Breastflow low after swapping from 3 to 4 hour feeds

[Bookworm]

Hello..my lo is 5 months now and I am breastfeeding. I've not always been convinced that I have enough milk but I know that most women feel this. I also have never really felt a let down, never leaked milk and only feel full if baby has missed a feed. I used to express but stopped about 5 weeks ago. My lo was snacking and napping most if the time and waking every 2 hours at night for a feed. He would also only nap for 30 mins. I started 4 hour easy (loosely) 2 weeks ago. It has been going really well for feeds as I now feel full and he stays at the breast for a really good feed and lasts the 4 hours. I started pupd roughly a few days after and have dropped all the night feeds bar one and he seemed fine with this. Four days ago he was sick for 2 days and lost his appetite and scheduled feeds went out the window. Even though he's had mostly really good feeds since sometimes my boobs feel empty and he seems hungry. Last night this happened so I fed him some expressed milk. He didn't go for it straight away and didn't cry when he'd finished but seemed hungry still. He woke more often and as I was concerned about him being hungry I fed him twice but he didn't really go for it. He doesn't seem to get too upset when I'm 'empty' and I feel that this is because he's used to it. This morning again I didn't feel full and he didn't feed good. I'm worried that I will dry up and also that he is hungry. HAvent had him weighed since started this new regime. He's weeing fine but poo's every other day, where he used to poo daily. He's had formula in the past but does not seem interested this morning.. What should I do to ensure he's not hungry? I'm afraid that if I give him a feed in between scheduled feeds that he will go back to snacking again and that I will not have enough milk for him and that I'll have to feed him more at night....HELP

[weaver]

The best cure for low supply is feeding your baby. The supply and demand mechanism of BFing works really really well, so if you let baby feed, your breasts will produce more milk, it won't take more than a day or so to build supply back up

I have to say neither of my LOs could do straight 4 hr EASY until about 6mos. They both had a top-up feed before nap time. So we would do the 'big' feed after naps, and then about 30 mins before sleep time a bit of a snack.   I wouldn't worry too much about it, as long as you're not putting him on the breast every 30 mins or so, he should be fine.  And if he's been ill, he might not feel very hungry, but need more regular small feeds.  That in itself will build supply. 

Also I should say that 'really full' leaking feeling doesn't necessary last long past the newborn stage, at 5 mos I rarely had that feeling and went on to BF both LOs well past a year.  So you can do it

HTH.

[Bookworm]

Thank you, that's really helpful. Have read somewhere else about the feed half hour before nap time. Should I be worried about him getting too much fore milk though or doesthisnot matter for a snack?

[*Ali*]

Feeding when breasts are emptier actually means the milk is fattier.

If supply dropped when he was sick it makes sense he wants to feed more often to increase supply again.

You could even offer the second breast half an hour after the first. Milk is fattier then too.

[Bookworm]

I usually do both breasts every time. Emptying the first and whatever he wants from the second. I've been expressing after the morning feed and I have only been able to get 10 ml. Want to start leaving him with his nanny one afternoon a week and may not be able to express whilst away from my lo. Will this be a problem for my supply?

[*Ali*]

Missing a feed will tell your body it doesn't need to make milk at that time yes but if it is only once a week you'll probably get away with it.

[Bookworm]

Hi..am getting desperate and ready to give up.  I tried the feeding 1/2 hr before napping and also, because of multiple night wakings I fed twice through the night. Now he doesn't seem to want a full feed at all until 3 pm every day and then his bedtime feed. So I offer at 7 ish, when he wakes and then at 9.30 ish, before nap and he has a little. Then I offer at 11.30 ish and he's still not interested. I tried to not feed until 3pm but then I was so worried that I tried him at 12 and at 1.

I don't understand why he has no appetite at the moment and I'm scared that he's hungry. He seems quite happy in the daytime and cries generally only when he's tired, but I've never been able to distinguish which cry is which.

I've recently started blw but decided to dial it back to only one mealtime as I was worried that this is what was the issue.  I want to keep breastfeeding and to do blw but I don't want him to starve. I am happy to move onto formula but have offered that a few times when he doesn't feed well and he refuses that too. ( he has had it recently so I know there is no problem with the formula, I have even topped up at night with it.)
 
