Not Producing Enough Breastmilk for 6 Month Old

Nurse on-demand, even if every hour.
At the breast.
Your body, should technically, produce milk to mirror what your baby needs.

If you replace nursing with Formula bottles, your body will decrease in milk production. So, if you use Formula, you need to use it AFTER you nurse, as a chaser. Only as a supplement. To your nursing. Not to replace, nursing.

6 months is also a growth-spurt time. So intake and feeding frequency increases. 24/7, day and night.
Always nurse, on-demand. Directly at the breast. 24/7, day and night.

Also keep in mind: for the 1st year of life, breastmilk or Formula is a baby's PRIMARY source of nutrition. NOT solids and NOT other liquids.
Solids for the 1st year, is only an 'introduction' to foods and 'eating.' NOT a baby's main course nor main meals.
At this age, a baby does not have to have solids. Or, if they are, only once a day is enough.

AND breastfeed BEFORE solids. Not after. Otherwise, a baby will be too full to nurse and baby will 'wean' from breast.

Nurse on-demand. Not by a 'schedule.'

ALSO: make sure your baby is latching on to your breasts, properly. IF not, he will NOT be getting enough intake. So see a Lactation Specialist.
Many babies do not latch on properly. They thus do not get adequate intake.

That's interesting that your pedi told you to introduce solids even if your baby isn't gaining much. Our pedi and feeding specialist told me to hold off on solids for my daughter who was growing slowly since solid food has much less nutrition and fewer calories per ounce than breast milk.

Personally, I'd keep nursing on demand. Make sure your son is draining your breasts so he's getting the caloric hind milk. And if you think he's still hungry after, you could try a bottle of stored milk or formula... but like the other people said, make sure that your body has given all the milk it can at that nursing session.

I think you should contact a lactation consultant for some help. Unfortunately, a lot of doctors don't know a lot about breastfeeding. If you are having supply problems then stopping the supplemental bottles will help increase the amount of milk you produce. But, maybe, you are not having a supply problem. Just because your baby takes a bottle after breastfeeding doesn't neccessarily indicate hunger. The bottle flows so much faster than a breast that his stomach may not register fullness until he is overfull. Since your baby seems content after a feeding and you feed on demand your baby is probably getting plenty. Babies who are breastfed grow differently than formula fed babies. Breastfed ones tend to gain weight quickly during the first 6 months and then their weight gain slows. A typical, healthy baby will not starve itself. If he is hungry, he will let you know. Does he seem happy? Is he active and healthy? Does he show any signs of a problem besides that the doctor's chart shows him not growing as quicky? The charts were designed for formula fed babies and are simply one tool to use to measure a child's health. That should not be the only tool you use to gage your baby's needs. Another thing to consider is timing. Six months is an average time for a growth spurt. Maybe your baby won't have his growth spurt until 6 months and 2 weeks or 7 months old. Each baby is unique. You need to trust your instincts and trust that your baby will tell you if he is hungry.

I would continue to exclusively breastfeed if that's what you want to do...giving him a bottle will only decrease your milk even more. If you nurse on demand you ought to be able to provide what he needs. If you do feed him a bottle of pumped milk or formula, you need to make sure that you are taking that amount out of your breasts with a pump; otherwise, you are telling your body that he isn't needing that feeding, when really, he is...he just got it elsewhere.

If you don't want to stop, I wouldn't stop. If he has truly only gained 6 oz in two months, though, that might be a problem...but you didn't really say how big he was.

Your pediatrician seems to be setting your son up for over feeding. Bottles cause overfeeding. They don't mean to eat as much as they do from a bottle, but because the flow is automatic and continuous... they end up finishing the bottle so fast that their little tummies don't have enough time to alert the brain to being full.

Keep doing what you were doing before the pediatrician interrupted you. Feeding on demand is the best thing you can be doing. Adding in formula and baby food so young will only sabotage your breastmilk supply.

