SUPPLY DROP for the first time DD is 16 m/o what the heck? PLEASE PLEASE HELP

[sosurreal09]

I have never ever had any supply issues. I am not pregnant (IUD) and my AF should be here around the 3rd...so IDK if it may be coming early and it always drops a tad bit before and during but not this badly! (I always had AF BW didn't miss one period EBF!)

I began to notice it a couple weeks ago actually but I just thought she was getting frustrated b/c she's teething. This morning (and last night) she was latched and sucking a few mins then hysterical. She popped off and switched sides. I started compressing the one she just had and tried to express some manually and a drop of a drop came out after a few mins! This was my first morning milk!

She nurses 7-10x a day sometimes more. She still night nurses too. I ca not explain why my milk is having a problem all of a sudden and I am scared, I thought it was a myth that your milk can just suddenly dry up out of nowhere?

She is no where near ready to wean.

So what do I do oatmeal and mother's milk tea? Anything else. The pump never worked out for me. I have always fed her on demand and still do.

Any reason this could be happening? 

[sosurreal09]

no ideas?

[stik]

I don't have any ideas.  But my supply dropped in the second year of nursing both of my dds, so I've been in your shoes.  Given that she's 16mo, I would not wean in response to this, but I would start offering more solids.  

[Asiago]

Alfalfa capsules work for me when I need a boost. Within 24 hours I notice quite a difference. Also I went back to having two very large cups of water throughout the night. I had become lazy and wasn't drinking as much water as I was during my first year. I would feel thirsty at night but not refill my cup and by morning I was parched. The increase in water throughout the night and a few alfalfa capsules (Nature's way) every once in a while seem to help me tremendously. Good luck- please keep us posted.

[maddymama]

Hi Mama,

Toddlers are also very efficient nursers, so she might be able to get a ton of milk out quickly (within a minute) and she might want more if she's going through a growth spurt.

If you are concerned, which it sounds like you are, you might want to pretend like she's a newborn, cancel all outside appointments, and just spend a day or two nursing and cuddling, resting, drinking lots of water, etc.   I'm not a big drinker, but a big glass of dark beer always triggers a good letdown for me.  Positive visualization of lots of milk flowing also helps me....

Also, it's possible to get pregnant on an IUD, not likely but possible.... :-)

Good luck!

~maddymama

[EmilyG]

I was also going to suggest that maybe your supply is the same and she's just having a growth spurt.

Has your diet changed at all?  I still notice a little dip in my supply if I go a day without drinking enough water.  I feel like increasing my protein intake helps my supply too, maybe it's all in my head though, lol.  My supply really dropped off with DD#1 after 15 months, although she wasn't nursing very frequently at that point (twice a day I think).  It seems the same this time around with DD#2, but then she still nurses all the time so maybe thats the difference.

Hang in there - hopefully things are back to normal soon!

[Contrariety]

DS had weeks like that and DD has them, too.  It seems as soon as things settle back down I notice a new tooth or that her pants don't fit anymore...

[sosurreal09]

maybe it is a growth spurt IDK she eats a lot of solids too. I drank a ton of water yesterday, had oatmeal and some mother's milk tea. She seems to be somewhat satisfied no more screaming but my flow still seems off. Normally I can just "push" milk out with my fingers and it shoots across the room lol now just a drop comes out. IDK what could cause that though except my body just not producing as much since she's getting older or something. She is nursing like a newborn right now! I am going to get some beer for tonight

Thank you guys for all the advice and support. I have never experienced this and I was scared sh*tless!