Anyone else’s milk supply tanking it

When you’re giving the formula feed at night, how long have you been going between breastfeeds? Your supply can dip if no milk has been taken for four hours. I felt like mine nosedived over the last week or so, but in reality I was an oversupplier and it’s starting to regulate. Babies also become fussier and more likely to be distracted during feeds around this time apparently. To add to that, there’s a growth spurt about now, which means they might feed more than normal for a short while. I had a day where she seemed just permanently on me and drained the lot each time. I’d really avoid using formula if you do want to keep breast feeding, and try feed more frequently to mimic cluster feeding to increase demand to still ensure she’s drinking enough. Will be a slog though.

@Rhiann she sleeps through the night, so generally she gets formula at around 10 and goes down around 11 and doesn’t wake till 6 which is when I feed her next. I try to keep her on my breast but she literally is yanking my nipple she moved her head back and she’s wiggling all over and beginning to cry cause she’s not getting it like she once did I guess. My supply is fine at the 6am feed and then again at the 10am/11am feed, it’s after that that it feels like I’ve dried all the way up! During the morning feeds she’s content and I could hear her suckle and swallow suckle suckle and swallow! But in the afternoons, she has to suckle a few times and I hear barely anything. I really really don’t want to give her formula because it’s a vicious cycle, the more she gets formula the less she’s on me, the more my supply goes down but I literally don’t know what to do when she’s clearly hungry cause she’ll chug a good 120ml after being breastfed first🥲

That’s definitely a lot longer to go between either feeds or expressing than recommended to keep up supply. My daughter doesn’t sleep for anywhere near as long, but I’ve read that the late evening/early morning pump is one of the most important for the hormones for demand, but also that it’s recommended waking up to pump if baby sleeps more than 4 hours. You could probably go 5 at a push. Having the formula, because it’s thicker and hard to digest, might be making her sleep longer. My daughter is going 4 hours max at night before a feed, but I’m not using any formula at all. It might be worth really trying to cut it down over the next few days. If she’s a little hungry just give it half an hour and try her again at the breast maybe to see if any has replenished. I hope you manage to get the supply up. I know it’s probably the last thing you want to do to make it so you have less sleep, but I think it’s probably the only way based on all the advice.

What makes you think it is tanking? It might not be that your supply is reducing. At this age, they get really efficient and don’t take as long on the boob. You’ll also notice your supply even out so your boobs won’t feel as full- all totally normal. Best way to increase is to keep offering as much as possible. See Olivia Lactation Consultant on insta- she has great videos on this

I also saw another post on here at some point that said when a baby is having a big formula bottle top up after nursing, it doesn't necessarily mean they're hungry/not getting enough breastmilk, because the sucking reflex gets triggered when a bottle teat is in their mouth (and might therefore overfeed even though they had a decent amount of breastmilk)

@Lizzie I think it’s dropping because she takes her 6am feed comfortably on me and I believe it’s because my boobs are full at that time given she hasn’t drained me In 6 hours or so. This has been the case for 3 weeks now as she dropped her middle of the night feed and is sleeping longer stretches. So the 6am feed and ago the 9/10am feed she’s comfortable taking and I can hear it. She’s getting a good amount with each gulp. But during the day, but shy feed after 11am, I feel like my supply isn’t as good at least not after the first 5 minutes as she’s gulping at first and then it stops. It’s a lot more suckling and less milk coming and I can barely hear anything when she swallows, it’s a very small amount. Yesterday, she got frustrated on the boob, like pulling away, squirming, crying. I tried to distract her and get her back on 10 min later and she cried frantically and wouldn’t even suckle; she just wanted off. I know she’s hungry because she cries so hard for more milk.

@Natalie I don’t offer her bottle unless she cries for more milk, and when I offer her my breast, she cries herself off as she’s not getting much, so it’s not that she’s being overfeed I don’t think. Shes generally hungry because she cries for more milk and doesn’t settle until she gets it.