Only 1 bf a day some days - please tell me this will be ok.

[IwishIwasmorechocolatey]

DS2 is nearly 10 months old now and we have just cut out his dreamfeed (at last!).

I bf him in the morning. If I put him to bed I bf him then and he was having formula for his dreamfeed( I'm struggling to express this time round). If DH puts him to bed he has formula and I've been bf him for the dreamfeed. DH and I take it in turns to put him to bed.

So this now means that every other day I'm only going to feed him once, the alternate days I'll be feeding him twice.

Am I right to just keep using alternate breats and will my supply be ok with this variable daily demand?

I'm really hoping to keep bf him until he's at least 1.

Sounds fine to me. I fed once a day for months
Maybe someone else will have more info...

Did you feed from the same side every time or alternate?

Alternate.
For a while though when they were dropping the other feed it would be once or twice a day.
I think as your supply is established at this point it shouldn't be a problem.
Try and get hold of Tiktok as she is knowledgeable about these things.

I will be watching this thread with interest.

DS3 is now 1 and I really think he is only still BF to do me a favour . He never "asks" for it and will easily go 11-12 hrs with just drinking a little water and eating unfeasable amounts of fruit .

I never really saw myself as an extended Bfer, but then again, I never thougt I could get to 1 year.

It would be great if 1x or 2x a day were sustainable for another few months.

Tiktok, are you there??

Yes, I'm hoping she might come along at some point with words of wisdom!

I'll stick with alternate sides for now and keep my fingers crossed that my supply settles and keeps on going. Thanks for your help.

chocolatey, answer is I don't know, sorry.

I would guess you'd be fine keeping up some bf for the two further months you plan to - but honestly, I can't be sure. When bf has been going for a l....o.....n...g time, well into toddlerhood, it is pretty easily sustained with the frequency you describe, but there is a more individual response the younger the baby.

It's not that your supply disappears, really, as milk can be produced for a long time even after bf ceases, but more that supply drops and the baby isn't keen enough to bother.

As I say, it's individual - you can see experiences here on mumsnet which vary a lot. The good thing is that if you suspect it's dropping below a level your baby is tolerating you can bump it up again with expressing and/or extra feeding.

No guarentees, but good luck

I've been BF twice a day (first thing and last thing) for the last six months with asbsolutely no supply problems. I dropped the morning feed last Friday (work related issues) so I'm just feeding once a day now. DD always has both sides so I'm hoping that my supply keeps going OK till she decides to drop the evening feed (she's 14 months). So I can only speak from 5 days' experience but seems to be going well so far.
Maybe you could try to get your DS to have both sides every time he feeds, it might keep things ticking along.

I guess I could feed him from both sides at every feed to make sure that each boob gets used on a daily basis!

Hi,

I'm in the same boat (kind of). My baby is a little younger than yours, 8 months. We have had days in the last month when the bf is only morning & night, and in between he either has a bottle of milk or refuses that altogether too. Then other days (like the last week) when the bf is more, 4 times a day or so. He always has a bottle of formula (am tired of expressing at this point) around 11 at night. He seems keen to bf, but goes through phases, & often it's clear it's a comfort & pleasure for him, other times it's more about the milk. I think it's going in the direction of more comfort than milk, to be honest.

I'm not sure about how much he's actually getting, as I'm sure my supply is lower than it used to be since I'm bf much less. If I were you- and this is what I'm doing actually- I would go with the flow, particularly if you want to stop around a year. If you want to go on a bit longer, I think maybe adding a couple more bf (e.g. before or after naps) will definitely help. Remember, it's supply & demand so logically you might be able to go on like this for a while longer. But I wouldn't personally 'force' things & add too many more bfs, just be guided by your baby & by your own needs- not just bf needs, but your needs all around. Do whatever you feel is right for yourself & your family.

I had very similar with my DS1 and tbh, my supply tanked completely within the next month and it was the beginning of the end for us sadly. There were other factors as well, but this time round I've made sure I'm feeding both breasts at least twice a day, or on the days when I'm at work I express each side once, doing the morning and night feeds direct. And at 13 months we're still going strong (along with some night feeds but that's a whole other story!)

If you desperately want to keep going for much longer, I'd try and add another emptying of each breast at some point during the 24 hours. Even if you don't get much or don't keep the milk, it will maintain some stimulation and response.

This is so interesting. I am slowly stopping breastfeeding as am going back to work. At the moment I am doing morning feed, and a mid pm feed or two and DS, 6 months, is not waking at night anymore (thank the lord). I sense my supply is dropping as he seems to be taking more from the bottles at those feeds and I feel that all the night feeds I was doing were really boosting my supply - he fed 2 hourly at night until he was about 4 months old and has always fed 2 hourly in day. My instinct tells me that my supply is dropping but I'd be really interested to hear how you get on Iwish as in an ideal world I'd like to keep the morning feed when I go back to work. Didn't manage it with DD when I went back to work as she just stopped bothering with it but DS seems keener.

Right I've decided that every time I do feed him, I'm going to offer both sides to make sure they're both used every day at least once!

Good luck to you all trying to keep going with just a couple of feeds a day. I feel lucky that work won't interfere with this - I'm not going back until July and should be able to do the morning feed before I leave if we're still going by then.

Already finding that supply seems to be dropping... Can still do first thing in morning feed and that keeps DS happy but he seems hungry after the daytime ones now and I am no longer feeling 'full' at those times (although I know that's not always a sign of anything). Both mine fed 2 hourly when they were exc bf and I'm wondering whether I'm just someone who needs to do that to keep up supply. Did read somewhere on here that different women have different storage capacity too. Hoping to keep first am feed going but wondering if that is on its way out too.

apostrophe that's good to know, we are on one feed a day now and it does seem to be going OK. Am just hoping that I can keep hte supply up.

Well we've been doing it for 2 weeks now and all seems to be well