Supply dipping at 6 months

Hello ladies!

I'm a long-time lurker but the time has now come to de-lurk! ('ll try and pop over to the 'say hello' section when I've posted this, if the little man doesn't wake up first!).

I have a 6-and-a-half month old boy, Huw, who I've exclusively BF'd until he started solids about a month ago (we're doing BLW and he loves it!).

I've noticed in the last few weeks that my supply has reduced drastically - I still have enough to feed him on demand, but whereas before I had enough extra to pump 5-6oz most days, now I struggle to get 2oz a couple of times a week. Hence my back-up stock in the freezer (for OH to do the odd bedtime, or if I need to leave him with the MIL for a day, etc) is getting low and I don't have enough to build it up again.

I'm hoping this is a normal occurrence, and that it will go back up soon - my main concern is that I'm starting back at work in 2 months time and I really don't want to have to start giving him formula whilst I'm working!

Any comments/suggestions/advice gratefully received!

Thanks!

Is he feeding less too? Or are you just noticing that you pump less. As you introduce solids he will consume less milk which will then tell your body to produce less in general. I noticed a dip around 6 months when we introduced solids, I was working at the time too, and still work full time and breastfeed I tried to time my working hours with the meal times to reduce how much ebm she needed.

Thats a great ammount to be expressing - I donated milk to Chester milk bank, but only managed a couple of ounces a day!
Like Squiglet said, if he is taking well to the introduction of solids, he might be taking slightly less at feed times, hence the 'supply and demand' will be altered. have you reduced how much you pump, or is there just not a lot coming out?

I found pumping in the bath was good, or compressing my boobs as i was expressing, otherwise expressing off one boob while Corey was on the other.
You could also try upping your oats intake a little (porridge, flapjacks etc), and not forgetting to drink loads of water.
Hopefully, if you do this and increase your expressing, it will increase your supply and demand a bit more

I am back at work and I express Keira's bottles for while I am at work. It is much easier to express for a missed feed than express between feeds.

Have you changed your diet recently? I noticed when I was expressing off milk befor going back to work to build up a stock that there was a huge difference between what I could get off at 9am ish, after having porridge, compared to havnig a bowl of cereal.

I am really noticing the effect now of the supply and demand. today over my 2 pumping sessions I could only get off 10oz in total, lowest yet. However when I picked Keira up from nursery and checked her bottles (as I was really worried about only leaving that much milk for the next day), I realised she had only drunk 4oz out of her 2 bottles! Obviously she hadn't been taking that much from me during the day.

Squiglet, he is feeding slightly less than he was, but still (usually) empties both boobs at one sitting - he's definitely a boob man!

I hadn't thought that any reduction in milk feeds due to starting solids would happpen so quickly, though I know he's definitely eating loads at every meal as it all comes out the next day. OH even called me Gillian Mckeith the other week cos I am so interested in Huw's poops!

I won't be able to time work around meals as I'll be back to 9-5 hours (only going back Mon-Weds though, not that I want to but can't afford not to!), but luckily I live right across the road from where I work, and my boss has agreed that I can nip home to pump during the day, rather than having to find somewhere private at work, which would be virtually impossible.

Kay, I have reduced how often I pump, but only because I wasn't getting anything, if you see what I mean? But then again I know that pumping more will help increase the supply so maybe I should start pumping more often again?

I do eat quite a lot of porridge anyway (admittedly not so much during hot weather) but I probably haven't been drinking as much water recently so I'll definitely try to up the intake there.

I have thought that I would like to donate milk once Huwie's off the boob, probably only for a couple of months but I think it would be a lovely thing to do. Did you have to go to Chester every day when you were donating?

Hi Nicky, I haven't changed my diet really - we are eating a lot more fruit and veg now Huw's on solids as he's eating what we're eating (yet another benefit of BLW!), but thinking about it I have started exercising properly in the last few weeks and have lost a little bit of weight - could that have something to do with it?

I *think* you have to start donating before your baby reaches 6 months - but it was over 2 years ago i started, from when he was 8 weeks to 12 months, so it may have changed.
But no, a fab lady came out to me, did bloods, srceening tests etc, and left me with a huge supply of freezable bottles, which she collected from me every 3 months, or more often if i ran out of space.
I sometimes dropped the milk off at Chester if i was going to my mums a sit is enroute, but she collected off a few local ladies so generally collected from us all in the same day.
here is the link to the website: http://www.ukamb.org/donor.html

Could be. Saying that I play hockey and I have lost a lot of weight since Christmas (2 stone). I have lost that by cutting back the carbs that I eat just enough to keep a steady 1-2lb a week weight loss (though some weeks I do eat a bit more than I should).

I guess it is probably more to do with your change in diet, by eating more fruit and veg you are probably eating less of other things?

However I really wouldn't worry about the going back to work, though as I said expressing missed feeds is much easier than expressing between feeds.

If you want to get your stock back up, I would recommend a bowl of porridge on the morning, and expressing between your first morning (7am for me) and second morning (10am for me) feed. Do it the same time every day and I am sure you find the amount you get off will increase again.

Another thought, has he started waking again (or more) in the nights? Days where Keira wakes (and feeds) during the night, I always find I can't express as much.