running out of milk at 3 yrs 10 months?

[proudmamanow]

Wow...I'm not sure what to make of this...but according to dd I am running out of milk. She had a lot of trouble falling asleep tonight because according to her, neither milkoo had any milk in it.
I do feel conflicted... dd will turn 4 in April and we have had a wonderful run of it over the years....of course if we're done...well, I would be sad, but also satisfied. But I'm sitting here wondering if I should be taking some fenugreek to up my supply. I would happily keep nursing this kid until age 5 and beyond...she's my only nursling & likely will be...and yet after almost 4 years, I feel like I've given her what she needs.

Sigh. And of course for many good reasons we're sure we're done with 2 kids....but all of a sudden if dd is done nursing....well, maybe I really really want to get pg again. (Just to explain dd1 is my biochild, dd2 is my partner's biochild).

Is it normal to lose milk supply at this point? Any thoughts? Dd1, I should add, still REALLY likes to nurse and has an active relationship with the milkoos, though she only nurses at night and in the morning at this point.

[Phoenix_Rising]

Is it possible that you are getting close to starting your period? I know my supply lessens around that time.
Also, FWIW DS has been telling me lately that there is only "little milk" for him. He is 3 years 3 months.

[attached2mason]

That happened to me around the same time iirc. I remember wondering the same thing about the fenugreek and blessed thistle. I decided not to since I was feeling, for a number of reasons, to let it go and see what happened since I had never had trouble with supply and I figured my body was just done. That said, I dont' think there is any harm (assuming you don't want dc to wean) in taking the supp's and see if it helps. Or, you could ask dc if she wants the milkies to come back and take it from there.

FWIW, my DS nursed for another 3 or 4 months after my milk disappeared.

[secondtimearound]

My dd has been saying the same thing. She'll be 4 in July. I was trying to find more info on the net about this and can't find any.

[SereneBabe]

I'm guessing she'll keep nursing with no milk if she needs to keep nursing, don't you think?

I was surprised to hear from my daughter that she wasn't getting milk, or wasn't getting much and that it had been happening for a long time. She kept nursing. The milk was sometimes there, sometimes not. I think that did start when she was almost 4?

She nursed until she was 5.5.

[proudmamanow]

thanks for all the helpful feedback mamas. I did take fenugreek once, but also feeling somewhat ambivalent I have let it go. I`m glad to hear others have had this experience and that nursing can still last for a while

[meemee]

my supply dried up when my dd was 3. she started spending overnights with her dad and during the day she was at dc. so the supply drying up was not a concern for me. but i remember wondering how it would affect our nursing relationship. she would 'pump' my breasts to get any milk, but soon there was none. the other reason i wasnt concerned with my supply was that i noticed my dd stopped depending on it nutritionally after 2. but i was really concerned and scared what it would do to our nursing relationship as she really needed it.

well that was 3 1/2 years ago. she still nurses right at bedtime and first thing in the morning. i enjoy the closeness. she is my only. plus i am so grateful she has this for her emotional wellbeing. if we nurse and take our time to wake up in the morning - her day goes by so much better.

so serenebabe was right. if they want to keep nursing they will.

[proudmamanow]

thanks for these posts....a funny comment from dd today to me on the phone at work. "Tell mama that I'm never ever ever going to stop the milkoos from filling up." So she is working on it

[Calidris]

Originally Posted by proudmamanow

Wow...I'm not sure what to make of this...but according to dd I am running out of milk. She had a lot of trouble falling asleep tonight because according to her, neither milkoo had any milk in it.
I do feel conflicted... dd will turn 4 in April and we have had a wonderful run of it over the years....of course if we're done...well, I would be sad, but also satisfied. But I'm sitting here wondering if I should be taking some fenugreek to up my supply. I would happily keep nursing this kid until age 5 and beyond...she's my only nursling & likely will be...and yet after almost 4 years, I feel like I've given her what she needs.

Sigh. And of course for many good reasons we're sure we're done with 2 kids....but all of a sudden if dd is done nursing....well, maybe I really really want to get pg again. (Just to explain dd1 is my biochild, dd2 is my partner's biochild).

Is it normal to lose milk supply at this point? Any thoughts? Dd1, I should add, still REALLY likes to nurse and has an active relationship with the milkoos, though she only nurses at night and in the morning at this point.

My supply began to decrease for no apparent reason somewhere around the 4 mark with DD. However it never stopped her, and at 5 she is still nursing (though not everyday anymore) and will occasionally tell me very happily "I got a tiny taste of milk" but mostly she gets nothing. It gets irritating after a bit and I tend to stop her after a few minutes, but she usually doesn't mind.

Are you perhaps drinking more coffee/tea? Or generally more stressed with life? For a while I noticed DD got more milk on days I cut back on caffine, and at times when I was more relaxed (neither trick works anymore). I wonder if her latch changed slightly at that age, affecting my production. It wasnothing I could feel or see though.

[guest9955]

"i got a tiny taste of milk." smiling reading this
this thread is so sweet! i hope we nurse as long as you all. yey moms!

[ewink]

As much as I've always had a great supply (over supply for quite some time actually, as in about 18 months), I am feeling that it is getting less too now. DS just turned 4 last month. He's definitely still getting milk, and still quite a bit during the night, but especially during the day I think it's getting less. He has thing where he starts wimpering when there's not much milk coming out anymore. He's been doing that earlier in the session lately. It does make me a little sad, but I guess it's a natural thing. A couple of weeks ago after a nursing session (a long one) in the evening before bed, he said that all the mommy milk was gone. I told him not to worry, that there would be more later in the night when he woke up. He said "I want you to make lots and lots and lots of mommy milk, Mommy!!" LOL. It was cute.
I was feeling a small let down during the night last night and that made me realize that I actually hadn't felt any let down for a few months now. It's hard to believe that I used to spray milk everywhere from the side he wasn't even nursing on during each let down, and had many let downs per session. It was crazy. Weaning is naturally a very slow and gradual process, and I think that's how nature intended it....