as 5ml per session. I used to get over 100ml per session. I haven’t cut any nursing or pumping sessions. I am led by baby and our routine hasn’t changed.

I do have PCOS, could that mean my supply is prone to random changes? Period hasn’t come back yet. I’m not on birth control. Highly unlikely to be pregnant again. Eating and drinking the same as ever. I’m 33 and generally in good shape. Pump is
good quality (Medala), new and working well I think.

I made it to 3.5 months without formula top ups but now I simply have to. It’s clear
baby not getting enough nursing and pumping
wasn’t producing enough. Initially it was an occasional bottle as needed but since 15 days ago it is several bottles a day. I under the supply and demand thing - but as I say I am nursing and pumping just as much as before. I haven’t cut down at all. But now close to zero milk is coming out. I haven’t felt a let down for ages.

What is going on?!

Pumping isnt an accurate representation of your milk supply.
DD is 13 months, EBF since 8 weeks old and to this day I only get around 10mls in a pumping session!
Go based on babies number of wet nappies, at that age should be at least 6 heavy wet nappies (wee). If they have this its ok, if not your milk supply probably has dropped.
Would also recommend working/ seeking advice from a lactation consultant if worried

I stopped being able to pump at 3 months with my first. I just couldn’t get anything out with the pump anymore. I did panic and struggled to believe anyone who said it was fine and normal, but DS was fine and fed until 2.

DD is 8 months and I can still pump with her 🤷‍♀️

Top ups are tough, they feel like a good safety blanket but milk is supply and demand, so they tend to start you on a bad spiral in the end. Even some members of our infant feeding team advocated top ups for a while; it turned out it’s old guidance unless baby isn’t thriving or you’re not achieving six wet nappies.

Yes the amount you get while pumping isn’t representative of how much milk you have, so don’t panic.

Have you checked that you’re using the right flange size? Any new medications or changing in your lifestyle that could be affecting things? Some women find their supply drops in the run up to their period, so it could be something along those lines. Are you pumping for the each of the missed feeds where you’re giving a bottle?

Pumping is way less straightforward than we would all like to think! Have you replaced all the parts such as duck bill valves etc? Have you re measured your nipples & ensured you have a correctly fitting flange? Any issues with elastic nipples?

How is baby after a feed off the breast? Do they seem content or fussy etc? It’s unlikely they’re nursing the same amount if having multiple bottles of formula - even if on the breast a lot it could be for comfort now.

Fed is best completely. But if you are set on continuing to bf I would probably gradually reduce the amount of formula to encourage bf/the supply & demand process.

Your body may just not be responding to the pump anymore. It's very possible that you'll be fine with just nursing still.

I could never get a pump to work for me and I'm still breastfeeding my dd at 13 months now.

Baby is much better at getting milk out than pump. So I wouldn't be concerned it youre able to feed directly just do that. I found by 3/4 months supply was regulated and my breasts seemed less full- and let down a lot less intense. If you need to bottle feed because youre not physically with baby then I think you'll end up relying more and more on formula- absolutely fine too of course.

If youre desperate to increase supply do a 2 am feed. Apparently thats a really good time for building supply. Could never bring myself to do it though!

Are you still trying during the night? My supply completely stopped, not even a drop (I’d foolishly taken lemsip without reading up whether it’s ok while breastfeeding. It’s not as it’s known to stop supply due to decongestant).

Anyway, the only thing that got my flow close to back to normal was persisting in the middle of the night and then picking back up during the day.

Good luck with it, it’s just soul destroying isn’t it. I hated every second of my breastfeeding journey. It was hell. I had to pump for 6 months as he never was able to properly latch. And I did end up topping up with formula towards the end of the 6 months, and then switched entirely to formula and follow on.

This as well. I had to go through three different types of pump during the six months. If you can’t feed direct maybe try a different pump see if that works.

I stopped being able to pump at 6 months - 2 years later, still BFing.

Similar circumstances as you with my first op (age and PCOS) though I was exclusively expressing by that point as baby did not want to nurse at all. I found that there were two or three months early on where I had 3-4 days of low supply and 3-4 days of unusually high supply, pretty sure it was a cycle-related thing even though I didn't actually have my period yet.

Adding at least one pump or feed in the early hours is probably the single most effective thing you can do (3-4am-ish). I also found adding short sessions (10-15 mins) about 30-60 mins after pumping helped, even if you don't get any milk out of it, it's about the stimulation. If your baby will nurse for comfort that's probably a more pleasant way to achieve the same thing. Skin to skin still helps at this point too!

Also definitely swap out your duck bill valves. Sometimes they get torn or distorted when cleaning, sometimes they are faulty from new. You can't always see the damage but you absolutely notice the difference when you replace them.

I could never get anything out with a pump but managed to breastfeed 3 babies successfully.