Is this normal?!

[Lu28]

We give Aisling a bottle of EBM as her last feed of the day and this week she has taken over 220ml every day - just now she has taken 275ml (over 9oz) from a bottle and I then had to top her up with 5 minutes on the boob because I ran out of EBM!

For the first time in weeks, I'm not at all sure I'm going to be able to keep up with her. I've started taking fenugreek again today in an effort to boost my supply - she hasn't had formula in about 6 weeks and I don't want her to have any at this stage if I can help it.

Do you think she's getting enough from me during the day to need this much before bed? She's 12lb 5oz at the moment...

 

[Mervs Mum]

I'll tell you what happened with us.

I was giving EBM for her last feed before bed.

I pumped once a day, first thing, both sides and got 9/10oz ish. She had got to the point where she wanted up to 13 oz I could have pumped it but I didnt want the restriction of another pumping session a day. So I ended up having to give the extra in formula.

Historically it had been a mid evening feed to give me a break from the cluster feeding. Over time this naturally became her last feed before going down at 8pm is for the night.

I didnt want to give the formula if I could help it and as she was dropping day feeds, I also wanted to feed her myself before bed as I knew once I was back at work, morning and night would be our only BFs.

So over the course of a week I reverted to that bedtime feed being a BF rather than EBM & formula. It took just under a week and I guarantee that there is no way she is taking that amount from me - I think she took it because it was there. She sleeps EXACTLY the same.

 

[Lu28]

That's interesting. She's been having a bottle of EBM as her last feed for weeks now, I'm not sure why all of a sudden she's turned into a horse!

When did you pump in the mornings i.e. after the first morning's feed etc? At the moment I'm doing 3 pumping sessions a day minimum and getting about 260ml which isn't great. If I could get that in one session I'd be very happy!

 

[Mervs Mum]

I usually wake about 5am so I would have a large glass of water next to the bed to swig then go back to sleep. Then I got up at 6am with my eldest while she got ready for school and pumped both sides. At the time Hebe was getting up at 8am at the earliest - sometimes 9am - so I knew I had 2 hours for them to 'fill' before she woke up.

The week after we swapped back to direct BF she lost 3oz. I wouldnt have had her weighed but the HV came about her hips. I told her about ditching the EBM/FF and we agreed that was why, although she wasnt concerned as she's on the 95% centile so she can afford a bit of a loss. I took her to be weighed 2 weeks later just to make sure she was ok after the little loss and she'd gained it back and a bit more. She's back on the same line now.

 

[elm]

Ohhhhhh, same here!!! Don't know if I put it in my journal so I'll put it here anyway. I was pumping for the last feed and Elliot was having more and more, I was spending longer and longer pumping at night and it was defeating the object of me pumping in the first place (so I could go to bed when I wanted and to give me a bit of a break). I stopped and gave him a breastfeed and it made no difference to him, just gave me loads of my evening back

x

eta. when I was pumping every night towards the end I found that a heated wheat bag warming my breast up and a gentle massage first seemed to produce more milk

 

[Lu28]

Thanks ladies. Aisling is getting up at 7am at the latest and some days (like today) she's been awake on and off since 3.30am I don't feel confident enough to do a complete pumping session when I know she might want a feed at any stage so I guess I'll just have to stick to pumping off the remains for the moment.

I might try giving her a smaller bottle at night and then topping her up with the breast and see how she does, otherwise maybe just go back to a normal bf - it's just that I'm not convinced I have the supply in the evening to keep her going during the night... They're awkward things aren't they!

 

[Mervs Mum]

I might try giving her a smaller bottle at night and then topping her up with the breast and see how she does

That's how we started to revert back to a BF rather than EBM.....

I'm not convinced I have the supply in the evening to keep her going during the night... They're awkward things aren't they! :D

I know I've told you above but I felt exaclty the same and over the course of the week her feeding got my supply up and she sleeps EXACTLY the same so it can be done....

 

[Lu28]

Think I'll start working on it this week then. I had thought that the more milk she had, the longer she'd sleep but she's slept through about 3 times this week on anything from 220ml to 265ml and then last night when she had her biggest feed ever she was up at 3.30am so it obviously doesn't work!

 

[Mervs Mum]

I dont think it's that simple is it.... Seriously she must take 5oz max now where it was double that MINIMUM!

 

[Logiebear]

H is exactly the same. No matter how much she has in the evening she could sleep through but usually she wakes up around 3.30am and then on and off for the rest of the day!!!

 

[Lu28]

Looks like you ladies may have been right. I gave her a bottle with 180ml (all I had managed to express between last night and today) and then topped her off with a bf. She was on for 40 minutes but to be honest the majority of that seems to have been comfort sucking which makes me think that was why she took so much last night. I'd say I could take her off sooner than I did tonight. She went out like a light!

 

[Mervs Mum]

They like to keep us guessing dont they......