Breastfeding getting very difficult at the moment, please help!!!

[Mareta]

DD is almost 8 months and has two teeth. For the last week I am strugling to breastfeed her. She has dropped to three feeds, one in the morning, one after lunch and one before bed time. Sometimes she stills wakes up once at night for a feed. Our problem is that except the bed time feed all other feeds she only feeds from one breast. This never used to happen before and I am worried I will run out of milk because she does not feed as much as she used to. I have tried to express but I don't manage to express a lot and being finding it very difficult. I am worry that she does not take enough milk as it is recommended to have 1 pint of milk each day, not sure how much she has.

I really need the advice of someone with more experience than me. It is my first child and I feel a bit unsure of what to do at the moment. She is having three meals each day and eating pretty well to be honest. She eats anything that is given to her.

Thank you in advance

The pint of milk thing referes to the amount of milk she needs to get the amount of calcium per day. Human babies are the only mammal babies obviously given milk after they've weaned from the breast but their calcium doesn't have to come only from milk they drink. You can give her cheese, yoghurt etc, as well as cheese sauces, green veg that's high in calcium and milk on brekkie etc. With the breast feeds you give her as well, this could easily add up to the correct amount for her age. I think there's a calcium claculator thing on the petit filous website (not that I'm endorsing Pf for 8 month olds!)

Also, it doesn't matter if she prefers one breast; it's quite feasible to feed only from one breast and most babies do prefer one side to the other. If the amount of feeds stay the same, then your milk should be fine. Obviously when she drops feeds, it will mean that you produce less to cope with decreased demand.

You won't run out of milk and she will take as much as she needs. You are doing brilliantly