Decresing breastmilk supply - Help!!

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NelsonKatelyn
NelsonKatelyn Posts: 120 Member
Hey ladies!! I need advice! My son is 8 weeks old and I've been exclusively breastfeeding. I returned to work after 6 weeks and got my period the same day. I pump 3 times a day at work. My supply hasn't been increasing, but my son's milk demand has. He's up to 4.5 - 5 ounces per feeding and I'm just barely able to get 4 per pump. Most times I get a little under 4, so our frozen milk supply I built up before my return to work is quickly dwindling. When I'm home I let him nurse as often as he likes with the hope it will stimulate my supply to grow. I also try to pump several times between feedings on the weekends to have enough extra to make it through the week.

I have a tough time at work getting my milk to let down when I pump. Sometimes it can take up to 10 minutes!! I've tried everything - looking at pictures of my baby, watching videos of him, trying to vision him nursing. It's so frustrating!! I know that supplementing with formula is coming soon because I simply can't keep up with the growing boy :-( I know there's nothing wrong with formula, I'm just not mentally prepared to lose that bond with my son! I love being able to nurse him, being his source of food and nutrition. The thought of someone else being able to give him that through a bottle gets me upset. Am I a little crazy here?? haha I never expected to feel like this over breastfeeding!

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  • ajzmann
    ajzmann Posts: 147 Member
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    First of all, take a deep breath, Momma! Pumping is SO stressful, and I am with you, I worry about each and every ounce.

    First things first, make sure you are eating enough during the day and drinking enough water. I like to make sure I have tons of snacks (healthy ones) at work so I can nosh all day long. But you've gotta be getting enough calories to make that milk!

    Secondly, you've got to attempt to get into a good space in your head when you pump. I know it's so tough doing it at work, and there's so much pressure to get it done fast, but make it your "me" time. Watch videos on your phone (that's my favorite), look at photos...I know you do all this, but keep at it. My coworker talks about how she closes her eyes and imagines lots of milk and that works for her.

    Third, what time does your son go to bed? Does he sleep through the night? I have found that if my baby goes to bed around 7, I can fit in one last pump session before I go to bed around 9:30, that seems to help out, especially when she sleeps for longer periods at night. If your son goes down and sleeps through the night, you might want to set an alarm and pump in the very early morning hours, too. There is talk of a "magic number" that you need to meet to maintain your supply. This article was helpful to me. http://www.nancymohrbacher.com/blog/2010/8/13/the-magic-number-and-long-term-milk-production-part-1.html

    Fourth, is your caregiving doing paced bottle feeding? That might help with your son's intake too.

    Hang in there! It's so tough, I know, and I can relate, but you can do this!
  • NelsonKatelyn
    NelsonKatelyn Posts: 120 Member
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    Thanks!! I've been eating snacks throughout the day as well as getting plenty of water. My OB told me to eat no less than 1500-2000 calories a day to keep my supply up.

    He usually sleeps between 6-7 hours straight at night. He'll eat around 7 and midnight, then not wake up until 6 or so. I hadn't thought about waking myself up in the middle of the night to pump because I've been loving the sleep!! But it does make sense to that if I can't squeeze one in before I go to bed. I do wake up with very full breasts, and after reading that article it makes me wonder how long it takes for them to fill up completely. I'm going to try a middle of the night pump session and see how that goes.

    My mom watches him during the day and she waits for him to give her hunger cues, usually eating around every 2.5 hours.

    Thanks again for your advice!!
  • ajzmann
    ajzmann Posts: 147 Member
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    Oh, I don't blame you for wanting the sleep! That's a pretty decent sleep schedule! My suggestion to you is to try to wake up about an hour before he does, so maybe 5 a.m. I have a feeling you'll get a pretty good pump then. Even if he wants to eat right after you're done pumping, your breasts will still have plenty for the little guy. (The pump isn't nearly as efficient as the baby in getting your milk out!) You'd only be sacrificing an hour of sleep then, and I bet it'll give you those extra couple of ounces you've been missing out on. PLUS you still get a good chunk of sleep in there. Just treat it as a little "mom" time and have your cup of coffee or tea or something and enjoy the quiet! (I don't think I'd get up between midnight and 6 a.m. to pump!)

