Continuing breastfeeding till 1 year

[Aonach]

Starting to worry myself and needing a bit of advice. I apologise for my long post!

My DS is 7.5 months and was exclusively breastfed until 5.5 months when we started weaning. I wanted to continue breastfeeding until at least the year mark, as I am very against starting formula of any kind.

Weaning has gone fine, we have been on three meals per day from 6 months. I have been quite concerned about how quickly he has dropped breastfeeds. To maintain breastfeeds to four a day I had continued to do two night feeds making our day look like the following:

8 am Breakfast- baby cereal made with ebm (no morning breastfeed and he would then not eat)

10 am pump 3oz for use in next days breakfast

12.30 Lunch- cracker/ bread as finger food (not much actually eaten) 1 small pot homemade weaning food such as macc cheese/ chicken and sweet pot followed by a small fromage frais

3pm- Breastfeed

5.30pm Dinner- same as lunch

7pm- Breastfeed then bed

12 midnight- Breastfeed

4am- Breastfeed

In the last 4 days I have stopped the 4 am to try and increase appetite for breakfast and instead I am offering breastfeed about an hour after breakfast. To my surprise he has started to take a small breastfeed at this time and I have been able to maintain pumping 3oz for food.

Overal I was happy with this progress but I feel my supply has really dropped. My boobs are much softer and I feel between feeds my milk supply and is not returning in time for the next feed. I am now getting anxious that my supply will drop to the extent I will need to supplement it. I have been taking fenugreek for a week or so now and I feel it had helped but now I no longer have the 'full' feeling and oversupply I have always tended to have. Tonight, especially, I feel my boobs
haven't recovered from our afternoon feed so consequently his bedtime feed wasn't as big (though he seemed contented). My boobs currently feel very soft and I am concerned I don't have much supply for his midnight feed.

How can I maintain my supply so I can continue feeding my DS?

Can't you offer those two extra feeds during the day? I doubt there is anything wrong with your supply, it is just adjusting.

I never ever ever had a full feeling, or letdown, or take fenugreek, or have anything but soft floppy boobs and yet I still managed to feed dd until 20 months (and still going). Now your baby is on 3 meals, why not just offer everytime you are sitting down or having a cuddle etc.?

To make your life easier, don't focus on 4 feeds a day, just whateve number you can get in. And don't pump. That's just crazy at this stage. Cows milk can be used in breakfast unless you have a goodreason to avoid it.

long periods between feeding the baby (or pumping the milk) tell your body to reduce the supply.
the gap between midnight and 8.30ish at over 8 hours is definately long enough to reduce your supply. (it's also long enough for you to ovulate again)

if you want to continue to keep breast milk as the major part of the diet i think you need to feed between midnight and 8.30.

if you restart the 4am feed your milk will be back in a few days, if not your baby will continue to wean.

it's really your choice as to what is best for you and your baby. either way your baby won't starve so don't worry.

katela, I'm sorry to contradict, but the OP's baby is 7.5 months. Her supply is well established. There is NO need to wake a baby of this age to feed them in order to protect your supply. None at all.

Pumping milk does not reduce supply either. I'm not sure where you are getting your information from but you may need to go back to it.

I agree that it could just be that your breasts have adjusted and you will no longer get that "full" felling between feeds.

I BF DS1 to 12mths and pretty much once I was past the 6 month mark my boobs felt as you describe. I had no reason to believe that there wasn't milk there though, as DS would clearly have enough when he fed, iykwim?

I know they always say to offer the breast before a meal, but as you if I did this then he would hardly eat any food, so defeated the point! So from about 9mths ish he would usually have a feed when he woke in the morning, one when he woke from his nap, one before bed and occasionally one in the night. Although I sometimes worried he wasn't feeding enough, he obviously had a good feed each time and he seemed satisfied so I just went with what we had fallen into.

Sorry if that is a bit of a ramble, just thought i'd share my experience. HTH!!

Thanks for your speedy responses. I'll see if he wakes for the 4am feed and see what happens.

