Immediate supply drop

kitkat2731

Hello ladies, I'm hoping someone might have had a similar experience and have some advice. I'm a first time mom, my baby is 5 months old. She's been exclusively breast fed, and the only issue I've had in 5 months is that she can't tolerate my vitamin, so I stopped taking it. The last few days though, I have noticed a supply drop out of nowhere. Three or four days ago, I was pumping (I work full time, have for 6 weeks now - she nurses while I'm home, and takes a bottle fine when I'm at work) at went from getting 5-7 oz 3 times a day, to one session getting only drops. The next session 3 hrs later) I was back to 6 oz and have had a normal amount again every time since that once. Until now, doing fine, then all of a sudden, 2 hours after I last fed her, she cries, I try to feed her, she gets nothing. So I give her a bottle, she eats and goes to sleep. I try to pump and get only drops again. Nothing in my life has really changed and I've eaten and drank plenty so I have no idea the cause or how to solve it. I was really hoping to continue to BF for at least another month, if not until a year old. Any suggestions welcome! Thank you!

mb0112

I don't really know what the cause would be, but I'd recommend trying to nurse her when she is hungry again even if it doesn't seem like much is coming out... Hopefully that will tell your body to make more (better than the pump would!)

delujm0

mb0112 said:

I don't really know what the cause would be, but I'd recommend trying to nurse her when she is hungry again even if it doesn't seem like much is coming out... Hopefully that will tell your body to make more (better than the pump would!)

This, and also is it possible you're about to get your period? Mine came back at 6 months PP, despite EBF, and always caused a temporary reduced supply for a few days.  Drink lots of water and nurse as much as possible and hopefully you'll be back to normal in no time.

kitkat2731

Thanks for your help, ladies. Still not sure what caused it, but I've seen a remarkable upturn in production since placing a call to the lactation consultant. I didn't even get to speak with her - just left a message and apparently that was the magic trick

kitkat2731

There was way more to that message....

I went on to detail how I fixed my problem - namely, as pp suggested, lots of nursing and pumping. I think because she was so hungry, DD needed to feed more frequently, which in turn signaled my body to produce more. It was a rough night - feeding every 2-3 hours like when she first came home. Because of the lack of sleep, and her continued fussiness, I thought she might be sick, so I took a sick day from work. I've since read about this so-called "nursing vacation". I continued to nurse her every 3-4 hours or sooner if she seemed hungry. I also tried to pump in between, which was annoying and depressing and fruitless, until it wasn't and I got a shocking 5 oz. 

I also supplemented (as I have since a few weeks after birth) with oatmeal for breakfast every morning, aim for 100 oz water each day (usually ends up being 64-80, but if I don't aim high I end around 40), and today added in red Gatorade. Not sure why, but I read somewhere it's supposed to be red. 

Easy enough fixes for what was almost the end of breastfeeding for me. Hopefully my experience can help someone else in the future!