Messed up milk

[SparrowFflamau]

The last fortnight or so has been v stressful, and my eating has either been non-existent or crap food.

I think it has screwed up my milk, and the last few days DD2 is fighting at the breast like not a lot is coming out, wanting to feed much more often, and generally unsettled. When I expressed it was a lot "thinner" than normal.

I am trying to increase the amount I am eating, and make what I am eating better. Things are settling slightly more here stress-wise but I feel like I am starving her in the meantime.

Will it all be ok, or should i be resorting to topping her up??

Any advice?

Sparrow, you cannot tell by looking at breastmilk what its constituents are.

Stress does not impact on quality or quantity and nor does poor diet.

You will not be starving your baby.

I promise you.

Your dd's behaviour may be just a stage she is going through, and/or a response to the stressful events she will sense, and this will make her more needy and more desperate to be close to you, and more unsettled generally.

Your milk will be fine.

Your milk is not affected by what you eat, or how stressed you are - don't worry. It will affect your body first and then the milk, and, in fact, I have just been through a very stressful time (leaving emotionally abusive ex) and was barely eating at all, my doctor wanted me to have blood tests, and they found that actually despite my poor eating and stress, I was not deficient in anything (iron was on the line, but nothing to worry about) - so judging from that, my milk was fine throughout this time.

It's more likely your DD is picking up on your stress emotionally when you feed her than it being the milk at fault. It could also be something totally unrelated like teething, colic or a growth spurt.

Look after yourself and please don't worry

Interesting X-post there

Bertie, are you me? LOL

And just wanted to add I am extremely underweight - size 6 is baggy on me - and yet the milk has been fine. I doubt that two weeks of bad diet would affect anything much. Eat little and often and buy things which tempt you to eat - it doesn't matter if it's crap in the short term, (I keep craving fizzy, sugary drinks for example) just keep your own energy up or you will feel awful. I hope your stressful situation improves soon

I think I owe my knowledge on the matter to you tiktok - I remember having the same feelings as the OP and you were very kind

The voices of sanity

This is what I love MN for.

The logical part of my mind was whispering in the background that milk would be ok, but the paranoid depressive part is so much louder (not helped by "concerned" HV because of their f*ckin centile charts ).

We could well be on a growth spurt (13 weeks), plus she is alternating between clear and v bunged up nose which will be making the feeding harder.

You'd think by the third one the paranoia would stop wouldn't you?

I think I have a gap in DS' red book between 4 months and about a year where I stopped getting him weighed because they wouldn't stop going on about baby rice and centiles, and suggesting I was too busy to eat properly, he was fine, he is just small, like me.

Think about it, if stress made your milk decrease, nature would not have made having a small baby so stressful

annoying thing is she was huge at birth, so now she has gone petite they are more bothered than had she not absorbed the life out of me in utero