Low supply or more efficient?

[Anonymous]

I had stubbornly low supply with my DS that gave me some real war wounds and a tough relationship with breastfeeding. Now with DD it seems I have better supply, at least at the 1 month mark I did a weighted feed with a lactation consultant and she took 5 oz combined from both breasts. We still occasionally supplemented with formula up until 3 weeks ago when I went dairy and soy free due to some tummy issues she’s been having and she hates Alimentum. The past week or so our sessions have really shortened. She used to do 20 minutes each side now it’s more like ten, sometimes only 7. Went to the Dr today because she has a cold (though the latching and unlatching and shorter feeds started before the cold) and she’s fallen off her weight curve by a couple percentage points. Dr wasn’t concerned at all since she’s got a cold but I’m wondering if something happened to my supply? Is it normal for babies to suddenly get efficient? Oh and another reason I worry is the couple of times I’ve pumped an hour after a feed I haven’t had great results. I know that can be normal but it does make me nervous. She’s 11 weeks old. She has plenty of wet and dirty diapers and overall seems happy.

[Anonymous]

Hard to tell unless you do a weighted feed

[Anonymous]

I'd go to the Breastfeeding Center and do a weighted feed, just for your own piece of mind. It's probably a combination of her getting more efficient and the cold suppressing her appetite a bit.

[Anonymous]

I'd say don't worry so much about it -- it sounds like there are logical explanations.

I too had a very rough start with my first and breastfeeding was really touch and go. It worked out after 3-4 months but it was sheer luck that it did. I never had a huge supply with my first but attributed it to trying to get nursing going for a NICU baby with a pump and later latch issues. With my second and third kids, who didn't have the same issues, I found that it was just me -- I never had overflowing milk, a freezer stash, or any of it. It was more like a "just-in-time" logistics operation -- they nursed, my boobs made milk, it all worked out. I think both baby and boobs become more efficient with practice.

[Anonymous]

Your hormones can change at around 3 months and cause ur supply to drop. Mine was cut in half overnight. I was mostly pumping at the time so I noticed right away. I was able to recover some supply by supplements and pumping (4hrs a day or more) but I still supplemented with what I had frozen, and even then DD was down a lot on her weight % (20th to 2nd) by our 4 month appt. She seemed ok and not crazy hungry, but apparently could have used a bit more. Her weight stabilized, so doc said it was fine, but I still felt bad. Same happened with my first except I had no frozen back up and didn’t notice right away bc I was only breastfeeding. She started getting really fussy nursing at night when milk is lowest. At the time I thought she just had a bigger appetite and my supply couldn’t keep up. Obv supplementing with formula was the right solution.

Hopefully it’s just the cold, but it is possible that it’s a supply issue so ur right to keep an eye on it. If your DD is happy, being down a couple % isn’t a big deal. But the stuff about low supply being in ur head and that it’s really rare is total BS. It took me awhile to figure out what had happened despite working with an LC. I thought I could get my good supply back if I just worked hard enough. Nope but nice to have finally figured out that it’s hormones, not lack of effort, I guess