Start taking fenugreek with blessed thistle. It needs to be taken together for the full effect to be noticed. Also, stop all bottles of formula and baby food. Introduce baby food closer to 9 months. Pump the other breast when baby is feeding on one side. Then just switch breasts for each feeding.

If you feel you must give formula I would make sure you have a pumping session for every addl bottle he takes. Breastmilk has more calories than solids, that is very old advice about upping the solids. Fenugreek is the herb that helps with milk production and blessed thistle helps with let down, just make sure you are taking enough of it cause if you aren't it won't really help
http://www.kellymom.com/herbal/milksupply/fenugreek.html

I would see if you can take a "nursing vacation" and just lie in bed skin to skin as much as you can for a couple days to stimulate that production. His demand is going to do much more for supply than anything else. I would always nurse first and give the other stuff later, anything else is going to decrease your supply and you may decrease your supply just by giving the formula even if it is afterward because he won't want to eat as soon as he would if he had just breastmilk. I would limit the extra to maybe 3 oz at most. My oldest took breastmilk bottles at daycare and even up until he was 14 months he still only drank 5 oz bottles at the most.

I've heard that birth control pills DO decrease your milk. Can you use an alternative birth control method? I worked with a lactation specialist after the birth of my third child because he had a weak suck which caused him not to gain weight, which caused my milk supply to decrease. I was taking herbs (Blessed Thistle and Fenugreek) and on a schedule of pumping 20 minutes (double pump, hospital grade pump), every two hours around the clock. My milk never increased even after 2 months of following this horrendous schedule. I had to begin supplementing with formula when my baby was only a month old. It crushed me. The idea is that the more you pump and nurse, the more milk you produce ~ think supply and demand. It sounds to me like you are not pumping enough. Pumping once a day is not enough. Have you considered contacting a lactation specialist? I was soooooooooo glad I contacted a specialist. She was very helpful, very supportive...but in my case, all my efforts did not work out for me. You also need to consider that as baby gets older and begin taking in solids, baby will usually begin taking in less breast milk BUT if you are not adding solids yet and not incorporating other fluids (juice, water), then you need to nurse more or pump more. Or both. I found my lactation specialist through Le Leche League. If you don't know know to contact them, they have a web site, and you might call your local hospital (ask for labor and delivery and talk to one of the nurses who may have a contact number for Le Leche League or a lactation specialist) or your OB and Pediatrician should know.

Hi S.,

I haven't read the other responses, so I apologize if I'm repeating information, but I would see a lactation consultant pronto! Many mothers talk with their doctors or even their children's pediatrician for breastfeeding advice, & unfortunately, they are not trained in lactation, and tend to unknowingly give out bad information that can lead to breastfeeding failure. The first thing I got from your post is that supplementing with formula could be directly contributing to your lack of supply. That's what tends to happen when you supplement - it happened to me with my firstborn because I didn't know any better. I have to say, you're doing such a great job and I commend you for putting forth such an effort! Breastfeeding can be trying at times, but it's well worth the sacrifice. I'm so glad to hear a mom with a 6-month-old say she doesn't want to give up! I'd recommend reading all you can about building up a milk supply. Kellymom is the best breastfeeding web site I've come across. It's easy to just do a simple search & find a wealth of fact-based information on exactly what you're looking for. You can do this! You still have a supply, you just want to increase it. Lots of women who have completely lost their supply can relactate, so don't give up! It may help to join a support group as well, like La Leche League. It's helpful to be surrounded by like-minded mothers, especially during difficult times. I wish you the best, & please feel free to PM me if you ever need advice or a listening ear. I'm a doula, a huge breastfeeding advocate, and a future midwife/IBCLC, so this is what I love! Good luck!

~A.

Don't worry about the charts at your peds. office. They are probably the ones put out by the formula companies. If you want to check his growth, look at a WHO (world health organization) growth chart for a better idea of where he stands. And like some of the posters mentioned, hold off on solids for as long as possible and nurse nurse nurse.

