Author Topic: Reduced supply at 11 months  (Read 1777 times)

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Offline athenasmom

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Reduced supply at 11 months
« on: May 14, 2015, 20:18:15 pm »
Hi all,

my DD is soon 11 months old. I returned to work when she was 3 months old and since then we do BF in the am and pm and EBM from bottles during the day. Generally I didn't have to supplement much formula so far. She is definitely losing interest in her milk though. Also, the last couple of week I was not very adamant in pumping and now my supply took a hit. I have a few questions and need some help decide where to go from here  :-\

Is I worth to build my supply up now? I planned to keep BF until 12 months as that is what I have done with DS and then we weaned straight to whole milk from sippy rather than formula. But with her I am not sure that she is ready yet. She has had cow's milk already and her digestive system seems to be OK with it but so far she has not been drinking enough from a sippy, just a few sips. It concerns me because she is prone to constipation and I want to make sure she gets enough fluids in. I am not worried about calories and nutrition as she is really good with her solids and really enjoys them as well.

Right now we are about half EBM and half formula during the day. I guess I can keep this up for a couple more months and then wean to cow's milk, but I was hoping I could avoid the expense and having to prepare bottles  :P

So if I decide to build my supply back up, how would I go about it?

Sorry for rambling ... I am just thinking it out loud. I would really love to have some insight and advice here. Please help me decide where to go from here and how to do it  :-[
*Suzanna*





Offline MasynSpencerElliotte

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Re: Reduced supply at 11 months
« Reply #1 on: May 15, 2015, 13:42:07 pm »
I will preface this by saying I was never successful at pumping so no btdt on that front...but I imagine getting back into a regular pumping routine would be the thing. If you are worried about constipation and fluid intake and her diet is great then I would perhaps focus more on making sure she is getting dairy in her solids diet and upping her water intake. When you mention that her digestive system is okay with dairy, has she had issues with dairy prior? I only ask because all 3 of mine got constipation from dairy.
Heidi




Offline athenasmom

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Re: Reduced supply at 11 months
« Reply #2 on: May 15, 2015, 15:26:29 pm »
She possibly had constipation from dairy before, so I plan to introduce milk slowly and see how it goes. She has had a few sips so far and no issues.

Yes, I plan to get back into regular pumping but I doubt that it will actually increase my currently dwindling supply or not by much. I can maintain what I pump now for a few months more but it only covers about half of her intake right now  :-\ I have 1 opened can of formula and 1 unopened can right now which will probably last us for about 3 weeks or so. By then she will be about 11.5 months old. So I was just wondering where to go from here  :-\ If it is beneficiary to DD I probably could really work hard and get my supply back but I am just wondering if it is even worth it since we are close to weaning. Then if I decide to start weaning now then I am wondering if I should wean to formula then to cows milk or to wean to cows milk right away. Also, she is taking bottles right now and drinking well from bottles but I wonder if I should do cows milk from the sippy straight or first from bottle then wean to the sippy. Sorry lots of decisions to be made  :-\
*Suzanna*





Offline MasynSpencerElliotte

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Re: Reduced supply at 11 months
« Reply #3 on: May 15, 2015, 16:02:11 pm »
How many bottles is she having in the day? I think between 11-12 months (ff) DD3 was down to 3 and then 2 feeds. Actually she still drinks formula as she hates the taste of milk and we use one can a month (she has 8-10 oz a day, it is actually cheaper than milk here).  I would say if I were you and planning to stop anyways I would not be wanting to try to up supply really at this point. Is the formula dairy based?
Heidi




Offline athenasmom

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Re: Reduced supply at 11 months
« Reply #4 on: May 15, 2015, 16:28:30 pm »
The one we are using now is dairy based but for sensitive babies. And actually you might be right about the formula being cheaper than milk  ;D

Well she has a BF first thing in the am and I want to keep that up for some more months until I totally dry up kwim? Then she has 2 bottles, one in the mid morning and 1 in the mid afternoon but she is losing interest in the afternoon one. Then she has a BT bottle. More often now she just snacks on the afternoon bottle and then drinks a regular feed (4-5oz) at BT. So I was thinking of cutting out the afternoon bottle and replacing it with a snack and milk from sippy  ::)

*Suzanna*





Offline MasynSpencerElliotte

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Re: Reduced supply at 11 months
« Reply #5 on: May 16, 2015, 14:14:53 pm »
Weird...I was sure I had replied to you yesterday!

If she already isn't wanting that afternoon bottle then I would replace with a snack, but not necessarily milk, just water for a drink. Then eventually the mid morning one would go to. As for supply, if you want to just keep the morning bf your supply will adjust to that, lots of ladies are able to keep one or two feeds going for quite some time.
Heidi