Please help quick

[@llli*sdawn922]

I am nervous right now. My daughter is 7 months old. I have been breastfeeding her the whole time. We introduced solids at about 6 months and she is doing good. Over the last week, I am only producing about 12 oz of milk a day. I am not sure what has happened. I am under alot of stress right now due to quitting my job soon and moving 700 miles away from my family. I know that stress can cause uou to loose milk, but that much? I have a freezer supply, however not enough to last a long time. We have been having to get into my freezer supply everyday. On top of this all, I work 24 hour shifts as a Paramedic, so I can't nurse her everyday and I do not get to pump regularly. We stay very busy at work and in my job everyone elses needs come before our own. I have ordered fenugreek but have not gotten it in yet. To top it off, we are driving to our future home location in a week to close on a house and take care of things before we move, so I will not have my freezer supply with me then! She is our first child and I am lost. I really wanted to bf for at least 9 months to a year, but at this rate I will not be next aeek. I cant even remember I felt the let down sensation or even really felt full! What do I do????????

[@llli*sdawn922]

Correction to post: I cant remember the last time I felt the "let down" sensation or even when I felt full!

[@llli*joe.s.mom]

Calm down, mama, I doubt anything is really seriously wrong here.

It's normal to not feel letdowns or feel "full" after the first few months of breastfeeding. Your body just gets used to producing milk, and you may stop feeling those sensations. Your breasts may shrink and feel more "normal" too. NONE of this means you aren't making milk.

So now I'll ask some questions:

How much are you actually nursing your daughter? How many times a day? Do you nurse at night?

12 oz of milk is not a tiny amount to be pumping over a 8 hour work day. It sounds pretty normal to me for that time frame, anyway. How long are you apart during the day and how often are you pumping? You say you don't have enough time to pump - that could be it right there - you have to be diligent about pumping, or your supply can really suffer. Of course, stress doesn't help either, but I would be more inclined to look at whether all of this stress has caused you to change your pumping habits. I can definitely see that being a paramedic would make it very difficult to pump, but if you want to keep nursing until a year, it would be great if you could work out some kind of pumping schedule.

What kind of pump are you using? When is the last time you changed out the membranes or other parts? Pumps do wear out.

Have you gotten your cycles back? Is it possible you could be pregnant? Both PMS and pregnancy can cause a decrease in supply. PMS is usually a very temporary decrease. (Pregnancy can cause a sudden decrease so it's often to blame when there is no other obvious culprit.)

Those are just my first thoughts. But just remember, none of these things, besides pregnancy, will permanently reduce your supply (of course the supply drop caused by pregnancy is not permanent - but it can last for nine months!). Whatever is going on, you can most likely fix it. Don't panic!

[@llli*mommal]

Joe.s.mom asked all the right questions.

[@llli*auderey]

also, if your supply has dipped because you haven't been pumping enough, then a trip away with baby and no freezer stash is the perfect time to nurse, nurse, nurse and get it back up! think of it like a reset button