Its crazy in one hand I want him to drop one of the night feeds but in the other I so don't want to stop breastfeeding yet! Ultimately I know he will drop feed in order to eat more I just hadn't expected it so soon.

It's pretty normal to start not getting a "full" feeling. I didn't feel "full" from about 4 months with DS and I breastfed him to 38 months. I would really try not to worry.

i fed my daughters for 2 and 3 years respectively - after a year it was just one feed, at bedtime most nights, and i expressed milk at work (using photos of them to stimulate supply ) so i really wouldn't worry about not having enough

I never took any notice of how many feeds dd was having, just fed on demand.

I had oversupply, fullness, desperate need to feed NOW for the first 6 months and then as weaning started it changed to how you describe. Soft, no leaking. It's normal and doesn't mean anything.

I am still bfing dd and she is 3. She never had formula.

And I agree, you don't need to express for breakfast, you can use cow's milk. Unless you want to continue and build up a store for the freezer? Can be handy if you need to be away for a feed.

Your breastfeeding relationship and supply is well established and if you feed to demand, your body and your baby will continue to work together.

seconded - i stopped overnight feeding @6mo and fed on until 1 year or more..its nice that your boobs get back to normal whilst still doing the good work. if i felt i wanted to feed more at any point, all i had to do was feed more, and the supply upped.....

Good point Edgar. DD only feeds before breakfast and not every day. ATM she has a cold and is feeding a few times a day to compensate for the sore throat/lack of food and for comfort. My supply adjusted straight away and will go straight back again once she's better with none of the blocked ducts and struggles of missed feeds in the early days.

Clever. Very, very clever.

I agree that keeping "on demand" should work just fine-lots of people I know now only feed morning and night (babies 13-15mths) with no apparent supply issues.

FWIW some days my DS feeds 5 times, others twice and he's always satisfied. I used to have a very prickly let down feeling and now sometimes I have none, and soft breasts.

The other thing is that your baby may decide that actually they are not as interested in solids as they thought they were and pick up those dropped feeds again, sooner or later. If they are teething/get a cold etc, the solids will go out the window (as show said above) and you'll be back thinking "why is my baby feeding like a newborn ". These babies love to keep us on our toes!

i'm not a bf expert, but in my experience i would say that after the first few months soft squidgy boobs and feeling full up are certainly not an indicator of lack of milk.
still bf DD aged 19 months and they are now very soft and saggy
I wouldn't worry about your supply. as others have said if you suddenly need to increase supply at any point it will up very quickly.
this is a transition point as your baby moves to getting nutrition from solids as well hence the changes and i'm sure you will have no problem feeding to a year if that's what you want to do.

sorry, NOT feeling full up

I have bf 3 DC past 12 months. I am currently BF DC3 who is 12 months next week.

I just wanted to say that soft boobs are perfectly normal past the first couple of months or so. Mine very rarely feel 'full' - usually a tiny bit on the one day a week that I work. And that is after feeding baby at 7am and I pick him up at 5 pm so it is several hours of no feeds. In fact that is the only day I need to wear breast pads in my bra.

If your baby is content and he is putting on wieght then he is getting enough milk. I would say stop the night feeds as he will make up for them in the day. Honest!

oh yes and should add I never take any notice of how many feeds a day or what time they are. He is completely bf on demand. Some days he is a bit off his food so BF more and other days he doesn't have much at all.

TBH I always BF first thing in the morning before giving breakfast. Sometimes though breakfast not till mid morning at 7/8 months!

Thanks for all your responses. I feel much better now.

Yesterday I feed more on demand- after breakfast, after lunch, mid afternoon, bedtime and midnight and felt my supply was much better. DS seemed happy he still ate a decent amount at lunch and dinner and slept from 12.30 to 6.30am without a peep. I did not pump mid morning either so I don't know if that made a difference.

Hopefully I am back on track. I think I just panicked as my hv seemed to consider it would be fine if he self weaned at this point. Not ready to give up my booby monster yet .

He would be very young to self wean at this point. Your supply will keep up with demand and now he's a bit older things are no longer so crucial - you could 'miss' quite a few feeds and still build up your supply afterwards without too much of a struggle