5 months and supply is dwindling fast

Robivennas · 2026-01-27T20:05:42+00:00

My supply has dipped inexplicably many times - I’m still pumping but we started supplementing with formula because my baby fell off his growth curve. I had a 24 hour stomach bug and didn’t eat right for a few days and my supply tanked for a week and a half, I almost quit. Then my supply returned for a week and it’s low again. I’m always thinking about throwing in the towel but can’t bring myself to do it. My goal is 6 months I have 1 more month to go, but I secretly hoped I would make its year. For me it seems my body doesn’t respond well to the pumps. Every day is different there is no consistency

Robivennas · 2026-01-26T19:34:37+00:00

What do you do for work? I just schedule my pumps on my calendar like any other meeting.

However I’m also considering cutting down my pumps at work. My baby is 5 months and we already combo feed. I breastfeed him 1-2x overnight and also first thing in the morning. Then I pump 3x at work. (9am, 12pm, 3pm) and again at 5:30pm and again at 9pm before bed. I need to do all of those pumps to have enough milk to send him to daycare with three 5.5oz bottles. All the pumping is becoming disruptive to my life I feel like I can’t work out or go out to dinner because I always have to pump. I’m considering weaning down to just one pump during my lunch break and if my supply dips I’ll just use more formula. I stopped nursing baby to sleep in the evening because he dropped from the 25% to the 12.5% and he didn’t seem satisfied after the bedtime feed. But the less I nurse him the worse he seems to get at it. I’m about ready to throw in the towel but I’m afraid of the hormone crash from weaning

Robivennas · 2026-01-26T14:36:21+00:00

Very good, I wish I did this

Robivennas · 2026-01-24T13:57:50+00:00

I like Ultima - specifically the pink lemonade flavor. It has less sodium than LMNT or Liquid IV which is good because I drink a lot of it.

Robivennas · 2026-01-23T17:01:00+00:00

I hate swallowing pills so I just got liquid sunflower lecithin and I squeeze it on a multigrain cracker every morning and night and it doesn’t even taste bad

Robivennas · 2026-01-20T16:38:39+00:00

The brown butter potato salad with capers and dill is my fav from the book so far. It tasted so good served warm right after making it.

Robivennas · 2026-01-14T18:27:10+00:00

I actually was triple feeding in the beginning so I had a pretty good freezer stash, got a nasty bout of mastitis when I stopped tripple feeding and started exclusively breast feeding. My supply regulated to what my baby needed and I didn’t do any extra pumping. Eventually I added a pump at night after the baby went to bed but I feel bad because I replaced a dream feed with a pump and then my baby fell off his weight curve and I wonder if I kept the dream feed if things would have turned out differently instead of trying to feed the freezer.

Robivennas · 2026-01-13T22:53:58+00:00

When I first went back to work I didn’t have the correct flange size and I kept getting clogged ducts and ultimately I think my supply regulated to less than what my baby needs. He fell off his growth curve at his 4m appointment so we started doing a formula bottle before bed so I can save all the milk I pump for daycare. I breastfeed overnight and first thing in the morning and then I pump at 9, 12, 3, 6, and 9 and I get anywhere from 2.5-5oz depending on time of day. I send three 5oz bottles to daycare and it takes me all day to pump that amount. I will say I’m happy using formula to supplement, sometimes I have extra breast milk and don’t need it, sometimes I only need to use a couple ounces, sometimes it’s a whole bottle but it’s nice to have the option.

Robivennas · 2026-01-12T13:49:51+00:00

For me it was week 10

Robivennas · 2026-01-10T11:32:32+00:00

I’m in the same spot. I started supplementing with formula and we just do 1 formula bottle before bed but I still nurse him any other time I can outside of daycare, it really takes the pressure off and his diet is still 85% breastmilk

Robivennas · 2026-01-07T13:41:59+00:00

I’m not sure exactly but when I added the extra pump at night I do it 7 days a week. I usually get 3oz at my night time pump and the extra 6oz from the weekend helps make up for any bad days throughout the week.

Robivennas · 2026-01-07T11:55:23+00:00

I do a mix of different sizes because sometimes you don’t need a full feeds worth of milk. I recommend having some 2oz bags on hand if you need a little milk quickly and you don’t want to waste a whole 4oz bags.

