How much milk should I be producing for my 18 month old?

[Mommy2Teagan]

She nurses 4 times a day. Morning, noon-ish, 5-ish, and before bedtime. Yesterday she nursed at three but later that evening she fell asleep early and never woke up for her before bedtime milk. I ended up pumping around 11 pm. Before I pumped I was thinking to myself "Whoa, I'm probably going to pump like ten ounces since she hasn't eaten since 3 o'clock". BUT I only pumped like 2.5 ounces. I was shocked that I produced so little. My concern is that I'm not producing enough for her when she eats those 4 times a day. I'm basing my concern on my pediatrician. At DD's appointments the Dr. asks if she's getting 15 - 20 oz of milk per day. I always say yes because I really thought that I was producing that much but obviously I'm not. So, should I be giving her "extra" milk on top of nursing? Should I try to boost my supply? Or does everything sound normal?

[blackbird2]

I've never pumped, so I don't know how much my LO is getting either. But here's my two cents: Your body is surely producing enough to meet your DD's demand for breastmilk as long as you are well-nourished and hydrated. I assume she's eating some solids? If you're concerned about her calcium intake you can always include some cheese, yogurt, chickpeas, almonds (sliced, ground, etc) in her other food choices.

I find it really hard to pinpoint exactly how much of a particular nutrient I or my LO is eating without severely limiting the variety of our diet (ie, it's much easier to calulate if your /only/ source of calium is milk, served out of a cup by itself and not as an ingredient in a larger dish). Ironically, I think that worsens our diet. So I just go for the big picture of a variety of healthy foods.

Hope that's helpful!

[PeachBaby]

I saw this on kellymom and thought it might address your concerns:



http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/p..._decrease.html

(What is normal when it comes to pumping output and changes in pumping output?)




http://www.kellymom.com/bf/supply/low-supply.html

(Is your milk supply really low?)
(gaining weight well)
(adequate number of wet and dirty diapers)

[PGTlatte]

When I was nursing our two children at this age, I was not thinking at all about the quantity of breastmilk they were getting because the nursing was in addition to the rest of their diet, and by that age they were both eating a variety of solid foods and drinking soy milk and other milk substitutes (they are both allergic to cow milk.) If having her drink other types of milk at this point would ease your worries about quantity, then you could go ahead and introduce it. Having other types of milk and foods available at that age didn't discourage our kids from nursing at all, because they were nursing for comfort and closeness, not food or drink at that point.

[Shami]

I, like a previous poster said, wasn't worried about how much at that age. Mine didn't really like to drink straight milk at that age either. So, I started doing fruit smoothies with raw grassfed cow milk. My ped, who is into nutrition for prevention, thinks almond milk is good instead of cow's milk. I have heard that some have concerns about using soy milk, but I can't remember why.
I think that if you have been nursing on demand then your supply should be fine. Did you make that schedule for nursing or did dd? That might change my answer just a wee bit.
Thinking some more...
at 18 months, even if you did make the 4 X a day, which BTW, I totally understand setting boundaries and limits at that age so please don't think I am saying anything against that! But, if you aren't doing totally child led weaning it may effect supply.