Hi there
wondering if anyone can help. I have been feeding Emma for almost 21 weeks now and everything has been going fine. She has been sleeping 9pm to 8am since around 12 weeks (I know how lucky we are)

3 nights ago she woke up at 430am for a feed. The next night she slept through and then last night she woke at just before 4am. I fed her both nights when she woke. Today has been a bit of a nightmare. She has been really fussy at every feed- pulling at my nipple and getting really grumpy. She has had wet nappies all day so I know something is going in.

At 8pm when I did her last feed she went really mad and so my husband gave her 5oz of EBM and I tried to express to see what was going on. I got half an oz only.

I am really panicking tonight that something is going wrong with my supply or that it is suddenly drying up. All week Emma has been feeding faster. She always took 25- 30 mins per feed but this week it has been about the 20 mins. She is 21 weeks tomorrow but was 4 weeks early so is 17 weeks adjusted.
Any ideas or thoughts would be so welcome.

lesley

I've never been able to get much out with a pump either so don't worry about that at all. Your baby is far more efficient at sucking that a pump is. Maybe she is having a little growth spurt or even teething?

I agree with Blah's post, it may be a growth spurt. Olivia went through massive spurt at that age. Also the older Olivia has gotten, the shorter her feeds have xx

Definitely! What they said!
Added to that: I fed my lo for hours at a time, only for half of it to be vomited up, yet still she grew like a very fast-growing thing! I was also donating to the human milk bank. I know I could easily have fed twins, I had a huge supply (and youd never have thought it to look at me or my beasts), but I could only ever express any decent amount with my hand pump first thing in the morning. Even when I was only feeding her in the morning (12-21 months) and my breasts were' to be perfectly frank, tinier, softer little things than they'd been umm... ever (tmi?!) she could still get whatever she wanted.
Babies are incredibly feeders. It may be that she's having a growth spurt and therefore hungrier than before. Also, if she's teething, she may be having to learn to adjust her latch. (FYI, my lo bit me maybe twice in about a year, once she started teething).
Hang on in there! It'll be fine - you've been doing it ages and you know exectly what you're doing.
Abi x

I too had a panic that my milk was going and the advice on here from the girls was to stop worrying, take plenty of protein, have porridge, feed from both sides each time and express after each feed. I had been expressing around 8oz a day and it had dropped to less than 1oz almost overnight. Anyway, I followed the advice and things are back to the way they were.

Don't give up - your baby will keep asking to be fed until she's had enough and your body won't let her go hungry.

You have done really well to get to 21 weeks! Good for you!

Hi, I would suggest to feed her as often as she wants and your milk supply will increase in a couple of days

If she's adjusted to 17 weeks, then she could be having the 'four month sleep regression'.

http://www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/4mo-sleep.html

It could have nothing to do with your supply, or she is building it up for a growth spurt.

I had a similar problem when Ellis was about 4 months,it coincided with my first af so i panicked and thought my supply was going, the advice i was given was -not to worry!!
At 4+ months milk supply is pretty well established and its rare it would suddenly stop. Make sure your diet is good and you're drinking plenty of fluids and you'll be fine-promise! I also admit to a porridge addiction now (marks and spencer do a lovely cranberry/blueberry one.)
Ellis definitely went through a stage of grumpiness/pulling when she was on the breast at a similar age but we're still bf at 9 and 1/2 months and showing no signs of slowing down. I also work two days a week which has had no affect on my milk supply the days i don't work so i don't think its as easily affected as we all fear.
You've done a great job so far, just look after yourself and don't stress (thats not good for milk either) and you'll be fine xxxx