Some BM better than none?

SweetRachel

I EP twice a day. Does not seem to really matter how many times a day I pump I get the same amount. DD gets mostly formula w/ 4-8 oz of breast milk a day. My supply is decreasing ( I have tried several things to try and increase). I am pumping about 4 oz a day now. I am having alot of guilt giving it up. I already feel like a failure because I could not EBF. I made peace with that but now I am having a hard time giving up pumping. Do you think DD is getting any benefit from the little bit of BM? She is 4 1/2 months. She is eating cereal and will start jar food at 5 months. Thanks moms!!

annabelle.27

I absolutely think there is benefit in giving some breastmilk! A friend of mine is a LC and she told me years ago that there is something like 400 known "ingredients" to breastmilk and roughly 40 in formula, meaning that there are many components to breastmilk that must be there to benefit baby, even if we don't entirely understand their purpose. By giving baby even 4 oz a day you are giving her all that good stuff. I say keep at it!

You say that it doesn't matter how many times per day you pump, your supply stays the same, and yet your supply is decreasing. You might want to try pumping more often, maybe with a higher-quality pump- that could make a difference. If you are only pumping twice a day your supply will go down. I know that some pumps don't always get a lot out which is maybe why it doesn't seem like it matters how often you do it, but pumping more often will keep your supply up.

Good luck!

StayBlessed

I definitely believe that some breastmilk is better than none. Breastmilk is the absolute best nourishment you can give your baby. So, if you can, keep doing it. Have you tried Mother's Milk Tea? I drank that 3-5 times a day for a couple of days and my supply went up quite a bit.

celiabwatson

Is the latch etc part of the problem? I ask because I have had the most success pumping while nursing (pump one side and let baby feed on the other), but if nursing is the problem that won't work.

I also think that pumping more often would help. If you're only pumping twice/day at this stage your body assumes that it doesn't need to be feeding a baby since a baby would be eating more frequently than that and therefore it's shutting down. I doubt you'll be able to maintain twice/day pumping for long.

Finally, I do think that a little is better than none. Specifically for immunities. In my house, when one person gets sick I hope that I get it too so I can make and pass on immunities to my babies. We're exposed to a lot but it rarely gets bad. There are other benefits too, but that's the one that I think would be most consistent even with a small amount.