Why is my breastmilk supply decreasing?

Question

My baby is 6 1/2 weeks old. I have been breastfeeding her only, no formula at all. I was making so much milk I had to pump and freeze the extra. Now all of a sudden for the last two days I am not making enough to fill her up. I am having to thaw frozen breast milk and give her. What would cause a sudden decrease in breastmilk? If it matters I just got my first period since her birth this morning.

Answer 1

It is normal for your milk supply to go down around 6 weeks, because around six weeks your supply switches from hormone driven to demand driven. This does not in any way mean you do not have enough milk. Nor does your baby drinking milk from a bottle after a feeding mean they weren't full. Please read the article below:

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/low-supply.html#supply
Increasing Low Milk Supply
By Kelly Bonyata, BS, IBCLC
• Is your milk supply really low?
• Who to contact if you suspect low milk supply
• Potential causes of low milk supply
• Increasing your milk supply
• Additional information
Is your milk supply really low?
First of all, is your milk supply really low? Often, mothers think that their milk supply is low when it really isn't. If your baby is gaining weight well on breastmilk alone, then you do not have a problem with milk supply.
It's important to note that the feel of the breast, the behavior of your baby, the frequency of nursing, the sensation of let-down, or the amount you pump are not valid ways to determine if you have enough milk for your baby.
What if you're not quite sure about baby's current weight gain (perhaps baby hasn't had a weight check lately)? If baby is having an adequate number of wet and dirty diapers then the following things do NOT mean that you have a low milk supply:
• Your baby nurses frequently. Breastmilk is digested quickly (usually in 1.5-2 hours), so breastfed babies need to eat more often than formula-fed babies. Many babies have a strong need to suck. Also, babies often need continuous contact with mom in order to feel secure. All these things are normal, and you cannot spoil your baby by meeting these needs.
• Your baby suddenly increases the frequency and/or length of nursings. This is often a growth spurt. The baby nurses more (this usually lasts a few days to a week), which increases your milk supply. Don't offer baby supplements when this happens: supplementing will inform your body that the baby doesn't need the extra milk, and your supply will drop.
• Your baby nurses more often and is fussy in the evening.
• Your baby doesn't nurse as long as she did previously. As babies get older and better at nursing, they become more efficient at extracting milk.
• Your baby is fussy. Many babies have a fussy time of day - often in the evening. Some babies are fussy much of the time. This can have many reasons, and sometimes the fussiness goes away before you find the reason.
• Your baby guzzles down a bottle of formula or expressed milk after nursing. Many babies will willingly take a bottle even after they have a full feeding at the breast. Read more here from board-certified lactation consultant Kathy Kuhn about why baby may do this and how this can affect milk supply. Of course, if you regularly supplement baby after nursing, your milk supply will drop (see below).
• Your breasts don't leak milk, or only leak a little, or stop leaking. Leaking has nothing to do with your milk supply. It often stops after your milk supply has adjusted to your baby's needs.
• Your breasts suddenly seem softer. Again, this normally happens after your milk supply has adjusted to your baby's needs.
• You never feel a let-down sensation, or it doesn't seem as strong as before. Some women never feel a let-down. This has nothing to do with milk supply.
• You get very little or no milk when you pump. The amount of milk that you can pump is not an accurate measure of your milk supply. A baby with a healthy suck milks your breast much more efficiently than any pump. Also, pumping is an acquired skill (different than nursing), and can be very dependent on the type of pump. Some women who have abundant milk supplies are unable to get any milk when they pump. In addition, it is very common and normal for pumping output to decrease over time.
See also Is my baby getting enough milk?
Who to contact if you suspect low milk supply
If you're concerned about your milk supply, it will be very helpful to get in touch with a La Leche League Leader or a board certified lactation consultant. If your baby is not gaining weight or is losing weight, you need to keep in close contact with her doctor, since it's possible that a medical condition can cause this. Supplementing may be medically necessary for babies who are losing weight until your milk supply increases. If supplementing is medically necessary, the best thing to supplement your baby with is your own pumped milk.
Potential causes of low milk supply
These things can cause or contribute to a low milk supply:
• Supplementing. Nursing is a supply & demand process. Milk is produced as your baby nurses, and the amount that she nurses lets your body know how much milk is required. Every bottle (of formula, juice or water) that your baby gets means that your body gets the signal to produce that much less milk.
• Nipple confusion. A bottle requires a different type of sucking than nursing, and it is easier for your baby to extract milk from a bottle. As a result, giving a bottle can either cause your baby to have problems sucking properly at the breast, or can result in baby preferring the constant faster flow of the bottle.
