My 5 wk old baby sleeps 6-8 hrs at night. My milk supply has been low since the beginning. It's this adding to the problem of low milk? Should I be waking baby through the night to nurse? I am often very full in the morning, but I soon get emptied out when baby wakes in the morning. I'm sinking my supply will regulate itself, but wondered if anyone else had some insight.
I was told to pump often to increase my supply. Stay hydrated. There are cookies, teas and other foods that help build supply... You can Google for recipes. My favorite was a no bake dark chocolate and oatmeal drop cookie.. Yummy! And it increased how much I produced as well. Kelly mom. Com is a wonderful breastfeeding moms site. Very helpful for almost anything breastfeeding related.
Would I wake baby??? Nope! Let them sleep they need it
If you are concerned, try pumping in the morning a couple of hours before baby wakes up. If you do that, you can freeze the milk (just in case Grandma give you an evening off), and it will help increase your supply. As long as it's a couple hours before baby usually wakes up, you should be fine.
Over time, your supply might regulate itself, but it doesn't hurt to give it a little extra help.
Wow, you are blessed. A 5 week old sleeping 6-8 hours a night?? That's amazing!! DO NOT mess with this!
I had low supply with my first so I pumped. It worked really well for me. I pumped every 4 hours during the day and, depending on when I when to bed, at least once during the night. With this schedule, I was able to breastfeed for about a year.
If he's sleeping that long - let him!
If you are concerned then you can pump once during the night and freeze it.
It's good to get a supply of milk in the freezer.
Feed him often as he wants during the day.
When he gets a growth spurt he'll be eating all the time.
oh my! never wake a sleeping baby!
you should be sleeping too. oh, to have have 6-8 straight hours at this age.
breasts are so smart. they'll adjust. and if they don't, pump. and if pumping's wearing you out, you can always supplement with small amounts of formula.
but let the baby sleep.
:) khairete
S.
Never wake a sleeping baby. If you are worried about your supply diminishing, then pump right before you go to bed, and then pump again in the morning before the baby wakes up. I built up a pretty good freezer supply of breastmilk by doing this, which was really helpful later on. But no, do NOT wake your baby.
What makes you think your supply is low? If baby is sleeping 5 hours you are producing plenty!
No, no, no. Please don't do that to your baby! She is doing it just right, and it's not fair to her to disrupt her sleep just to try to make you make more milk.
If you aren't pumping, talk to the hospital and rent a pump from them. Talk to the lactation specialist (La Leche can help) to give you ideas on diet to help increase your supply.
If you have to supplement, you have to supplement. What is MOST IMPORTANT is your baby's health. And that includes sleeping.
I never had low milk (opposite actually) but I would happy if mine slept, and wouldn't wake.
Just with my first, I woke during the night because they told me to in the hospital.
I would drink a lot of water - that was my key. Especially later in the day.
I did end up supplementing the last night feed with formula towards the end of nursing - to get them to sleep through the night, when my milk was at its lowest.
My milk supply was low and the nursing consultant had me set an alarm and wake up the baby to nurse every 3 hours at night. I TOTALLY regret this. It's like I taught our son to wake up all night and he was a terrible sleeper till about age 2.5yrs. AND it did not help my milk supply one bit. I was so overly tired and exhausted. I now firmly believe never wake a sleeping baby. PS - I did EVERYTHING the nursing consultant said and it just didn't work for me. She said I was doing everything right. My only guess is some women just don't produce much milk. I have to say this was very hard on me and I was extremely happy once I was past this baby stage with both my kids and never had to stress about it again!
How is baby's weight gain? How many wet diapers? I'm not sure why you think your milk supply is low, but if it is, I would pump during the night, but don't wake the baby. I would only wake baby if baby is not gaining weight and/or producing enough wet diapers.
