Does supply naturally decrease at some stage?

[olivo]

What I mean is, is it normal for supply to dip below the baby's needs occasionally? DD2 is 20 weeks and i cant seem to express as much and DD seems less satisfied. It may be because I am shattered - DD1 off school means i haven't had a minute to sit down; usually, when she is at preschool, i feed DD2 every 2 hours during the day and she settles well at night.
I suppose I am worried as I am trying to build up a supply of EBM for when i go back to work but if she is feeding a lot, i cant get much out.
any ideas?

is this one of those famous growth spurts?
hoping dd was having one last night - up every 20 minutes until 2am!

yes possibly growth spurt - it may not be that your supply has gone down but rather that her deamnds have gone up, iyswim.
It will catch up but it can take a week or two. Don't worry too hard re expressing atm, just feed feed feed and get back on track once term starts again.

HI Stealth,I keep putting it down to growth spurts but that's been weeks now
I just feel that it might be going downhill and i was so confident that i'd bf exclusively until i go back to work this time. i had so much milk at the start, fast let down etc but now it feels crappy.

thanks Mrs B. things wont be back to normal for a few weeks here as we are going away but i will do my best to prioritise DD2 and her feeding for a while.

Can you maybe try feeding in a sling? I can do it but find it a pain - you might get on better?

olivo - it is very common that later expressing produces a lower yield, in mothers whose bf is perfectly adequate to meet their babies' needs.

The reasons for this include:

• established breastfeeding matches supply very neatly to the baby's needs, and responds very quickly if the baby needs more for some reason (like a perfectly physiological increase in growth)...what it doesn't do so much, at least not compare to the earlier days and weeks, is store a lot of 'extra' between feeds. So attempting to express after or between feeds may well be less productive

• pumps become less efficient with repeated use (you can buy new parts - diaphragms and valves wear out or even split...you can call the manufacturers or see their websites for replacement parts or advice)

You can overcome the second by repairing/replacing the pump and/or learning hand expression, and the first can be overcome by expressing more often, and collecting more, smaller yields.

Hope this helps.

i might try that Stealth. my friend has one; she has given up bf so may lend it to me. cant afford to buy more stuff at the moment. might get a bit more time this weekend with DH around to look after high-maintenance DD1!

ah, thank you tiktok, great info. i have just bought a new pump as the motor on my old gave up but i am currently using the old parts - i will switch to the new ones tonight.
i will keep on with the expressing and assume that DD is getting what she needs.

that's really interesting about the pump, I have one from ds almost 3 years ago and just assumed it would be fine. I've only iused it once since dd was born and it was hard work! decided i probably won't bother this time but if i do will replace the parts that seal.

olivo - interesting that your motor wore out, which indicates some pretty heavy duty use The bits and pieces in pumps are actually quite delicate, so it would deffo be worth a try to replace the old ones with new ones.

Hi olivio I've experienced the same prob re expressing, v disheartening! 3 weeks in could get 6oz out of one boob no prob but now ds is 14 weeks struggle to get just 2oz out of each!

Thanks for info tiktok v interesting, will keep persevering with the pump, I've actually found the hand held one better than the electric.

just wanted to come back and say thsnks again. i've added the new bits to my pump and have got more in one go than i've had in ages! thnks tiktok!
good luck stealth and minx.