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Breastfeeding
What Happened? Please help
My LO is 6 weeks old and he has been EBF since day 1. I have never had any supply issues at all; if anything, I'd say I have an oversupply. I have flat nipples so I have to wear a nipple shield and every time he nurses the nipple shield is continuously full of milk.
Last night He fell asleep while eating so I decided to pump; I do not pump often-maybe once every other day (if that). Pumping took exceptionally long last night for some reason but I did notice that my breasts felt more empty than they've ever been after I was done. I pumped around 10:30PM.
My LO woke up at 2AM to eat and my boobs felt empty; my LO acted as if there was barely any milk. I ended up getting him to nurse for about 20 minutes, though I have no clue if he was actually getting milk (I couldn't hear him swallowing and I couldn't see the milk in the shield). He woke up again around 5AM to eat and this time he was crying and pulling away at the breast; again, my boobs felt empty and I feel like there was nothing coming out.
What the heck happened? Can your milk supply deplete overnight? I eat well and drink plenty of water. I have been pretty stressed--could that have anything to do withi t? I am feeling really stressed about this...I have no clue what to do and I want to continue EBF.
Someone please help me.
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Re: What Happened? Please help
I promise you that your LO was getting milk! I asked my LC a similar question when I had the same concerns as you and she told me that 1.A pump is never as efficient as your LO so there is always milk left in your bb's and 2. An empty breast actually fills faster, which means you had milk to give your LO when they woke up that first time to eat.
Also, remember that sometimes our babies get fussy and don't want to work at getting the milk out during a feeding. Your LO may have been really tired and pulled away, or needed to burp. One thing I noticed was if I burped my LO when he acted this way and switched bb's then he seemed to be less fussy. So, try burping him first.
If you are stressed it could effect your supply, but by 6 weeks your supply is pretty well established so you may only see a very small decrease. If your LO hasn't hit his 6 week growth spurt then you should prepare yourself for it now. He will want to eat ALL THE TIME.
Keep up the good work & try to relax!
Definitely this. As Drew got older sometimes he didn't even want the breast when he woke up. He just wanted held or a paci but would get frustrated at at the milk coming at him when he didn't want it.
Even if you weren't as 'full' as you would normally be at the time of night there's no need to worry. I've experienced many brief supply dips and changes over the months. Sometimes it's explainable, other times, it's just random. But supply always comes back fine. Just keep doing what you're doing and things will be fine.
If there's one thing I've learned about nursing (or babies in general) it's that issues pop up, drive us crazy, and then resolve themselves within a few days. Today's problems will be long forgotten by next week.
Thank you for telling me this-- I honestly thought my boobs were going to be engorged throughout this whole BFing process...so I am happy to hear that maybe the engorgement is gone (or lessened, at least)!
Everything PP is saying is true---without the use of a nipple shield. Yes, my supply depleted almost overnight with my use of a nipple shield. It was hell and I had to powerpump like mad to bring it back. Are you pumping after feedings with the shield? If not, your nipples are getting no stimulation and I urge you to start doing that to bring it back.
You should see an LC to do a weighed feeding to get more information. Best of luck!
This is not true, at least not for everyone. The new silicone shields (I use the Medela contact shield) are not supposed to interfer with supply the way the old rubber ones did. I've been EBF now for almost 8 months with the occasional pumping for a bottle and now pumping and bottles while I'm at work after EPing for the first 5 weeks (preemie issues). I never pumped after feeding him after the first few weeks when I was transitioning him to breast and the very occasional day I wake up engorged.
We still use the shielf as DS was terribly tounge tied, which we didn't get fixed until ~6 months. He now will sometimes latch without the shield, but almost always uses the shield. He's doing just fine and apparently my milk supply (which I really struggled with for the first month - I was just at the LC's borderline level of output at 2 weeks) has held up just fine since he more than tripled his birth weight by 6 months.
Get a weighed feeding done by an LC if you're worried, but it sounds more likely your supply is just adjusting . You might also want to just do a shorter pump once a day for the next week or so, but not try to get so far to empty. Good luck!