Hey, mama! Are you concerned that your milk supply dropped? In this post, we go over how to establish milk supply, signs of established milk supply pumping, why is milk supply low at night, what is a normal supply, can milk supply drop in one day, can milk supply drop when sick, what is power pumping breastfeeding, and how does milk supply increase. Let’s jump in!
How to Establish Milk Supply?
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need anything to establish breastfeeding, besides your baby.
Think about how all of the women for thousands of years have breastfed their babies before breast pumps, breast massagers, or access to herbs that grow across the world that could help with increasing milk supply.
All these women had were their babies and the women around them who also breastfed their babies.
To establish a good milk supply with your baby:
- Your baby needs to have a good latch. This can be assessed by a lactation consultant.
- Nurse at least every 3 hours. Ensure you know baby hunger and fullness cues.
- Eat and drink enough for energy to breastfeed
Check out how how your body begins making breast milk in pregnancy, breast changes after giving birth, and more in: Breast Changes Early Pregnancy and Beyond!
Signs of Established Milk Supply with Pumping
Again, you don’t need a breast pump to establish your milk supply.
In fact, when pumping in the early weeks of breastfeeding, creating an oversupply is very common.
At first, an oversupply might sound like a good thing… But with an oversupply often comes with:
- Fussy baby while nursing. This happens because they are trying to latch and nurse, but the milk flow is too fast for them
- A shallow/bad latch because of the fast flow while baby is trying to nurse.
- Nipple pain caused by the bad latch
- Green, foamy, and explosive baby poops
- More occurrences of clogged ducts, which can also lead to mastitis
If you think you may be experiencing this or another breastfeeding problem, check out The Balanced Breastfeeding Course. This 18-chapter course gives you everything you need to know about breastfeeding, pumping, and normal baby behavior.
Learn more about The Balanced Breastfeeding Course here, and the exclusive Facebook page you can join with the course!
Still, an established milk supply with or without pumping should look like 4-6 ounces every 3 hours between both breasts for one baby, when your supply is regulated at 4-6 weeks postpartum.
“My Milk Supply Dropped”: What Makes Milk Supply Drop?
There are various situations that can cause a sudden drop in your milk supply, such as:
- Your supply regulates, which often happens at 4-6 weeks postpartum.
- Your baby starts sleeping through the night.
- You fix your oversupply, or discontinue pumping and only breastfeed, leading to a normal milk supply
- An unresolved/missed bad latch, tongue tie, or dysfunctional suck. In some situations, a baby may have one of these, but an oversupply can hide it because of the baby gaining well. But after a couple of months, if the supply regulates or if the extra pumping was stopped, the bad latch or other issue will finally manifest in the milk supply. To resolve this, work with a lactation consultant on fixing the latch and adequate feedings to get your supply back where it needs to be.
- Supplementing in the early days and weeks will negatively impact your supply. However, this can be prevented by working with a lactation consultant.
- Overfeeding with a bottle. This often happens at daycare or with a nanny if they do not do paced-bottle feeding. This will impact your supply because your baby won’t be as hungry when they are with you, which can take a hit on at least that initial time of returning home from work and reuniting with your baby.
- Only feeding on one breast each feeding will decrease your milk supply and this is a method to use when a mother has an oversupply. If you have a normal supply, always offer your baby both breasts at each feeding.
more causes of a sudden drop in supply:
- Being on your period causes a slight decrease in your milk supply due to your hormones at this time. It’s nothing to worry about and is very temporary, lasting only a few days. Again, tips to help minimize this occurrence are found in The Balanced Breastfeeding Course!
- Getting sick. Typically, catching a cold or the flu in general, doesn’t make your supply drop. Instead, a drop in your supply might happen because of the symptoms such as diarrhea, vomiting, or fatigue. You can combat this with rest, optimal nutrition, and rehydration.
- Returning to work. Around 2-3 months is also a common time for a mother to return to work. Sometimes the pump is not stimulating the milk supply as good as the baby, often because the flange size is wrong or if that is correct and checked, there can be a trial and error period of the pump strength for some mothers.
- A broken or old pump part that needs to be replaced. If a part of your breast pump is broken or worn down, it won’t work as well as it used to, leading to decreased milk output and even a drop in your supply after a while! Finding the issue and keeping up on your parts using the “Replacing Your Pump Parts Cheat Sheet” provided in The Balanced Breastfeeding Course will prevent this issue and keep your supply normal.
“My Milk Supply Dropped”: Medical Issues After Pregnancy and Low Milk Supply
Other situations that may cause a drop in your milk supply, may be due to medical issues that can come up after pregnancy, such as:
- Thyroid issues
- Starting a birth control. A couple of common birth controls that breastfeeding mamas get are the progesterone-only pill and the IUD. Although women are told they won’t have a drop in supply with these, some do! Everybody is different, so even if you heard that it won’t impact your milk supply, it might be worth investigating and trying out another form. If you’re interested, check out How to Use Natural Family Planning as Birth Control.
