Feeding Problems

[Sammy12588]

My daughhter is going to be a month old tomorrow and I have been strickly breast feeding. When I first started it seemed like my breasts would get so engorged that I would have to pump becuase it would obviously be painful. Now that she is almost a month old I have gone back to school which is only 5 hours a day. During that 5 hours my daughter is brought up to school for me to nurse her once, but i will start pumping on break instead on monday maybe.

The past week it seems as if she is nursing for shorter periods of time (ususally only about 5 minutes at the most) but not more often. When i pump i am not even getting half an ounce from each breast and my breasts do feel extremely deflated unlike the heavy and full feeling they had just 2 weeks ago. I am eating ok, could be a little better, I am working on that... and i am drinking plenty of water. My sleep is also fine. She is at a steady weight but hasnt gained any weight in the last week and a half, but has plenty of wet diapers and has about 3 or 4 messy diapers a day

How can I get my milk supply to get back up or is it probally fine. I really dread doing formula as with my first I had so many issues. Mind you I have a great pump, its the Medella pump in stile, but I still seem to not be producing enough. Please help

[mirellevvi]

Hi there, You are doing fine. Usually within the first weeks after birth your body does not know how much milk to make, so it overproduces. Latter on, your body becomes used to exactly how much milk it needs to produce, which will explain why you don't feel so engorged anymore. At this point she should feed 8-12 times a day, so if you are doing that and you see, hear the sounds that she is swallowing milk then she is getting enough. The best way to increase your supply in to nurse her as often as possible. So if she wants to eat for shorter periods of time but more often than that is ok. As she is growing she will also become more efficient in taking the milk out. Meaning that the same amount of milk she will be able to get out in a shorter time.

Also, how is your let down?