• Pacifiers. Pacifiers can cause nipple confusion. They can also significantly reduce the amount of time your baby spends at the breast, which may cause your milk supply to drop.
• Nipple shields can lead to nipple confusion. They can also reduce the stimulation to your nipple or interfere with milk transfer, which can interfere with the supply-demand cycle.
• Scheduled feedings interfere with the supply & demand cycle of milk production and can lead to a reduced supply, sometimes several months later rather than immediately. Nurse your baby whenever she is hungry.
• Sleepy baby. For the first few weeks, some babies are very sleepy and only demand to nurse infrequently and for short periods. Until baby wakes up and begins to demand regular nursing, nurse baby at least every two hours during the day and at least every 4 hours at night to establish your milk supply.
• Cutting short the length of nursings. Stopping a feeding before your baby ends the feeding herself can interfere with the supply-demand cycle. Also, your milk increases in fat content later into a feeding, which helps baby gain weight and last longer between feedings.
• Offering only one breast per feeding. This is fine if your milk supply is well-established and your baby is gaining weight well. If you're trying to increase your milk supply, let baby finish the first side, then offer the second side.
• Health or anatomical problems with baby can prevent baby from removing milk adequately from the breast, thus decreasing milk supply.
See Reasons for Low Milk Supply and Hidden Hindrances to a Healthy Milk Supply from more information on things that can decrease milk supply.
Increasing your milk supply
Milk production is a demand & supply process. If you need to increase milk supply, it's important to understand how milk is made - understanding this will help you to do the right things to increase production.
To speed milk production and increase overall milk supply, the key is to remove more milk from the breast and to do this frequently, so that less milk accumulates in the breast between feedings.
OK, now on to things that can help increase your milk supply:
• Make sure that baby is nursing efficiently. This is the "remove more milk" part of increasing milk production. If milk is not effectively removed from the breast, then mom's milk supply decreases. If positioning and latch are "off" then baby is probably not transferring milk efficiently. A sleepy baby, use of nipple shields or various health or anatomical problems in baby can also interfere with baby's ability to transfer milk. For a baby who is not nursing efficiently, trying to adequately empty milk from the breast is like trying to empty a swimming pool through a drinking straw - it can take forever. Inefficient milk transfer can lead to baby not getting enough milk or needing to nurse almost constantly to get enough milk. If baby is not transferring milk well, then it is important for mom to express milk after and/or between nursings to maintain milk supply while the breastfeeding problems are being addressed.
• Nurse frequently, and for as long as your baby is actively nursing. Remember - you want to remove more milk from the breasts and do this frequently. If baby is having weight gain problems, aim to nurse at least every 1.5-2 hours during the day and at least every 3 hours at night.
• Take a nursing vacation. Take baby to bed with you for 2-3 days, and do nothing but nurse (frequently!) and rest (well, you can eat too!).
• Offer both sides at each feeding. Let baby finish the first side, then offer the second side.
• Switch nurse. Switch sides 3 or more times during each feeding, every time that baby falls asleep, switches to "comfort" sucking, or loses interest. Use each side at least twice per feeding. Use breast compression to keep baby feeding longer. For good instructions on how to do this, see Dr. Jack Newman's Protocol to increase intake of breastmilk by the baby. This can be particularly helpful for sleepy or distractible babies.
• Avoid pacifiers and bottles. All of baby's sucking needs should be met at the breast (see above). If a temporary supplement is medically required, it can be given with a nursing supplementer or by spoon, cup or dropper (see Alternative Feeding Methods).
• Give baby only breastmilk. Avoid all solids, water, and formula if baby is younger than six months, and consider decreasing solids if baby is older. If you are using more than a few ounces of formula per day, wean from the supplements gradually to "challenge" your breasts to produce more milk.
• Take care of mom. Rest. Sleep when baby sleeps. Relax. Drink liquids to thirst (don't force liquids - drinking extra water does not increase supply), and eat a reasonably well-balanced diet.
• Consider pumping. Adding pumping sessions after or between nursing sessions can be very helpful - pumping is very important when baby is not nursing efficiently or frequently enough, and can speed things up in all situations. Your aim in pumping is to remove more milk from the breasts and/or to increase frequency of breast emptying. When pumping to increase milk supply, to ensure that the pump removes an optimum amount of milk from the breast, keep pumping for 2-5 minutes after the last drops of milk. However, adding even a short pumping session (increasing frequency but perhaps not removing milk thoroughly) is helpful.
• Consider a galactagogue. A substance (herb, prescription medication, etc.) that increases milk supply is called a galactagogue. See What is a galactagogue? Do I need one? for more information.





