How little can I feed and yet still produce milk

[FoundInKualaLumpur]

My daughter has reached 9 months on my full daily supply of breastmilk, and due to various difficulties with feeding her or pumping the milk, plus all the blockages etc., I have decided to try to switch her mostly to formula and solids, with a few ounces of breastmilk each day to supplement her diet.

My daughter has taken well to the new diet, and I have been pumping breastmilk just once a day to produce a few ounces of milk. however, the supply seems to be decreasing. If I continue just pumping one time a day, is it likely that the milk supply will dry up completely?

If I start pumping twice a day now, is it possible the milk supply will increase again?

Thank you in advance for your suggestions,

Mei ling

[texmati]

I think the answer is different for different mama's. A friend of mine claims she can still express milk 4 months after weaning her daughter. I saw a drastic drop in my supply when I quit pumping at work for only one week.

I believe that if you pump more, you will produce more. I have seen a bit of a rebound now that I've started pumping at work again.

[Heba]

I would say that you will continue to produce as long as you are expressing, but yes it may become harder to express what you are producing...which will decrease the amount you produce...so overall a high likelihood of a decrease.

Since you had a full supply for 9 months, and are still producing some milk, then yes I agree with texmati - increasing expression will lead to an increase in supply.

[JudiAU]

Some women can maintain a stable supply with what you are doing but most won't. If you pump 3 oz now you'll probably start to see it drop soon. Limited pumping also seems to be really affected by AF so expect to see a permanant drop every month from that as well.

If you want to increase or maintain what you produce you need to pump more.