How long can milk supply keep up only nursing 2-3x day?

peregrinefalconx

My daughter is 7.5 months old. I went back to work when she was 3 months old and my milk supply plummeted, although I was able to provide her with her two 4-oz bottles that she drank at daycare. Then it went to providing 1 (with formula being the other one) and now it's taking 2 days to gather enough milk to give her 1 5-oz bottle of BM. It breaks my heart to stop BF. I tend to get overwrought with emotion about BF--I can't help it or control it. Not sure if it is some mechanism of PPD or just hormone issues or whatever. I had to give up the idea of just giving her small amounts of formula and nurse nurse nurse to  just make sure this kid is fed enough.

Anyway, I feel like the amount of effort it takes to pump (only to get .5-1 oz) is onerous, but I keep doing it to keep whatever tiny supply I have up. She still wants to nurse and cries if nothing comes out, or not fast enough, and then she gets a bottle. If I did just do it when I wake up, come home from work and then before bed, is that basically the end? Or can this be sustained for months? Thanks.

Knottie13257900

Seems to depend on the person. Some people can keep that up for a long time. For me, once my supply started going down (even when it was still pretty good), my baby wasn't interested in nursing anymore. You seem to have a different problem-your baby does want to nurse. I'm kind of jealous. For me, I pretty much switched to the bottle when she was 6 months