The milk drought...

Mabel has become ridiculously hungry!

She is keeping roughly to the same feed routines but is now eating for about 40 minutes until I literally feel I have nothing left to give.

This is becoming particularly true in the evening and for her last feed where it literally becomes boob roulette. Last night we got to the point where she really was getting fed up (demonstrated by her seeing how far she can pull my nipple away from my body - always an enjoyable game I find) and refusing to go down in her basket.

I tried giving her some expressed milk in a bottle but she was having none of that either. Now, it transpires that some time later (after her slightly stressed mum literally threw her into G Kisby's arms the moment he walked in from football) that she did need a big poo and after doing so appeared more settled. However, the milk drought is causing me some concern, not least because she doesn't like taking a bottle from the owner of the milk bar.She was also up every 2 hours again in the night - argh!

I have researched whether you can suddenly have low supply and the general consensus is that a good diet, lots of fluids and plenty of sleep should mean your body adjusts to demand. Only sometimes I really don't feel like it does. On a positive apparently if Mabel has suddenly started wanting more it shouldn't take much more than 24 hours for my body to react and start to produce it...hmmm we'll see. It is extremely frustrating to feel your body isn't working as it should. I'm not against trying a formula bottle in the evenings but according to some websites this can make supply even worse and I'd like to keep breastfeeding as long as possible. We'll see how the next few nights go.

There are some, apparently safe, herbal remedies that are mentioned, notably Fenugreek, which I shall purchase tomorrow.

In the meantime I am enjoying using the excuse to eat more cake (there's got to be some benefits to chewed nipples surely?) and forcing myself to drink lots and lots of water. Come on boobs, get filling!