This article may help too:
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/milkproduction.html

All of kellymom and her carefully selected links are great. Go check it out.

Answer 2

Milk Supply Decreasing

Answer 3

Hi. Congrats on the baby! I have a 7 week old, so I know how you feel! LOL

1st--STOP giving her frozen breastmilk!!! She's going through her 6 week growth spurt. She's nursing more to make you produce more. If you offer anything other than your breast (even pumped breastmilk or a paci) you will damage the delicate balance of supply and demand!

The fact that you just got your period at 6 weeks while exclusivly breastfeeding is somewhat worrisome to me however. Are you sure it is a period and not your lochia picking back up? Lochia is post-partum vaginal discharge, containing blood, mucus, and placental tissue. Lochia discharge typically continues for 4 to 6 weeks after childbirth. Sometimes it may subside and then pick back up as mother increases activity.


Is baby gaining weight? (4-7 oz each week?)
Having 5-7 wet diapers each 24 hour period?
How often is baby nursing? For how long at each session? Is baby taking both breast at each feeding?

Have you seen a Lactation Consultant or a La Leche League Leader? (A LLL Leader will help for FREE and might be able to visit you at home.) http://WWW.LLL.ORG
Get advice from other breastfeeding moms at the LLL forums http://forums.llli.org/index.php...

Mystic gave great advice.

If you need more help you can email me. I'll be happy to help you all that I can. If it truly is a supply issue, there are many things you can do to increase supply. I'll be happy to answer any more questions if you would like to email me.

PS--Thank your soldier for me!

Answer 4

Get a medela swing pump - £90 but well worth it - pump every 3 hours for 10 to 15 minutes, or for an extra 3 minutes after the milk stops coming and this will do the trick, it's amazing how effective these electric pumps are I know it's a lot of money, but I had decreased supply and it really worked for me, only needed to use it for a few days, pumping 3 times a day but it must be every 3 hours or less in a row or it doesn't work It may sound odd too, but I did a lot of research on this when my supply was low and read a few times that low-alcohol lager helped too, so I bought a klausthalier (0,5% alcohol) and had half one night and half the next and boobs seemed to be extra full! You could try fenugreek, but I opened one of the tablets and it smelled weird and it can change the taste of your milk and affect baby's tummy so I didn't go for that

Answer 5

She is going through her 6 week growth spurt. This is a time of increased nursing where she works to boost your supply. Keep her on the breast and nurse a lot for the next few days so that she'll get your supply up to the new level. In about 4 days you'll probably see her go back to a more normal pattern.

Answer 6

I would just like to add that using frozen breast milk is just like supplementing with anything else. It is replacing the demand in supply and demand and will not help your milk supply. It is the best supplement out there but I bet you can just take a break for a few days and nurse frequently and you will be fine! How you can tell if baby is getting enough milk is by looking at output. If she/he is having at least 6-8 wet fiapers a day at that age then your milk supply is fine.

Answer 7

The fact you got your period means you are possibly not breast feeding enough. Breast milk production depends on supply and demand. Its ok to give bottles, but you need to keep breast feeding as much as possible AS WELL. Stop the bottles for the moment and exclusively breast feed as much as you can to build up your supply. Pumping as well might help.

Answer 8

1

Answer 9

She's just growing and needing more to eat. Make sure you're eating healthy and getting rest when she does. Take advantage of her naps to sleep. The laundary will still be there later. My youngest would eat every 2 hours until he was old enough to go on solids. The more you nurse, the healthy and rested you are, the more milk you'll make.

Answer 10

breast milk should carry on producing as long as you are using it. but as your baby grows it might not be enough to fill him/her up. Stress and not eating or drinking enough can also cause breast milk to stop. so calm down and make sure your eating right. Also your not supposed to get a period whilst breastfeeding as far as I know so maybe you should speak to your midwife or health visitor about it.

Answer 11

Wow...getting your period already, check it out with your doctor...mine is 6mths and i still dont have mine, it might have something to do with it...also make sure u r drinking lots of water...also if its is your first u may have milk supply problems...i did with my first and i know alot of mothers who did too...if u drink coffee, limit yourself to 1 a day....i know u if r someone who drinks it, it sucks...but caffeen can lower your milk supply too...pick up the book..."The Womenly Art Of Breastfeeding" It did wonders for me...Good Luck Hun....