    Google paced bottle feeding. It has more to do with the actual how you feed rather than the timing. It's a way of feeding that is supposed to be more compatible with breastfeeding. Granted, my baby is fed this way and she still will take down more than four ounces at a time. She wants to eat only when she wants to eat.
  • NelsonKatelyn
    NelsonKatelyn Posts: 120 Member
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    Ahhh I see, yes she feeds him sitting up right so that he has to draw the milk from the bottle, and we stick with the slowest nipple too. We learned that in a breastfeeding class I took while I was still pregnant. I worried that he may not go back and forth from breast to bottle (my sister had a terrible time with her daughter refusing to nurse from the breast once she went back to work - hard time for everyone involved!) so I made sure my mom would feed him this way. My husband doesn't work on Fridays, he gets to stay home with baby, so today we're Skyping when I have to pump!! It's a good break from the day so we'll see if that improves my let-down.
  • ajzmann
    ajzmann Posts: 147 Member
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    Yep, that's exactly what I was talking about. I had those same worries, but we seem to be managing fine.

    I am sending you good milky thoughts for today!
  • FitMama2013
    FitMama2013 Posts: 919 Member
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    Hey mama! I was in your shoes a year ago. My son is almost 15 months old now and I just stopped pumping at work recently and we still nurse when together. I can tell you that I spent so much energy stressing about pumping, especially those first 6 months when he wasn't on solids yet. I heard of these other moms pumping twice as much as me and was so jealous! But at the end of the day, my body was making exactly what my baby needed and I just needed to trust that everything would be okay. I think if I had realized that sooner, it would have saved me a lot of stress.

    First off, if you haven't yet, read this article and have your mom read it too: http://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/feeding-tools/bottle-feeding/

    Re: pumping extra sessions: I added a 4th pump session at work by arriving 20 minutes early every morning and pumping before I got to my desk and I was on the clock, or I pumped in the car on the way to work if I was running late. I never pumped more than 13oz in a day with 4 pumping sessions, so we are very similar in that regard. 4 shorter sessions is probably better than 3 longer sessions if you can swing it. I always needed a minimum of 20 minutes, so it's tough to fit it in!

    Re: amount of bottles while separated: If I would have given daycare 30oz a day, they would have fed it to my son. When I sent 12, he drank 12. When I sent 14, he drank 14. Daycare asked for more because it was easier for them to pacify him with a bottle when he cried, but he was away from me 9-10 hours and 12oz is a perfectly acceptable amount of milk, especially since we nursed before drop off, nursed when I picked him up, again before bed, and multiple times during the night. I think 4-5oz every 2.5 hours is honestly more than most babies need (check out this calculator http://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/pumping/milkcalc/). Obviously every baby is different, but I think your baby is probably crying because he misses you and not necessarily out of hunger so often. As long as your baby is growing at a healthy rate and is nursing plenty when you are together, then he's okay! When my son was home with my husband he was fine with 12oz, so I knew it was daycare and not actual hunger. They don't need any more volume of milk as time goes on, so my son drank 4oz bottles from birth to current day!

    What's your pumping situation like at work? Are you stressed to find the time? Hurrying to finish? Watching the bottles? Do you use your hands to help move milk along too? What are the lights like? Noise? The situation has SO MUCH to do with your output.

    A good rule of thumb is that if you take it from the freezer, you need to replace it the same day (or within a few days). If you borrow 2oz, you should make time in the evening/early morning to pump 2oz so you signal your body to make what your baby is drinking. For now, if you're pumping 12 and supplementing 2oz from the freezer, your baby is drinking 14 and your body only thinks he's drinking 12.

    Just remember in the end that you are doing an awesome thing for you and your baby by pumping while at work! Things really did get much easier for us when he started having solids around 6 months. Just hang in there, do your best, and know that it will all work out okay. And if you need to supplement a little in the meantime, that's okay too! I know how much it meant to me to not need to supplement, but I also know that a stressed mama isn't good either and I would have done it in a heartbeat if it meant we could all be happier.

