I Have a 8 Month Old and Breastfeed Now I Feel a Decrease in My Milk

I would put baby to breast as much as possible. Don't give up, unless you feel done. Otherwise, drink more water and minimize stress.

It may not be a decrease in milk. Your pump may need new parts, it may need to be cleaned or your body isn't responding the same to the pump. Introducing solids should not affect your supply that much.

Good suggestions below. You might also check with your doctor about a breast infection. I had a drastic decrease in my breast milk for this reason. If you do use formula, you can try one of 2 options: mix part formula with part breast milk to get your baby used to the formula taste early on, or alternate breastfeeding with formula to give your breasts a chance to make more. The problem with using bottles is that they are so much easier for the baby, that sometimes the baby gets a little used to using less of a sucking motion and doesn't work so hard at the breast. But your goal is a healthy baby. Don't be afraid to take your baby in to the pediatrician's office for a few extra weight checks to be sure the baby is gaining weight. Those checks are usually free, and the nurses will help you decide what to do. The main thing is to be sure the baby gets enough fluid in the short run.

You can try to increase the supply before trying formula. There are herbal supplements you can take -- I used to take More Milk Plus when I was breastfeeding. It's sold at Whole Foods and Amazon. Its effectiveness is different for everyone, but it helped me produce an extra ounce each side.

You can also try "power pumping," which was suggested to me by my lactation consultant when my supply started to decrease. This is what you do: right after you nurse your baby, pump for 10 minutes. Then wait 10 minutes and pump again for 10 minutes. Then wait 10 minutes and pump again for 10 minutes. Do this two times a day -- morning and night -- for two days (so four times total). This is supposed to trick your body into thinking that your baby is going through a growth spurt and should increase your supply a bit.

If these things don't work, remember that there's no harm in supplementing or going full formula.

Good luck!!

breasts are so adaptive. i'd only worry about this if my baby seemed hungry after emptying both breasts.
if your 8 month old is enjoying some solid food and still satisfied with nursing, everything's fine. if she is actually NOT getting enough breast milk, then it may be as simple as adjusting your pumping schedule, nursing more often, drinking more and making sure you're getting enough rest. your worry over it is counter-productive.
worst case scenario you add a little formula to her diet. not the end of the world. my younger nursed at night but had formula and food during the day at this age. both he and my breasts adjusted to it.
khairete
S.

The more you pump or breastfeed the more your milk is produced. You probably already have experienced this when your baby hit growth spurts etc. You sometimes fall behind until your milk supply catches up. If your baby has started to eat food, he/she might not be taking as much milk when breastfed. So your milk supply may be going down slightly. If you want to keep it up, pump more and drink lots of water to keep your fluids up. But as your baby transitions more to food, you can expect this. Good luck :)

Your milk also changes, to be fattier. I would nurse often, and consider pumping first thing in the AM, perhaps when she is nursing one side you pump the other. Kellymom.com also has many good tips on nursing.

I also agree to make sure the pump is working well - they can get worn out. On mine, I had to replace the little white valve flaps - oh what a difference! You might take it to a lactation center to see if they can tell you if there's an issue.

This is really common. The baby is satisfied after nursing, right? So, you are making plenty of milk. The problem is that breasts stop responding to the pump - I had this problem both times. I nursed my 1st baby until 12 months, and my second for 18 months. I work full time, and pumped every 3 hours also. But, by 9 months, my ability to pump milk dropped quickly.

What I did was I started topping off the daycare bottles with formula. So, if I needed to take two 4-oz bottles to daycare, but I only pumped 6 oz all day, I would make two bottles that were each 3 oz of breastmilk and 1 oz of formula.

You do NOT need to supplement with any formula when you are home. In fact, nurse as much as you can at home, because this will keep your supply up.

For the food - make sure that you are always nursing your baby before offering food. She's getting her calories from you, and food is just for practice at this age.

ETA: I agree with the posts below about making sure you are hydrated and checking your pump parts - the thin little white plastic valves on the Medela pump in particular need to be replaced every few months. But if you do all this, and you are nursing fine in the evenings and the weekends, then just keep telling yourself - the amount you pump is NOT an indication of your supply. You can and should continue to breastfeed when you are home even if you have to top of bottles with a little bit of formula for daycare.

take steps to increase supply, and make sure you are well hydrated. use formula for a last resort when you are nearly dried up. and as others have said, check the pump, replace parts and clean the ones that can't be replaced.

There are lots of things you can do to increase your milk, the moms here will give you good advice.

One thing, please don't feed the baby first. Nurse first, as much as possible THEN offer table food that is ground up where the baby can chew it and swallow it. Baby food is flavored slime and has nearly zero nutrition.

Table food is so much better. Single foods though at this age. Like chop up green beans with nothing else in them. Peas. Banana mashed up. Real foods that are processed so the baby can eat them without choking.

IF you do switch to formula I would suggest that you still give the bottle first. The formula/breast milk is the baby's most nutritious food for the whole first year.

Healthy nursing tea by secrets of tea can boost your milk production. I have used this tea with good results.