this is my first time posting, so thank you in advance for your guidance and help and I hope I am doing this correctly...
My daughter is now 9 months old and a great eater, but I am concerned about my supply and keeping up with her. I would like to continue breastfeeding for at least the first year of her life, but lately we both seem frustrated which is super sad to me.
I exclusively breastfeed her 6 x a day and she gets 3 meals of solids. 1 of BF times is an 8 ounce bottle which is after dinner but before bath. She sleeps 12 hours a night.
I have noticed lately that my supply seems low for my daughter - she is grabbing for me every 2 hours when she used to be perfectly fine between feedings.
Here is how I noticed that my supply is low:
I pump at night for the after supper bottle around 8:30 after I have finished the rest of the dinner/clean up for our family. I have been only producing 4-5 ounces at that session, whereas in the past I have been producing 6 or 6.5. In the morning after I feed her upon waking, I pump 2-3 ounces when I used to pump 4. To make a long story short, I no longer pump enough at night and in the AM to provide the 8 ounce bottle at night when I used to be able to provide that and store 2-3 additional ounces as reserve.
I think I need to start supplementing with formula which saddens me but I don't see any other options. How should I best go about supplementing?
Nurse her every 4 hours and then give her formula for the other 2 feedings? Any advice that you can give me would be much appreciated.
Thank you so much for your time and knowledge!