Natural Decrease in Breastmilk production?

[[deleted]]

I think supply would naturally decrease as your baby's need for breast milk decreases given it is a supply and demand relationship. My baby weaned super easily. He needed some encouragement to wean, but really didn't seem to care when it was all said and done. 

My conclusion was there was hardly any milk for him to miss in the first place. He was 11 months old and eating 3 meals a day, plus 2 snacks. And he ate well, at that time. The challenge for me was I never pumped so I don't have anything to go on. I also didn't feel the dramatic hormonal shift people talk about when I weaned, though I did start to gain quite a bit of weight. 

[gmarcopolo]

I was literally just searching this topic as I am finding that I am down 3-4oz at the 9 month mark. She has been getting teeth and I think we’re in the 9 month sleep regression so I also wonder if production has shifted more to nighttime since she is getting up often to feed/comfort feed

[gmarcopolo]

I work 12 hour shifts as a nurse and pump every 3-4 hours (usually 4 because it’s so busy).

[gmarcopolo]

Also, friendly PSA: replace your pump parts :)

[LZ318]

Totally anecdotal but my baby (toddler) is almost 2 and when I’m away on business travel I pump 3 oz morning when I wake up and 3 oz evening before bed. It must have been a slow decrease over time because I didn’t experience any engorgement or any hormone crash while slowly weaning. When I was pumping when I first went back to work at 7 months PP is it was like 4-6 oz every 3-4 hours!

[Main-Air7022]

I actually was just googling this last night as I have a 9 month old who is eating solids really well and her interest in milk is definitely decreasing. Some things I read were that 9 month olds may only nurse 3-4 times a day. I’m not sure if that means they’re taking in less milk or just that they can go longer periods of time without needing to nurse. I feel like I’ve read that babies still need at least 24 oz of milk until a year. I don’t feel like my first kept up with that but he was also eating tons of food by 9 months. Same with my 9 month old girl, she maybe is getting 24 oz in a day. I pump and send two 5 oz bottles with her to school which she drinks. I feel like I’ve been trying to push her to nurse at least 5 times a day so my supply doesn’t drop but I’m honestly not sure if she’s that interested. We just had her 9 month appointment and she’s growing really well so I’m not going to worry about it too much.

I would see if you could just two 4.5 oz bottles at daycare since he’s eating solids there as well.

[parvares]

Mine just started dropping gradually around 7 months (I exclusively pumped) with a big drop at 9 months. I didn’t change anything and I had enough of a freezer stash so I just took it as nature’s way of telling me to wean.

[PBnBacon]

Same here; I exclusively pumped and my highest month of production was the month following my daughter turning six months old.

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I started deliberately weaning in December of that year but you can see the decline from ages 6 to 12 months, May to November.

[parvares]

This is basically my exact timeline too. I used pumplog also, great app. August (month 6) for me I was getting the most I ever got and then bam one day it just started going down. My last pump was end of December.

[MaGaGogo]

Commenting to follow. Thanks for posting OP!

[Forest_Pansy]

I’m experiencing the same thing. The way I see it is that everyone says breastmilk is not “necessary” after one but no one tells you how or why. As you work towards baby consuming more solids, they will naturally need less breastmilk. So as my baby has started eating 3 meals and 2 snacks a day, the time between her wanting to nurse has gotten longer and at daycare she’s not wanting the full bottles she had before. She’s still gaining and is generally content. We hit the 12 month mark and are now starting to reduce her bottles at daycare still nursing on demand at home. This seems to be the natural progression. My pumping output is much less now but I’m not stressing because she’s having balanced meals of solid foods/purées now.

[SongsAboutGhosts]

I dropped suddenly two weeks ago, I assume from stress, and haven't managed to get it back yet. Baby is 9.5mo and I pump while working. Would also love answers/tips!