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D.C. Area Babies
Dwindling supply at 7.5 mos :( advice?
I'm so sad...I think my supply is dropping and I can't seem to get it back up. The only thing different is that we dropped the middle of the night feedings about two weeks ago. I was told that my supply would stay sufficient but I feel like I'm just barely making enough milk for daycare.
Before dropping the night feedings I'd pump at least 10 oz during the day, often closer to 14 or even 15. I'd get the most out of my first morning pumping session (about 7 or 8 ounces around 11 am), and usually another 5 or 6 in the afternoon. The past week or so I barely make 10oz (7 max in the morning, and about 3 in the afternoon). I started taking fernugreek this weekend and drinking mother's milk tea in hopes of boosting my supply today, but no luck.
FWIW, DS didn't seem unhappy with my supply this weekend but I'm not sure how I'd really be able to tell since he also eats purees (we didn't increase them at all around the time my supply dipped). He's finishing both 5oz bottles at daycare and I think he'd finish more if I was able to send it. I still dream feed before I go to bed, and I tried pumping after that and got less than an ounce.
I worked really hard to BF at the beginning and only around 4 months did
it get easier, and finally just the past month or so I've able to
nurse just about anywhere. It's so frustrating that just as we're really
getting the hang of things my body isn't cooperating 
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Re: Dwindling supply at 7.5 mos :( advice?
For me, this meant I was ovulating again. I didn't know it at the time, but I got pregnant again the month after I noticed my supply dropping around my period. Had I been EBF, I think we would have been fine. Since I was pumping, it was less and less. DS never seemed unsatisfied after nursing, but I had a similar dip - I had been pumping 18 - 20 ounces easily per day (and nursing 1-3 times, but always a middle of the night feed). After my supply tanked, I was able to pump only 10 ounces a day.
This may not be what you want to hear, but I didn't do all of the supplements/oatmeal/lactation cookies, etc. He got formula during the day and just nursed whenever he was with me.
Same here. Neither of my kids took a bottle (BM or formula) until 8 and 9 months, respectively. Out of nowhere, they both suddenly decided the evil thing was their friend - and I had just been noticing a definite drop in supply. I never pumped, so I didn't have actual amounts to compre...I could just feel the difference. In less than a month I got my first postpartum period. How much of that (bottle acceptance, drop in supply, and ovulating - plus officially sleeping all night long) was related or cause-and-effect, I don't know...but pretty much the exact thing happened both times. If you haven't gotten your period back yet, maybe that's on the horizon? Sorry that just as it had gotten easy, a curveball got thrown in
Hi. Your supply may have dwindled since you dropped the night feedings AND he's on solids (even if they don't seem like a lot to you). Keep up with the MM tea and fenugreek, and you can also try lactation cookies. They may take a few days, so be patient. Drink lots of water too. A few of those cookies each day really helped me around the same stage as you are at. DS was eating a lot of solids (he just enjoyed them so we went with it) and my body seemed to back off the milk production so I had to take supplements off and on until a year or so. We ended up nursing for 21 months so it was recoverable for me! I hope things work out for you!
Thanks ladies - I haven't gotten my period yet, so maybe that's it. Does your supply bounce back at all post-period?
DS also loves solids so we've been following his lead that way. I think he'd be happy to just nurse at bedtime and naps but I'm trying to make sure he still gets plenty of breastmilk since that's supposed to be the primary source of nutrition for the first 12 months.
Does anyone have the recipe or info on the lactation cookies?
Here's the cookie recipe: https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/LACTATION-COOKIES-1252680
My friend keeps a blog on BFing & she says Mothers Love worked wonders for her. I haven't tried it but here's a link: https://www.milkfriendly.com/
Also, La Leche League has tons of meetings in the area. I don't have much advice but they would!
When i dropped from 4 to 3 pumping sessions a day at around 8 months, I noticed a significant drop in my supply but I was basically EPing which is not nearly as efficient as nursing. I've also heard most often on my birth month board of supply dipping around ovulation, so maybe that is the case for you?
I've never really gotten it back and actually have debated going down to 2 sessions because I'm hoping to be done with the boobs by the end of the month - it's just been a hard road and i just really need my body and that time back that I spend tied to the pump and washing parts.
I would try to pump around 7:30-8am too. If you want to add a pumping session, do it earlier in the day, not later. Drink lots of water and I also heard that beer helps increase your supply.
Would you be willing/able to add in a 3rd pumping session during the day? I pumped once early in the morning (7:30 am) and got the most milk at that time. Then I also pumped around 11 and 2:30. The difference between 3 sessions and 2 sessions for me was an extra 5 oz, so it was fairly significant.
No supply rebound here. In the 7-8 weeks between supply dip and conception, I had the same sucky 10 ounces every day, with an occasional 12 ounce day, so I was always at least a bottle short every day, sometimes 2. DS#1 was really only nursing once in the evening, and one middle of the night session. He was too excited to play with Daddy in the morning to be bothered to nurse.
Thanks for this. I have started to really despise pumping but you (and others) have given me the motivation I needed to just suck it up and do it more often. The 9, 12, and 3 schedule would probably work ok for me, it's just such a PITA. I'll give it a try!