He usually poo's every other day but has only pooed 2 times in last 10 days? Could this be the reason? I have been to pharmacist who says to give him boiled water but Im not sure at what stage of the day to give it as I don't want him to reject bf even more. Do you think he is constipated? He doesn't seem in pain or uncomfortable....

I really don't know what to do for the best...

[*Ali*]

Formula and also solid food can be very constipating as they are harder to digest in comparison to breast milk. I'd maybe hold back on those until his bowel movements have returned to normal. His digestive system may not be ready for them. Solids will also fill him up and leave less room for breast milk so probably aren't a good idea if his milk intake has already dropped. I wouldn't give water either, just BF.

What if you don't offer a feed before the nap and wait until after he wakes up, will he take a full feed then?

When you say he isn't interested do you mean he isn't feeding at all or that he is only feeding for a short time? They do get more efficient at this age so even a 5 min feed could be filling him up.

[Bookworm]

He changed his feeding duration about 7 weeks ago when it just clicked for us both. He tends to feed 5-7 mins on one then 2-3 mins on the other. These last few days I struggle to get him to do 5 mins in total.

I was worried about trying to leave him go between feeds as I wanted to encourage production. But I'll try that tomorrow.

[*Ali*]

Good luck. I hope it helps. Let us know how it goes

[Bookworm]

Hiya

Kinda back on track with feeds. Getting used to what happens after sickness as he has been sick again! I thought breastmilk was supposed to reduce the chances of getting sick?
Although I liked the 4 hourly feeds as I felt fuller and felt he was having good feeds, it just wasn't for him. Most days we feed every 4 hrs with maybe 1-2 snacks.  Works for us at the mo!

Thanks for your help x

[Martini~]

Honey I am happy to share my experience.

I have been almost exclusively breastfeeding until 5.5/6mo. We had many BF problems in the early days as he was sleeping on boob, not taking enough, not taking much weight so I was stressed a lot. This was an illusion that something is wrong as from week 2 of his life he started to take muuuch weight but still the stress from first days stayed.

I had couple of situations which I recall now which may help you/calm you down:
1) We did had days when he was just eating a little at some feeds, both on 3 and 4h EASY. I thought he will be hungry but tried to stick to the routine, not panic and it went ok. Sometimes it was days when every single feed seemed little, but as he didn't cried until the next feed - I think he just wasn't very hungry. There was a period when he woke very hungry at 7am, so was not hungry at next feed and ate less - and than the next feed was huge. I alternated breast every single day so we started 7am feed one day from L one day from R side.
2) when we move from 3 to 3.5h EASY my breast was not ready. DS emptied both and seemed to need more but I just stick to the routine.  I offered both breast at every feed, do compression, sometimes even doing 3rd bbreast so going back to 1st one after 2nd. I think his NF (he was on one I guess) was slightly bigger those days, but it wasn't a problem for me as he did feed on both sides instead of usual one sided feed. It took 2-3 days and we were fine.
3) I remember that when he took a small feed, I was sometimes trying to top him up with expressed milk or even offer formula but you know... it was always a mistake. He didn't want it or took a little and it just stressed me out. I think there was 1-2x a situation where he was not hungry, took a little feed but cried of hunger 30min later. So I just fed and he was ok. All other occasions were him just wasn't too hungry.

I always thought that his low interest in BF means problem with my supply. But it was the other way . When he didn't want breast it meant he was not hungry. Believe me that when he was hungry and two breast seemed not enough for him, he wanted to feed constantly not the other way around. As the breast were empty, I just finished feed, calmed him down in my arms and waited for another feed or decided I will feed him slightly earlier if needed. Usually he was totally fine until the next feed:).

HTH

[*Ali*]

Just remember, your breast is never really empty as they continue producing milk as LO is feeding.

[Bookworm]

Thanks Ali

I'm kinda getting it now.  I too have started realising that trying to give him formula or expressed milk was just stressing me out  - he just didn't want it.

Thanks for your comments they were really helpful. I've just started blw so that should be interesting!! Now I'll really need to calm down and let him take the lead when he's hungry.

Is it best to post on solids forum than this one now?

[Martini~]

Sorry Ali - you are right. Wanted to say when when the flow from my breast was too slow for him as he took already massive feeds I usually stopped bf and offer once again in some time instead of push to feed constantly;).