Had a little milk, went away day 8 just drops- frustrated, help please!

Low Supply (add spoiler to pics)

My daughter was born at 34 weeks 3 days and is in the Nicu as expected. I had an emergency C and did not get to even hold her until she was over a day old due to medical complications and I wasn’t to leave my room and she was in the nicu. Day 1-3 I hand expressed colostrum for her and sent it down. I started pumping on day 3 small amounts (5 ML or less per session) She was under the bilirubin lights and was only allowed out for 1 hour a day. It’s been difficult to do skin to skin. Day 4 I was feeling engorged and thinning my milk was going to come in, kept pumping small amounts just kept it up. On Day 5, the first time I was able to have her nap on me I output 15ML afterwards and it was starting to turn to actual milk and not as watery foremilk I was so happy I cried. My next session and since then , I have just been producing literal drops. Not sure what happened. today is day 8 and for a day and a half I’ve been producing hardly anything, just drops, consistently when I pump. I’m not sure what to do at this point. I’ve been continuing to pump every 2-3 hours to get hardly anything. I’ve since been discharged from the hospital and go and stay as long as I can, baby has latched a few times but we need more consistent work- she isn’t up to it all the time as she needs a lot of rest right now and I am not there 24/7. We also have a 5 year old. Yes I had some trouble breastfeeding 5 years ago but I was producing more than this. Yes I pump every 2-3 hours, yes I have talked to the LC, multiple times, yes I’ve tried multiple size flanges, yes I’ve starting taking some supplements to try to help, yes I’m drinking water, yes I’m eating well. Is this a lost cause at this point ? I’m not sure what happened. Each sessions, the most I’ll have a late ‘let down’ after 2-3 minutes and it’s just literal drops. And that’s about it. Please give any advice or thoughts. My husband doesn’t want this to consume me like it did last time. I lost my mind for months and I kept trying for so long and I finally just gave up. He gave me a pep talk earlier than if I want to of course keep trying but it’s ok if I don’t/can’t breastfeed. As of now I just bring what I have and we do her mouth care workout etc. they’re starting to wean her from the donor milk to formula now in the nicu and she is working on bottle feeding to get stronger now too. Looking forward to reading any thoughts on what I should do. I’m also using this as a place to vent. I’m very frustrated and sad about this. I’m hoping to be able to pump or breastfeed for her I don’t mind pumping at all, but I’m not sure it will happen for me this time. i’m not sure how long I should go with pumping literal drops before saying that my breast are empty or just saying it’s time to give up. Thank you !!!

Posted Dec 8, 2025, 3:34 AM UTC

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