    Good luck mama!
  • NelsonKatelyn
    NelsonKatelyn Posts: 120 Member
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    Thank you ladies so much for your help and encouragement! I'm going to try and get an extra pump in during my workdays and pump at least once a day on the weekends. My period has returned again today so I expect I'll get less from each pumping. I'm trying to have a better outlook on pumping, not dreading it each time I do it.

    I am fortunate enough at work to have my own office, so I can shut & lock my door. I'm hoping I can get my brain to quickly switch from work mode to mommy mode. My job can get stressful and busy so sometimes I feel like my 25-30 minute pump breaks are too long. Right now I'm the only person in my department with a child so I feel like no one else understands how important it is that I pump. My boss however is currently pregnant, so I think she's becoming more understanding.

    Thank you ladies!!
  • FitMama2013
    FitMama2013 Posts: 919 Member
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    I did notice a big difference in my pumping amount when my period returned (mine was at 11.5 months, though, so I was very well established with my pumping amounts by that time). Just do what you can, and try not to stress about what you can't fit in. You're doing great!

    Also, it is wonderful that you have your own office, but I think it's also hard because you are still surrounded by work. Can you dedicate a section of your desk/wall to nothing but baby photos? Can you read a book while pumping (I always used both hands to squeeze every drop out, so that wouldn't work for me, but maybe it will for you). Anything that you can do, even face a different direction when pumping than you normally do while working.

    I kind of took it upon myself to make pumping a topic of conversation where I work. I work mostly with men, so I knew it could either be totally awkward, or we could joke about it. So every time they see me with my pump bag heading to my room, we laughed and said "time to milk the cow!" or they would toss a piece of chocolate my way and ask if I could make some chocolate milk this time. It really helped me to know they accepted what I was doing and we could laugh about it instead of everyone being embarrassed. I've had a few even tell me that it's awesome I've stuck with it so long (although, I'm done now!!) because they know how hard it was for their wives. So, people may be more accepting than you think, but y'all just don't talk about it!!! Also, my boss doesn't understand at all (no children), but she was very supportive and covered for me at meetings when I needed to leave. I recently thanked her for her support over the last 14 months and she said "I hope in some way this contributed to you and your son both being healthier." So, she gets it, even though it was awkward for awhile. Just give it time!!
  • mkcolombia
    mkcolombia Posts: 71 Member
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    I totally agree with everything said before. My son would eat anything given to him and my daycare was constantly telling me I wasn't giving him enough food. On the weekends I would nurse him and he would always seem content with what I had so I knew I was pumping enough. They were just trying to pacify him with food since he refused a pacifier (I was his pacifier for 13 months)

    I would try not to stress and continue to do what you are doing! Like they said, make sure you are telling your body you need more by adding that extra pump session. I pump when I get up for work and then nurse right before we leave. It gives me a good stash in my freezer and plenty for her
  • servilia
    servilia Posts: 3,452 Member
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    Can you add a pumping session? Also, sometimes if let down is taking too long I stop pumping and start hand expressing right into the bottle. It's actually really effective if you do it right. The pumping brings my milk to the front and it's really easy to squeeze out. Or even if i did have a let down but then the milk stops coming, i can get an extra half ounce by hand expression after I'm done pumping. Good luck.
  • RBXChas
    RBXChas Posts: 2,708 Member
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    I'm going to go back and read through, and I'm not at all implying that this is an inappropriate place for this thread (because it's totally appropriate, as evidenced by the ample replies you've gotten), but there is a BFing group a lot of us are in that may have some additional helpful info, if you're interested:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/197-breastfeeding-support

    Nobody's crazy there, and some of us have either supplemented with formula or used it with older children (as was my case - my first was supplemented, then FF, while my second was EBF, and we're still BFing at 11.5 months).

    Ok, going back to read now, and if I have anything to add, I'll add it :)

    ETA that the ladies here pretty much nailed it! I hope things are going well!