- Another medication you’re taking that may impact your supply. Try to avoid decongestants such as, pseudoephedrine, phenylephrine, and oxymetazoline are meant to dry up fluids like mucus in your body. When these medications work, they also will dry up your breast milk resulting in a lower supply. The Balanced Breastfeeding Course provides information on other medications and alternatives for when you are sick and breastfeeding.
Research has found that “Mothers who are knowledgeable about breastfeeding and hold a positive approach towards breastfeeding have the tendency to initiate breastfeeding and continue for a lengthened period” [1].
The Balanced Breastfeeding Course with 280 minutes of education and video demonstration with 160+ easy-to-follow PDF Pages plus photo demonstrations! This course fills the gap in our maternity care system, addressing everything you need to know to have a successful breastfeeding relationship.
How Much Milk is a Normal Supply?
BreastfeedingUSA states that, “when the baby is about three months old, milk production stops being controlled by the mother’s postpartum hormones, and starts being controlled by the information that the body has gathered during the previous weeks of breastfeeding. If the baby nursed infrequently in those early weeks, the milk production may decrease at this point because there were not enough “milk-making factories” created to match the baby’s needs” [1].
Between each breast, you will never need more than 4-6 ounces for each feeding. Even if your baby is 6 months old, 9 months old, or beyond!
During the first 4-6 weeks, refrain from panicking if your baby is cluster feeding and it feels like you aren’t expressing anymore milk. Cluster feeding is meant to increase your supply and is nothing to worry about.
Remember, women have been breastfeeding since the beginning of humanity!
Why only 4-6 ounces?
The beautiful thing (one of them!) about breastmilk is that it constantly changes to accommodate what your baby needs.
Formula does not do that, and therefore, formula feeding parents must keep increasing the amounts of formula made to give their babies what they need.
However, with breastmilk, your body is constantly producing the milk when it’s needed with everything your baby needs at that current time!
Plus, breastmilk has high bioavailability meaning your baby gets more benefits from the nutrients in breastmilk because it’s absorbed better in the body.
Why is My Milk Supply Low At Night?
Many women mention a noticeable decrease in their milk supply at night.
This seems to be because prolactin (the milk-making hormone) levels peak early in the day at around 2-5 am, then the levels slowly decrease throughout the day until they peak again.
Can Milk Supply Drop When Sick?
Typically, catching a cold or the flu in general, doesn’t make your milk supply drop.
Instead, a drop in your supply might happen because of the symptoms, such as diarrhea, vomiting, or fatigue.
You can combat the loss of fluids and energy from these symptoms with rest, optimal nutrition, and rehydration.
Can Milk Supply Drop in One Day?
If you were to not breastfeed or pump as much as your baby needs one day, and then go back to a sufficient routine the next day, your milk supply might be a bit lower than it was before.
However, your supply can quickly come back to normal, so long as adequate stimulation is occurring.
But, because of the lack in stimulation for that one day, this could cause a clogged duct which would also need to be resolved to get your supply back to normal, too.
How to Help My Milk Supply Increase
The key to the perfect milk supply for you and your baby depends on if you are pumping and breastfeeding, only pumping, going to work, and your baby’s sleep schedule.
Still, supply=demand.
Whatever demand is putting on your breasts to make milk is how much milk your body will make!
For example, for someone who is nursing or pumping every 2 hours compared to every 3 hours, the mother who does it every 2 hours will likely have more milk expressed throughout the day than the mother who only needs to nurse or pump every 3 hours.
“My Milk Supply Dropped”: What is Power Pumping Breastfeeding?
Power pumping is meant to mimic a cluster feeding baby.
And cluster feeding is when your baby wants to nurse much more often than usual and this often due to a growth spurt or an infection.
If you’re working with a lactation consultant and you fixed the root cause of your supply problem such as a latch problem, a broken or old pump part, etc., power pumping can be a great tool to quickly get your supply back up to where it needs to be!
How to power pump:
- Pump for 20 minutes
- Rest for 10 minutes
- Pump for 10 minutes
- Rest for 10 minutes
- Pump for 10 minutes
Repeat this once or twice a day for 2-7 days (or until you notice an increase in your milk supply!).
Questions or Comments on “Oh No! My Milk Supply Dropped!”
If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below👇🏻
Talk soon, mama!
– Katelyn Lauren
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DISCLAIMER: This post is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding you or your baby’s health. Please read my Medical Disclaimer for more info
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