Down to one feed: no going back now?

[fadingfast]

Since DD was about 10 months, I've been giving her two bfeeds a day, morning and evening. She is now 16 months, and I've just cut out the morning feed, which thankfully she doesn't seem too bothered about. She is still happily having her bedtime feed, and for now I'm happy to continue.

My question is this: now I'm down to one feed a day, will my supply start to diminish, or will it settle at just the one feed a day? If for any reason I wanted to increase it again and add another feed (eg if DD is ill) will I be able to?

I seem to remember when feeding DS that once I was down to one feed a day, it seemed as though my supply dwindled quite quickly but I don't know if that is normally the case.

Thank you

Yes, you can go on with one feed a day for months or even years. And yes, if she's ill or needs more feeds then if you feed her your supply will up itself accordingly.

You may never feel full and your breasts may decrease in size, but this really has no bearing on their ability to make milk when called to do so.

I swear even after my youngest DD was weaned at almost 4, I had a letdown reflex many months later when she had a high temperature and I was cuddling her in the Dr's office...

Thank you - that's reassuring. I don't really want to give up altogether just yet so it's good to know I can carry on for now. I'm also paranoid about swine flu over the next few months so it would be good to know if the need arises, I should still be able to feed her.

I went down to two feeds a day at 10 months and then one feed a day at 11 months and did that for 3 weeks before stopping around DS's birthday. So perhaps not as long as you want to go on one feed but my supply held up absolutely fine so I doubt you'll have a problem now at 16mo. TBH I could probably have restarted easily for a month or so after I stopped completely as it took a long time for my milk supply to diminish (and even now 4 months on I don't think it has completely dried up!).

i did 1 feed at night for over a year. it was a comfort feed so wasn't much, but was always there.