Feeling a bit down about my expressing amounts

[Lottie86]

There's not really a point to this thread more just me needing to let out a bit of stress.

I have been expressing since Findlay was born 5 weeks ago but the amounts I'm getting each day seem to have dropped recently

I seem to be getting anywhere between 650-800ml per day at the moment whereas I used to get double the top end of that. Findlay is drinking around 450ml a day at the moment so I've got stocks in the freezer but I'm getting myself all worried that my supply will drop even more or that he'll have a big growth spurt soon and start drinking an awful lot more and I won't be able to keep up with him

I had mastitis 2 weeks ago which was when I noticed my supply first dropping and I'm also now only managing to pump 5-6 times a day since my OH went back to work a week ago as I'm looking after Findlay on my own and as he takes 45mins to take a feed then has to be winded for 20 mins or he's sick everywhere I don't have much time in the day to do much else! I'm also not getting much sleep which is causing my lupus to flare up and make me poorly

Other than first thing when I wake up I don't get the 'OWWWW my boobs are going to explode if I don't pump in the next 5mins' feeling anymore either and my boobs don't feel anywhere near as full as they did in the first 3 weeks On the plus side I am loving these new 32E boobs (I was a B/C before)!

Ok that's my rant/sob/whinge over now! Sorry!

 

[thelilbump]

at 5 weeks post birth your body is still regualting itself. The lack of engorgement is probably due to your body finding the right balance of milk for your baby. I hated the whole 'amount' thing when i expressed. fortunatly for me i only ever needed to express to get an emergency stash in the freezer and for breakfast cereals. Hope someone with a bit more pumping experince can help you a bit more than i can.

 

[asacia]

This is a short messae as I've got a baby on my lap!

I found this link very helpful;
https://www.hollister.com/us/files/pdfs/breastfeeding/establish_milk_supply.pdf

I've had supply worries and can sympathise. My supply was around 500ml but I've managed to boost it to 850ish. I've been exclusively expresing for 7 weeks.

I don't get the urgent feeling often but am still producing the same.

Best of luck.

 

[Jelly Bean]

This exact same thing happened to me hon...I was almost exclusively expressing, got mastitis because I missed a few pumps over a weekend and lost more than half my supply (which I considered fantastic - a liter on the best days - but WOW, you got a liter and a half in the good old days!!).

I honestly don't know if we can get back to where we were before. But after my supply dwindled to about 32 oz. a day to 10, I've slowly managed to get it up to 22ish oz a day. What I did was pump and nurse constantly and take 3500 mg of fenugreek a day. I don't know if you're unable to nurse...maybe you could get someone to help you watch LO while you do more frequent pumps.