Supply is SO low at night. Please help.

peanut701

I know that milk production is slower at night, but try explaining that to my hungry, frustrated DD. I have an abundance of milk for the first two or three feedings during the day and then I produce SO little at night. DD is not swallowing anything and she's screaming in frustration. I pumped a couple of times to get an estimate of my supply and I got 1 oz total one night and almost 2 another night. So I keep putting her on the breast, I switch sides, I drink Mothers Milk tea throughout the day... but I can't satisfy her at night and get her to go to sleep. We hit the 6 week growth spurt two days ago, so of course the problem is more pronounced. I saw an LC, but the appt was in the AM so she saw lots of milk and said I don't have a problem. But the nights are AWFUL. She screams from about 5pm to midnight. Why isn't my nighttime supply increasing??? And will it really mess things up to give her a bottle of milk that was expressed earlier the same day? DH has given her just 1 oz of EBM the past two nights when I reached my breaking point.

HisBelovedPrincess

1. are you drinking a lot of water throughout the day?

2.  are you working? Which leaves you much more stressed/tired at the end of the day, decreasing production?

3. If you supplement, make sure to pump in place of that feeding. Otherwise it will have the opposite effect, and signal to your body that you need to make less.

4. What is her schedulelike at that time of day? It could be she is overly stimulated/tired/overly hungry, etc

 5.  I have heard it said by many moms, read it in books and experienced it with my twins, sometimes the evening times are when babies are just more colicky.  Sometimes it has nothing to do with anything, except the baby feeling disrest and fussing.

 

Having said all of that, when I nursed FT, I found in the evenings they would want to cluster feed bc my production was at it's lowest.  This meant I had to nurse pretty much nonstop until bed time. lol.  There were days though, that I pushed myself to maintain the home (we're talking the first 3 months were it was pretty difficult), rather than resting and taking care of myself when they were sleeping.  This made for really low production in the evening. But, if I took a nap with them during hte afternoon nap (the early evening one from around  4-6ish time frame) that it helped my production because I was refreshed, relaxed and made sure to stay hydrated

 

  It's possible you have a lack of production, but it's also possible that other factors are playing into the fussiness too

 

SnoopyLuv

I went through the same. It's not low supply. It's baby needing to sleep and you being frustrated. Babies naturally want to cluster feed at night.

Meganc1255

I think the response above is perfect, but I found a site last night that addressed low supply in the evening and being fussy.. maybe it will help..

https://kellymom.com/babyconcerns/fussy-evening.html

peanut701

OP here. Will cluster feeding ever end? And if my husband gives a bottle of EBM that's a combination of milk expressed shortly beforehand as well as milk expressed that morning... Will my supply suffer? I can't take this anymore. I just want an hour of quiet in the evening. I appreciate the responses and I'm going to work on drinking more water and getting more rest.

To answer the question about a schedule, we don't have one. I just feed on demand. Yesterday she ate at 330a, 930a, 145p, 515p, 7p, 8p and then back on at 845p (I had hopped in a hot shower in between to help with letdown). She slept between 350a and 7a, 1015a to 115p (I woke her up at 115 in the hope that she would not be up all night) and 250p to 450p. she was wide awake after the 515p feed so I put her on the activity mat for about 20 mins. After that, she refused to sleep until 11p, despite several attempts to put her down.

ETA: DH gave her 1oz of EBM at 1015 p that seemed to finally settle her. 

joleneandbean

My DD has done the same thing. I started out with a pretty strong letdown, so on the nights when the volume wasn't as high, she would be veeerrrry angry. She was used to the fire hose. I would have DH give her a bottle of pumped milk and, as PP said, go pump again. Usually 2 oz or so would do the trick and she would totally pass out. She still gets fussy in the evening sometimes waiting for my milk to let down, but I'm not so stressed anymore. That's a huge part of it, too. 

SnoopyLuv

joleneandbean:

My DD has done the same thing. I started out with a pretty strong letdown, so on the nights when the volume wasn't as high, she would be veeerrrry angry. She was used to the fire hose. I would have DH give her a bottle of pumped milk and, as PP said, go pump again. Usually 2 oz or so would do the trick and she would totally pass out. She still gets fussy in the evening sometimes waiting for my milk to let down, but I'm not so stressed anymore. That's a huge part of it, too. 

Absolutely.

And OP I could have written this post exactly a year ago. My child really didn't sleep the first two months and was all over the place with eating. We ended up bedsharing and that was the best thing I could have ever done.

shocked77

I feel like you could be describing my son from week 4 to week 7.  I wanted to die.  He seemed so angry at night, but in my case it was at its worst at 3am.  just when i was delirious and had no patience left.

All i can say is to hang in there.  For me everything started to turn around at 7 weeks. I still have VERY fast letdown early in the day. DS still gets "annoyed" when its not exactly the way he wants it.  Difference is it doesn't happen so often and now i laugh at him and call him the angry eater.

My DS has been growing like a weed.  2 lbs and 2 inches in month 1 and month 2.  Because of that (I think) he has growth spurts about everyother week with tons of cluster feeding etc.  it is exhausting.  I do find that i seem to have more volume at night if i drink more.  I also increased my calories and i think it made a difference.

Good luck.  Hang in there.  Give  DH a bottle in the evening of pumped milke from earlier so he can feed once for you. I found even taking the break of pumping once in the evening made a difference for me mentally.  You will also feel much better once she swings a little and you get a little bit longer stretch of sleep.  For me again--it was the 8 week mark and has gradually improved since then.  He still gets up at midnight, 3 and 6 am to eat, but its a much smoother, faster process and he is back down in less than 20 mins.  For me, that was huge.  big Hug--u can do this.