I was really upset around 6 mo. before DD got rolling with solids. The daycare insisted she needed more and I could only give them about 14-15 ounces (up from her usual 12) for the day (drop off at 8AM, pickup before 6).

My LC talked me down. She said a guideline I could consider is baby's weight in pounds x 2.6/total feeds per day to give me an estimate of what she might need per feed while she was away. I also nursed, nursed, nursed. I felt very fragile at that time, but we got through it, DD didn't need astronomical amounts of milk, and she got over the growth spurt that started it in the first place. She also got the hang of solids, too.

I also found that 6 mo. was the top of the hill. From there it slowly tapered down and by a year she might be taking 3-6 ounces per day by bottle. She was still nursing, but much less.

I think kellymom.com has info on how to wean off formula and nurse more.

There was also a point with my DD where she gained/grew very little, but the ped. said she wanted to see her back in a couple of months to see what the new weight was. She said that DD was still growing, so it could be a plateau between spurts or it could be something of concern. By the next visit, DD was bigger. Our doctor was also not concerned because DD was active, healthy, had plenty of "output" and my family is small. There's a lot to consider, IMO. My DD started off huge (okay, for me an 8 lb baby is huge) but now she's on the lower end of the chart. Steady, but not in the same % she started in.

I would talk to a certified LC, too. They can give you insight your doctor may not have. Not all doctors really know what they should about nursing.

when my older daughter was 7 mos old, her and I had just gotten over Influenza and I had switched birth control pills. That combination made me have NO milk. So I did a nursing weekend - I spent from Friday after work till Monday going to work in bed with her. I let her nurse as often and as long as she wanted in that time and we just watched TV, read and cuddled. My hubby brought me meals and I only left the bed to pee really. By Monday my supply was plentiful and I was back to leaking and her having it dribble out of her mouth when she pulled away.

The only thing (in my experience) that truly increases production is demand. At 6 mos he is going to be eating solids more and more so you will reduce the amount you produce no matter what.

Pumping is not as sufficient as many would have you believe. Getting a medical grade pump may help...but not as much as regular nursing.

All the best to you!

By the time my babies were 6 months old, they were eating baby rice cereal with the BIG baby food jars along with breastfeeding about twice a day, which was morning and night. If I would have breastfeed only, they would have eaten me alive. It's okay to supplement more food with the breast milk and if you are not producing more for him and would start out making the rice cereal with breast milk along with adding a baby food flavor. My babies loved peaches mixed with the rice. I can't believe your baby is not complaining because I had to start my kid on cereal at 3 months old.

Do you work and need to give him bottles? If not, I would actually recommend that you stop pumping and giving bottles cold-turkey and go back to just breastfeeding. It might be a difficult adjustment for a few days, but then your body will regulate beautifully and baby will get all the food he needs. Do YOU feel that his lower weight gain is a problem? If not, don't worry about it. Follow your gut.

At 6 months you should be starting to introduce some sort of solids to your babies diet. If he seems full after breast feeding then you shouldn't need to supplement formula but you should be doing some rice cereal by now, that I agree with the dr on.

did he start crawling or being more active. as long as he is a healthy weight id give it another month and see how it goes with what you are doing. adding in formula is only going to make your problem worse since it will delay his next meal even longer and hence you are telling your breasts you dont need that milk anymore. also adding in solids isnt going to make him gain weight? they hardly digest any of that! i dont think your doc is doing the right thing. when you do give your kid solids for practice give him avocado so hes getting good fats. if you think you are really having a supply issue which is highly unlikely that you are without noticing it prior to the doc mentioning it then make sure you nurse often from the breasts and if you feel the need give him a top off of formula. your best option it to meet with a lactation consultant and weigh him before and after a typical feeding to gauge what hes getting in a session and to make sure everything else is good. the doc is going to create more problems !