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Why would my milk supply DECREASE? 7 week old.

littlebriderachellittlebriderachel
in Breastfeeding

Over the last three days, I've noticed my 7 week old start to feed every 2 hours, instead of every 3.  Additionally, he's now waking up every 2 hours to feed at night.  (so if this isn't very coherent, now you know why. haha)  I decided to pump a couple of times to see what I was getting.  Prior to this week, I was getting between 2 and 3 oz per pumping session.  Now I'm only getting between 1 and 1.5 oz.  

 I did start to try to decrease my calorie intake and start to exercise a little earlier this week.  Nothing drastic - mostly just trying to cut out the junk food and eat healthier.  As for the exercise, just about 30 minutes on the treadmill, fast walking.  

Could the calorie and exercise change be the reason for my decrease in milk supply?  Today I started pumping, feeding him a mix of formula and bm, and then pumping again afterwards to try to increase my supply.  Any other suggestions?  TY!! 

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Re: Why would my milk supply DECREASE? 7 week old.

  • missbrynmissbryn member
    I don't think a small calorie cut or exercise would affect your supply. I think more likely your baby is having a growth spurt and is eating more. (Even if he's eating the same amount of time, babies get much more efficient and take in more milk faster as they get older.) Pumping is not necessarily a good indication - I could never get much with a pump but my DD could always get more, I just didn't "respond" well to the pump. Honestly what I think works best is to cut the formula (unless doctor says to use it) and let the baby suckle extra time, and feed him as often as he wants. His sucking will let your body know to produce more milk, and if your supply has declined, then it'll catch up to demand quickly enough. But if you cut his hunger with formula, he won't tell your body to up your supply. Good luck! 
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  • tokenhosertokenhoser member

    Sounds like a growth spurt - the best thing to do is just nurse the baby every 2 hours like he wants and ride it out. Things should improve within a week and your supply will end up bigger.

    Pumping and formula aren't going to help. It's more likely to hurt. You won't get the baby-at-the-breast time, so your supply won't increase as much. It will drag out the hard days.

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  • kevin11kevin11
    imagetokenhoser:

    Sounds like a growth spurt - the best thing to do is just nurse the baby every 2 hours like he wants and ride it out. Things should improve within a week and your supply will end up bigger.

    Pumping and formula aren't going to help. It's more likely to hurt. You won't get the baby-at-the-breast time, so your supply won't increase as much. It will drag out the hard days.

    These are my thoughts as well. I'd bet he has a growth spurt and I'd also focus more on feeding on demand than pumping and supplementing. I wouldnt cut calories if I were you. Good idea to cut out junk, but replace it with healthy things (instead of chips, have an apple). Are you drinking enough water? I hope things get better for you!
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