HELP!! 16 weeks and my supply has vanished!

[loulie]

Is there anything I can do? I have caused this myself, I thought I could start introducing a couple of bottle feeds per day so that I can begin to leave my little one. She hasn't taken well to thebottle at all but i percerviered for a two days, offering 2-3 feeds as bottles. Then by last night my milk had all but dried up! My breasts have halved in size and feel completely empty!

I put her to the breast all through the night and whilst she's not getting anywhere near as much as before or as she would like she must be getting something because she's not yet screaming and she had a wet nappy this morning.

Is there anything I can do? I'm putting her to the breast every hour for half an hour to try to encourage more milk. I don't want to try to give her formula from a bottle but I guess there's only so long I can do this because my poor baby is hungry

any advice ladies? I feel desperate here

[tinybutterfly]

Waiting every four hours to feed her is too long in between feeds.

Can you try to get her to nurse every two hours and then also pump to build your supply back up? If possible a supplemental feeder at the breast ( can't remember what they are called, SNS?) would be better than a bottle, really, because then your breasts would still be getting stimulation.

I offered ( really someone else in our family) a bottle of breastmilk to ds#1, but only rarely. I wanted to be sure someone else could feed him in case of an emergency. Ds#2 refused to take a bottle of breastmilk ever and I decided it wasn't worth pushing it.

Two to three bottles per day, even one per day if not necessary due to working, is too often.

Good luck!

I hope some more people will chime in with advice. It's been a loooong time ago that I nursed my babies, so I'm sure there may be other things you can do to get your supply back up.

OH, be sure you are eating really well and drink plenty of fluids.

[PatioGardener]

4 months is the time that many moms think they have lost their milk. most haven't! So the feelings you are having are normal - and likely everything is OK!

1) how many pees is baby having in 24 hours? Is she soaking 4 or more diapers in 24 hours? Is she settled after a feed or fussing al the time?

2) has her sleep patterned changed? This is normal at 4 months and has NOTHING to do with your milk. Babies start to wake more at night at 4 months. Search MDC for 4 month sleep regression and you'll get lots of info.

3) Often around 4 months Mama's breasts don't feel full any more, but they still make the same amount of milk. Also we may stop feeling let down. This does not mean we don't have enough milk!

4) To dry up suddenly is uncommon unless Mama has taken something like started birth control pills, taken cold medicine containing pseudoephedrine, or eated a ton of sage, parsley, mint etc (really - lots and lots is needed).

Hopefully you can nurse baby more often and skip the bottles for now (unless you are not getting enough wet diapers) and bump your supply (which is still there!) up so you feel mroe confident.

Good luck!

[Sharlla]

I got domperidone and after 3 days of taking it my supply has doubled. We did start her on solids at 4 months. she was interested in food but also even though I was pumping every 2-3 awake hours I wasn't pumping enough to keep up with her demand and all the while she was slowly draining my freezer stash.

[blessedwithboys]

eat oatmeal

drink dark stout beer, like guiness

try an herbal galactagogue

lots and lots of water and other fluids

offer the breast for every little thing, hunger, boredom, fatigue, dont limit the breast at all for the next few weeks

contact a lactation professional or LLL

if you must offer a supp, do it through an SNS or Lact-aid, or use a syringe, NO bottles of any sort.

sleep with your baby, both of you topless for lots of skin to skin contact. you want to encourage as much prolactin production as possible