does expressing milk reduce milk supply?

[mrs h]

Hi everyone i am breastfeeding my son (Judah) who is 6 weeks old and i am giving him one formula feed at night as he wasnt sleeping at all at night and 1 formula every so often at dinner.
During these formula feeds i express milk so i have a supply of breastmilk in the freezer.
Apart from these times i breastfeed and he does feed quite often but lately he is frustrated as if hes not getting enough milk and i have found expressing milk is getting more and more difficult and im worrying my milk is drying up because i keep expressing milk so often.
Is there anything i can do to increase my supply.
I cant give up the formula at night as he just wont settle after breastfeeding for his feed, and i have tried just letting him suckle to up my flow but hes getting more and more frustrated and im worrying that i may have to switch to formula fully.
Any ideas would be appreciated

 

[skatty]

I'm no expert but I think expressing only causes your supply to go down if you only express and don't BF.

A lot of women panic that their supply is drying up but its actually just their boobs settling down. When mine first started to settle Leorah would get really frustrated at the boob, she was so used to them being constantly full and didn't seem to be happy unless she was choking

I really think that when you feel stressed about expressing it becomes hard. Sometimes I know I have milk but just can't seem to get the flow going. If Leorah is in the room I find it even harder but if I go to another room and just think about her and how cute she can be I often feel my let down and can express loads.

Have you tried expressing before feeding Judah (love the name by the way, very cute ) just to get the milk flowing so he doesn't get frustrated?

The other things I find that help my supply are drinking loads, eating porrige oats and expressing regularly. I express evry morning and every evening and in the last week have been getting 12oz a day - 8oz for her evening feeds from her Dad and 4oz to stockpile in the freezer. I'm sure the fact that I am doing it everyday at the same times is helping.

Lastly maybe Judah is having a growth spurt and drinking more at the breast, if this is the case your supply will go up naturally. Hope I have helped a bit

 

[Daggers]

Mrs H, have a look at the attched link,

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/2/T022800.asp

Recently I had a fright thinking my milk was drying up as Otis had lost some wieght, but fortunately I think the weight loss made me stress out a bit and things are fine now. Having done some research on the internet has reassured me that all will be fine, I hope you get the same reassurance and that your milk will settle .