stress while breastfeeding question

Noah is almost four months old.   I'm away from him Mon-Thur for about 12 hours each day.   Of course I pump during that time, but he has to be supplemented with formula.   I would rather make enough milk, but I'm not one that believes formula is the devil either.

If you all remember, my FIL passed away 12 hours after Noah was born.  Then we had health issues with Noah.   My MIL is a witch and has done nothing but pick fights with my hubby during the last 4 months.  Which in turn makes Tom lots of fun to live with lol.  Which we weren't getting along great before Noah's birth anyway.

So it's not like I've had a stress free few months to start with.     Friday night I had to call an ambulance to come get my husband.   His heart was in Afib.   He spent Friday night in ICU, but is in a regular room now.   Today he is having a heart biopsy and a stress test.  His heart is thicker than in should be.  They aren't for sure if he's had a heart attack a while ago or may be getting ready to have one.  He's 38 and has been in good health for the most part.  To have him in the hospital with heart problems is just weird.    I've been trying to split my time between the hospital (which is about 30 minutes away one way) and taking care of my babies.   Thank goodness I have family close that can help me watch the kids. 

So now when I'm pumping I'm only getting 2oz total instead of closer to 4.   I'm thinking that nursing is quickly coming to an end.   I'm hoping when Tom gets home and my stress level goes down (some lol) that my milk supply will pick back up.   

Anyone experience a decrease in milk due to stress and not dry completely up?

TIA,
Amy

I cant answer your breastfeeding ?'s, because this baby will be my first time trying to breastfeed. I just wanted to reach out with my condolances, and tell you that im so sorry things have been rough for you, and I wish your hubby a swift recovery. God bless.

Thanks Jennifer!

Yes!  I flew when Laurel was 4 mos old.  Moved when she was 5 mos old and flew again when she was 6 mos old.

Breastfeeding was done by then.

If he doesn't mind formula I wouldn't get nutty about it.  In fact, unless it de-stresses you... 

I will never recommend (publicly) that anyone stop breastfeeding because I think it is wonderful but working / death in the family / family health issues...

Maybe just stop pumping and see what happens.

He will take formula, but he seems to prefer breast milk.    He sleeps in bed with me at night, so nursing is so easy.   That's my big hestiation on giving up BF'ing.  I don't want to have to get out of bed to feed him lol.

Well "they" say that if you are going to reduce your BF to still do it at night as that is when the most BF hormone is made.

You may be okay with only doing it at night until he can sleep through the night. 

My friend only BF her daughter from 1-2 years once before bed and always had the milk.  It depends on the person.  I ran out quickly.

I had thought about trying just nursing at night.   With Hannah I stopped pumping at work when she was six months old.  I weaned her at 11 months and still had milk to nurse her during the night.  I would have to give her a bottle before bed (in hopes she would sleep longer, but it never worked).  I pumped a few minutes ago and got 5 ounces.  I was way past due for pumping though.   I'm at the hospital with Tom and he had visitors.  Then nurses and Dr.s kept coming in.  Don't they know I need to pump lol.
I have a feeling that if I quit pumping my milk would completely dry up and there would be no night time breast feeding.  If it happens it's not the end of the world, but I'm not willing to quit without a little bit of a fight first.  I've started drinking my mothers milk tea again.   Maybe it will help some.
Thanks,
Amy

Amy~ I have pcos and believe that is why my milk dries sooner....but I am a firm believer that stress and lack of sleep also is a major contributor. Mothers milk and reglan never worked for me, but this time around I was able to feed longer using oatmeal. It helped a lot. I really would only eat it when my supply would start to go and it would come right back. I have a recipe for oatmeal cookies made with splenda too if you want it.

It was hard for me to give up bf Micah, but I made it to 6 months and am proud of that. I just know he is the last one so it was emotional. But, there comes a point when the stress and sleepless nights are too much for the pumping sessions. I was getting maybe an ounce each pump on work days. And even though I was bf at night and it was convenient...as soon as I switched to bottles Micah only wakes once now to feed. Fuller tummy I guess.

You do what you need to do to have balance with your emotions and with your family situation. I will keep you guys in prayer.

Oh, and I wanted to mention that my hospital has a nursing room on the ward with the babies. You should check your hospital. I think it would be much easier to disappear for a half an hour and come back to tom than to try to pump with visitors and have privacy. Shari

babies can get out a lot more than a pump, so you might be making more than you pumped out- but I agree that stress can make you produce less. You sound like you really love nursing and also having your son get your pumped breastmilk, so quitting and not being able to nurse him might be hard for you.  I loved nursing this baby I just had but had to quit.  So if you really want to dry up and stop nursing, make sure it's for sure what you want to do because it's such a pain in the butt to try and bring your milk back.   Sometimes it doesn't always come back to 100%, just a little, or not at all.  I didn't know it was so hard to bring it back and that I'd miss it so much once I quit.  I wish I would've pumped and dumped but then again, I was going through emotional hell so I wasn't in the frame of mind to do that.... formula was just the thing we had to turn to at the time.

I had PPD with all 3 babies and had to stop nursing this last one at about 10 days afterI had him(had him on April 3rd) due to PPD, anxiety, and the meds I had to get on. It was the hardest thing for me to stop nursing because I loved it so much and my son was doing so well at it. I had nursed my 2nd child for a year and loved doing it and was planning on nursing this one for a year too. But I had to take care of myself and be able to take care of me and my family, so b/f had to stop.

I tried to bring my milk back 2 different times in 2 weeks but stopped because it brought back too much anxiety for me when I started to try and do it (by pumping). I really regretted drying up my milk (once I got feeling better emotionally) because I loved the bond it gave me with my son and I loved that my milk was helping him grow. I cried for a half hour after I fed him the first time with formula, but eventually I got over it. Now I'm fine with formula feeding and find other ways to bond with him. My first child was the same way, I only b/f for like 2 weeks and then he went over to formula. He's a healthy 7 yr old today and is fine, so I'm not worried about my baby. Heck, I was b/f for a few months and then put on formula and I'm fine too! Like one of you said, formula isn't the devil! (LOL)

I would see if you can keep doing the nighttime nursing and any other time you want to nurse him or pump and then supplement. But if that's too much stress or you aren't producing enough, you have done it so far and he's gotten lots of the liquid gold and formula will help him continue to grow and develop too!

Thanks Christie.  I do love nursing and I'm not ready to call it quits yet.   I'm not as stressed out now that hubby is home.   For the past two days Noah has only had to have about 4 ounces of formula each day, so I'm hoping that my supply is increasing.  I'm also off work.  So we'll see what happens with pumping when I go back to work tomorrow.  I've heard that babies can get more than a pump.   He will sometimes take a 6 ounce bottle for the babysitter.  I doubt that I'm making that much milk at one time.  He gets so mad when I run out of milk before he's full.  He head butts me like a little calf lol.  Then when I make him a bottle of formula he doesn't want it.   He's rotten lol.

How are you doing with PPD?  I was really afraid I would get it this time.  Especially after my FIL passed away and all of Noah's health problems early on. 

Amy