Milk supply diminishing, should I move to formula?

[linny75]

Hi
My DD is coming up to 8 months and is breast fed 4 times a day and 3 meals a day. Since starting solids naturally her milk intake seems to be lower but now it has got to the stage I think my milk supply is really low. I can just feel my breasts are considerably reducing in size. She always pulls off the breast herself and doesn't fuss. She doesn't feed at night anymore. I am concerned she may not be getting enough milk, but obviously I have no idea how much is takes in. She literally feeds for 5 min each breast but she has been a quick feeder for a while ( before I started solids). My plan was to breast feed until she is 1, but if needs be I will be ok to put her onto formula. I'm planning to get her weighed tomorrow but I do feel she is growing and putting on weight.
Solids wise she eats well, varied enough diet for her age. I would worry about decreasing the amount of solids she has as I know she prob wouldn't get enough milk to satisfy her due to my lowered milk supply.

Any advice on what I should do?

[*Ali*]

Her feeding sounds perfect in terms of length of feed, number of feeds and the fact she is sttn without a BF so what makes you the she isn't getting enough? I expect she would be fussy and/or waking at night if that were the case. It is natural for breasts to feel less full as the LO gets older as the milk is produced on demand more rather than being produced in advanced and stored in the breasts until needed like it was when they were younger.

Check out this FAQ and it will hopefully put your mind at rest. I'm worried I may have low milk supply

If you do find she is not gaining weight then I would perhaps look at ways to bring supply up again if you would like to keep BFing.

[linny75]

I think it's because she doesn't gulp the milk like she used to, I can't hear it after the initial let down (which isn't as strong as before). The official advice is that babies on solids should still take about 500/600ml of milk (formula), but I just can't imagine she takes that much from the breast

[*Ali*]

Formula fed babies typically take more milk than a BF baby.
Average breast milk intake at 6mo is anything between 570-900ml. Milk then gradually decreases to average of 400-550ml by 12mo. 
I think you would be surprised how much she is getting in that 5 minute feed. I remember going away for a night when my LO2 was on 4x five minute feeds like you're LO is now. I pumped 3 times in one day and got a total of 430ml.
I wouldn't even try to work out what she takes. If she wanted more I think she would let you know.
It is normal to not even feel the let down as they age. They get more efficient at feeding and better at coping with flow so again gulping is not necessary.
Are you feeding her both sides at each feed? How would you feel about offering a top-up BF, perhaps straight after her solids? Or do you pump at all and would prefer to offer it in a cup?
There are also foods and supplements you can take to boost supply if you want to try that.

[linny75]

Yes I feed on both sides. I am still feeling she isn't getting enough from me. Her feeding in the last 2 days has gotten even shorter. My breasts size are near what they were pre-pregnancy. I pump once in the evening to use the milk for her porridge the next morning and whereas I used to get 5 ml in total, it's now just 2ml.
I am in two minds- I would like to be able to breast feed her until 1 year , on the other hand the thought of the work and stress of trying to increase milk supply by extra feedings and pumping doesn't appeal to me ( especially with a toddler to look after too). I didn't end up taking her to be weighed yesterday as had car problems to deal with. Weighing clinic is once a week. Aaargh, what should I do!

[linny75]

Sorry I meant ounces not ml!

[*Ali*]

It is a really personal decision to use formula that only you can make. No one here is going to judge you if you decide to go down that route
Did you read the FAQ on low supply I posted above? All the worries you have are explained and they are not indicators of low milk supply. It does get harder to pump for many women as their babies age for the same reason breasts get less full, more of the milk is made during the feed rather than in advanced and stored. Your baby is much more efficient than your pump anyway.

If you are still worried, are there any other weighing clinics you can attend? I know here we have them on different days at different centres. What about breastfeeding support groups? Or you could call La Leche League or other qualified helpline. There are some numbers here. Re: "In real life" help, Useful websites, helplines

I honestly think your DD would have let you know if she wasn't getting enough. Shame the boobs don't come with a gauge huh?

[weaver]

I think the idea of measuring milk is a huge bugbear for some BFing mamas, and once you start thinking about it, it can be really maddening!  But, it really is not possible to measure output.  What you are pumping is *not* a measure of what you are producing.  Babies are much more efficient than pumps, and as they get bigger, they get more efficient.   It's totally normal for her feeding to speed up, and it's totally normal for your breasts to feel much more 'normal' and much less of the huge feeling of fullness followed by real feeling of emptiness that you can get in the first six months.  All that means is that you and she are working together really well to get her supply bang on where she needs it.  If she wasn't happy, you would know all about it.

Without being alarmist, I want to add that if you do introduce formula at this stage, it will undermine your supply.  It's a demand-led system, and if you reduce demand, by reducing the number of breast feeds, then supply will reduce too.  That's something to bear in mind.

I feel perhaps you are not happy because you are nervous about your supply, but, honestly, it all sounds perfect. My two year old (yes!) is still regularly BFing and my breasts are not behaving anything like they did during that first six months.  If you want to do something simple to boost your supply, you could try taking some fenugreek. It's great stuff.

Hugs for the nerves though

[linny75]

Yes I did read the link on milk supply thank you for sending it. Maybe I'm feeding her too much and she is not able to take that much milk so she's in fact reducing my supply? So yes she is satisfied in the sense she is not hungry but perhaps it's due to the amount of solids? I just don't know if she is getting the recommended amount of milk. Regarding the amount of solids, I make her purée and the amount she eats is about equivalent to the ready made pouches...

[linny75]

Thank you weaver and ali, I do feel more reassured. Do you think I should decrease amount of solids?

[*Ali*]

You could try decreasing the solids if you think they are making her too full for the breast milk. Maybe bring them earlier to soon after the BF and then she should be less hungry at that time but have more time to get hungry before her next BF.

[linny75]

I follow the easy routine so breast feed her straight after nap ( except of course the bedtime feed), then I do solids so her milk and solid feeds are quite evenly spread out through the day

[linny75]

Actually thinking about it, there is a larger gap between milk and solid feeds than solid and milk feeds.

[*Ali*]

Normally Tracy recommended doing BF on wake up and the solids an hour later. So 7am BF, 8am solid breakfast for example. You could move the solids to half an hour after the milk if you were already following the hour guide. If you're already doing it later than the hour then perhaps bring if forward to the hour after the BF. Up to you of course.

[Erin M]

Your LO sounds very much like all if mine at that age -- two of them made it to the year mark ( and past!) on breastmilk alone so I think if that's your goal, you are very much on track.  I think as moms we always have something to worry about -- but since your LO seems so content and is sleeping at night I don't think you need to worry.  To give you a comparison, when my dd1 was about 10 months old, I got an awful stomach virus and my milk supply suffered as a result -- she started biting during feeds, fussing, really clear signs that there wasn't enough there!