Expert: ruth kraft - 10/12/2009

Question
Hello, my 61/2 month old seems to be doing well but i just have a couple of concerns.  She started on solids about 4 weeks ago and i doing really well on them.  She has approx 1/4 - 1/2 a cup of food three times a day about an hr after milk feeds. Since starting solids she has dropped back to 4 breastfeeds a day.  This is partly due to her napping as she is usually up for 2 hrs then down for 2 hrs so it ends up 4 hrs between feeds! She seems happy with this, she very rarely cries or fusses for a feed i feed her as soon as she gets up.  My concern is my supply does already seem to be dropping off a bit.  I used to be able to express 100-120ml from one let down while feeding from the other breast( she would then drain this side), this has slowly lessened and has now dropped to 70ml.  She also feeds really quickly, about 15mins for the first morning feed, then barely 5-10 mins for the other feeds, really just one let down per side.  She is then usually quite chatty and not interested in going back on. For her last feed before bed she has both sides then the expressed milk from the morning, which i have now been topping up with formula to make up 120ml. She did actually lose a small amount of weight in the 4weeks before we started on solids(was then on 5-6 breastfeeds a day) but has gained past that point now.  I'm sorry about all the info if it's too much, but my question is should i be worried about my supply continuing to drop, and can she really be draining the breast in the few minutes she is feeding?  Is her routine okay? Thankyou for listening i look forward to your response:)

Answer
hello, and details are good in these kinds of situations..   the good news is everything sounds very normal with the baby. usually around 6-8 monhts old your breasts adjust to the milk so it seems like they deflate and milk goes away when it doesnt really. The baby will continue to get enough and is far more efficient then the pump ever will be. It also happens that they become much more interested in learning new things and playing, crawling, sitting, then walking etc.. this means they eat less and thin out. as they become more mobile they start burning baby fat calories. so its all normal. Yes its possible for her to get what she needs in only a few minutes. they get most of the milk in the first 4-7 minutes.being she is as old as she is she is just efficient :)

good job mom :)