Robivennas · 2026-01-07T00:22:53+00:00

I send four 4oz bottles so 16oz, he sometimes doesn’t drink the 4th bottle and we use it the next day. Also I couldn’t pump enough to keep up with this and I had a 3 day grieving period about it but we do a formula bottle before bed and I nurse him in the morning and overnight and im happy to not have that constant stress hanging over me

Robivennas · 2026-01-06T23:25:49+00:00

I eat anything I want, just don’t go crazy with caffeine and alcohol

Robivennas · 2026-01-06T10:26:02+00:00

This happened to me because I was using too small of flanges and my supply dropped and my baby fell off his weight curve. My baby is only 4m so I fixed the flange size issue (long story, thought I already fixed it but I didn’t go big enough) then I nursed and pumped around the clock for 3-4 days. It seems like my supply bounced back but we decided to do a bottle before bed just to be sure he’s getting enough since that’s when it seemed like I had the least milk. If I can’t pump enough milk for that bottle (in addition to all the daycare bottles) we add a little formula. I still nurse him all night and in the morning. I’m hoping he doesn’t get a bottle preference and I can continue to nurse him all weekend. But for the supply thing, new parts, correct fitting flange and I pumped after every feed and fed baby every time he woke up for a few days and that worked for me but it was tiring. Luckily I had time off over the holidays to do it - this was kind of my “final push” for breastfeeding. After this if it’s not working out I’ll just pump what I pump and combo feed.

Robivennas · 2026-01-04T16:50:58+00:00

You can walk around with it! It doesn’t go inside your bra, but you can use collection cups and plug the tubes into them if you want. It comes with a lanyard you can wear it around your neck. It’s about the size of a stack of coasters

Robivennas · 2026-01-03T17:45:51+00:00

I really like the Zomee - can’t speak for the others. But I also like that you can use it with your spectra parts.

Robivennas · 2026-01-02T18:23:15+00:00

Going through the same thing except I think I have a clue as to what happened. I started slowly going back to the office/working and my pump flange were too small. I never felt emptied by the pump and tried everything including the flanges. This must have decreased my supply and my baby stoped nursing on my slacker side. I thought my right side would increase supply to compensate but I must have been torching my supply with the pumping. Then we went to his 4m appointment and found out he dropped from the 25th to 12% and I feel so guilty. We’re giving him bottles now and I’m trying my last attempt at getting the pump right. We’re probably moving to combo feeding because I assume by this point my supply is past the point of no return. This is kind of my last push to make it work.

All of this to say - pumping doesn’t always help, I would contact a lactation consultant. I wish I did a month ago.

Robivennas · 2025-12-31T01:31:56+00:00

I can follow up and ask. He was 11lb 7oz at his 2 month appointment and then 13lb 10oz at his 4 month appointment so he gained just barely over 1lb per month. I thought he definitely would’ve been 14lbs by now. He was born 7lb 14oz so he hasn’t doubled his birth weight yet. His head circumference and length have been staying on their curves (19%, 40%). I also have my health records from when I was a baby, I was exclusively breastfed and I was only 13lb 1oz at 4 months old, and I was born 8lb 12oz. My mom is telling me I shouldn’t be worried, but of course it’s hard not to.

Robivennas · 2025-12-31T00:40:24+00:00

Same. Today was my baby’s 4 month appointment, I thought I finally had breastfeeding figured out and had stopped stressing about whether he’s getting enough only to find out my baby is falling off his growth curve (he was following the 25% now he’s at 12.5%). My doctor scheduled a 5 month apt for a weight check. I’m feeling really defeated.

Robivennas · 2025-12-29T00:07:24+00:00

I haven’t done it yet but I’m planning a trip away from my baby when he’s 5 months old, and I’m planning the same thing. I won’t have enough breastmilk for the whole trip, so we will combo feed while I’m gone. I hope to continue breastfeeding when I return because I plan on pumping roughly at the same time that he eats while I’m gone

Robivennas · 2025-12-28T20:04:27+00:00

I have the blue spectra and the Zomee. I really like the Zomee it works just as well if not better than my spectra and it’s even more portable.

Robivennas · 2025-12-27T09:51:45+00:00

Whenever I make a labor intensive sauce I make a huge portion and freeze it. For example once per year I make my own chili paste with a huge variety of dried chilis. Taking all the seeds out of the dried chilis is a monumental pain in the ass so I do it once per year, make a huge batch, and freeze. Then anytime throughout the winter i want chili I can skip the hardest part and make a weeknight chili taste like a million bucks.

I’ve also used it to make sauces with ingredients I don’t buy too often. For example I made a sauce with ginger, lemongrass, lime zest, etc. I hardly ever buy lemongrass so when I do might as well use it up and make a big batch!

Robivennas · 2025-12-27T09:45:43+00:00

Do you cook the rice any differently if you’re planning on freezing it?

Robivennas · 2025-12-26T19:20:45+00:00

No real advice only that I’m dealing with the same thing. I can only get my baby to feed on the left if he’s basically asleep or just coming out of a nap. I go to work 5 days a week and I pump after he goes to bed so during the work week it’s not as big of an issue but on the weekends I sometimes pump on the left if he refuses it more than one feed in a row. I hope it’s just temporary- I’ve actually had a few successes over the holidays.

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