How do you know if you have late onset low milk supply?

[Chocolatbox]

My 6 month old has recently dropped a second centile and I don’t know why. Two lactation consultants have checked latch etc but no issues detected. Lots of wet nappies and lots of dirty nappies (Often 4 fairly small ones or sometimes 2 bigger ones?) He has CMPA but don’t know if slow weight gain is related? I’m now dairy free (BF). I’m beginning to worry about my milk supply. He feeds very frequently- often every hour, sometimes 2 hours including through the night. He’ll only feed for 5-10 minutes though.

How would I know if I’ve got late onset low milk supply?

I had very similar with my first and tbh she just ended up staying on a lower centile, almost like that was actually her natural curve. Met all other milestones as expected, eats well on the whole now at 2.5 but still petite. I was also dairy free and she passed the milk ladder age 1 and has full fat milk now (and yoghurt in abundance). We continued breastfeeding until she was 17ish months, they did eventually space out from hourly etc but always only lasted 5-10 mins. I think she was just an efficient but snacky feeder. Always worth checking with a GP/HV if concerned but to share my experience if useful.

Bump

You're not on the combined pill by any chance? I was given it and it fucked my supply up. You're not supposed to have it if you're BF

Also jt DD was a grazer so only 5/10 mins at a time too x

@Blendandmix Nope not on any hormonal birth control again yet.

I did find that mine's growth slowed a bit as he approached 6 months (he had a monster appetite). Picked up again when he started on solids.

Can't hurt to ask your GP though if there's been a drastic reduction in weight gain

@Blendandmix How did you know your supply dropped? Starting to worry this is the cause but don’t know how to tell? Still lots of wet nappies. Poop quality varies a lot day to day.

Are you saying your baby has dropped a 2nd cent ILR as in home from say 50th centile to 48th centile?

If so, there is absolutely nothing to worry about. The charts are rough guides. No child will start and end on the same centile.

Crikey. What is up with auto correct should read:

“Are you saying your baby has dropped a 2nd centile as in from say 50th centile to 48th centile?”

Both mine dropped centiles slightly when they went onto solids and also started moving around a lot more.

Presumably more energy expended and solids replacing some of the milk volume they were taking.

Anyway, they were both fine in themselves and continued to follow the lower line (as much as I got them weighed by that point which was hardly ever).

@Onnabugeisha He’s dropped from 50th to 9th centile and seems to keep dropping. Gaining weight but slowly and dropping centiles more each weighing.

Ah, so he’s dropped 41 centiles. I see the concern. I had similar as one of my DCs took after me genetics wise to become a small child and petite woman. She went from 56th to -5th (yes fell off the bottom of the chart).

Similar, growing steadily but slower. My pediatrician did look into it and concluded I’d had a very good uterine environment so had a heavy birth weight baby for my size, and that the first six months was genetics sort of outing themselves. She also said the charts represented mostly formula fed babies which grow faster than breastfed babies, so all breastfed babies tend to drop centiles as they go anyway.

However, she eliminated other reasons first by looking at how long I was nursing at each feed and what solids I was giving her:

• See if you can get him to feed for longer than 5-10mins and use one breast for each feed.
• Hes old enough for solids, so try and ensure these are mostly full fat & protein rich foods like yogurts from whole milk, scrambled eggs etc and not high sugar/high carb stuff like mashed bananas or applesauce.
• Make sure your diet has good quality fats in it…I see you are dairy free..but what about nuts, avocados, chicken, tuna?

6 months usually is the start of another growth spurt too, so make sure to nurse on demand. He may also be a bit of a late bloomer to this growth spurt.

What does your pediatrician say? Have they indicated you might have low supply? The number of dirty and wet nappies doesn’t seem too low to me.

Check out Olivia lactation consultant on Instagram she is so helpful about low supply

@Onnabugeisha I’m very average in height and weight and all the boys in my family are short so it’s possible it’s just genetics but my DH and all of his family are very tall so it’s hard to know at this stage which side he may take after.

I’m still waiting for my paediatrician appointment so not sure what they’ll say yet but I wonder if it could be something to do with his cows milk protein allergy but I’m not sure if this always causes issues with weight. We haven’t started solids yet but plan to in the next week but I’m nervous as I know sometimes milk consumption drops once on solids and breastmilk is normally more calorific. Especially as he can’t have high fat dairy products etc.

Yes a cows milk allergy can definitely affect growth. That must be so difficult!

Hopefully the pediatrician will have recommendations for solids. I did find that for mine, the nursing went up not down after introducing solids.

DS1 was dairy free, breast fed, and slight (tho born on 25th, dropped to 9th).
He adored solids, and just ate and ate. His first word was "more" and was used frequently when sat in a high chair (obviously not at 6 months tho!)
You may find solids aren't a problem.

He also moved much earlier than his chunkier peers, which also kept him slender - he was on the move at 5 months, crawling at 6, cruising at 8...

He is now a teenager, tolerates dairy better than anyone else in the house - I suspect I'm slightly intolerant, as I naturally avoid milky things. DH has an Asian aversion to dairy, and DS2 follows me. DS1 is still very slight (hovers around 6th centile on the BMI) but healthy, strong, and still adores his food.

How did you know your supply dropped? Starting to worry this is the cause but don’t know how to tell? Still lots of wet nappies. Poop quality varies a lot day to day.

My boobs weren't as full, they always just felt empty.

Also I've seen your Df, a lot of my friends with babies with CMPA also had to give up soya. Don't know if that's been mentioned but they're usually hand in hand x