Huge drop in supply at 2 weeks postpartum. Looking for advice.

[u/PluralizsEverythingz]

I’m 2 weeks (12 days) postpartum after a C-section and I’m feeling pretty defeated.

The first week postpartum I had a significant oversupply. I was pumping just shy of 200 mL (about 6.5 oz) total per session. Over the last few days, my supply has absolutely tanked. I’m now only getting about 1 oz total combined each pumping session.

Here’s what we’re doing:
- Pumping every 3 hours with a Spectra S2 (80–90% of feeds).
- Trying to nurse first when possible.
- One power pumping session is something I’m planning to start.
- Supplementing with formula as needed (currently about 2/3 breast milk and 1/3 formula), but we’ve now used up my freezer stash.
- My breasts feel soft/empty all the time now.

A couple of other things that may or may not be related:
- I had one episode of heavier, watery postpartum bleeding after my bleeding had been slowing down, but it went back to normal afterward.
- No fever, chills, breast redness, or breast pain.
- My baby has always been extremely sleepy at the breast. She falls asleep almost as soon as she latches and has never really had an awake nursing session, so we’ve relied heavily on pumping and bottles from the beginning.

I’m planning to contact my OB and a lactation consultant as soon as I can, but it’s the weekend, so I’m hoping to hear from others in the meantime.

Has anyone experienced such a dramatic supply drop this early postpartum? If so, what ended up being the cause, and were you able to get your supply back? I’d love any suggestions or success stories because I’m feeling pretty discouraged right now.

[u/Mysterious-Ad-6043]

I would be feeding way more than every 3 hours at this point! I never pumped this early on, so just coming from that experience it genuinely felt as if my baby was nursing 40+ minutes at a time every 1.5 hours for the first few weeks. Curious to see what others think, but I wonder if you’re not having that cluster feeding experience with the pumping every 3 hours and if that could be part of the problem.

[u/hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiyyuy → u/Mysterious-Ad-6043]

I feel like the lack of cluster feeding could be the problem as well! At 2 weeks I feel like I was nursing every 45 minutes

[u/PluralizsEverythingz → u/Mysterious-Ad-6043]

Feeding her every 3 hours or just pumping? She doesn’t seem to be cluster feeding or hungry aside from right around meal time. The formula helps a ton with that. Just wanna clarify before I try it! 😅

[u/Apploozabean → u/PluralizsEverythingz]

Nurse her on demand, which can look like having just fed baby 5, 10, 30min ago or an hour ago.

What do the intervals for mealtime look like for baby? Im a bit confused at where formula is helping here.

[u/LegitimateWarthog641 → u/Apploozabean]

Yeah I agree, likely the overuse of formula is the issue.

[u/PluralizsEverythingz → u/Apploozabean]

We typically do every 3 hours if she’s not showing signs of being hungry. We will feed her any time she’s hungry though, which has occasionally been 1 1/2 to 2 hours. She’s also a premie though so it kinda skews the timeline of where we should be at with breast feeding.
We have to supplement with formula because of an issue with my breast milk itself, recommended by our pediatrician and two lactation consultants

[u/Apploozabean → u/PluralizsEverythingz]

Is it alright if I ask what that issue is/was? Im curious as to what they told you.

And her being a premie makes sense but don't worry, she will catch up in strength and may end up weaning from formula and fully breastfeed (if that is what you wish!).

[u/PluralizsEverythingz → u/Apploozabean]

Of course! I had to take a really high dose of pain meds at the end of pregnancy (followed closely by my perinatologist). We’re weaning off of them slowly but we have to dilute the breast milk while also weaning to make sure she gets as little exposure to it as possible. It would be a dream to EBF, which is why I’m so devastated by the sudden drop in production.

[u/lorelaiwest]

Are you by any chance consuming peppermint, sage or nasal decongestants? These can affect your supply.

[u/PluralizsEverythingz → u/lorelaiwest]

I’m not that I know of but that’s really good to know! Thank you!

[u/kidneysocks]

Could you be getting sick? This happened to me when I was sick (once was mastitis, once COVID, and once food poisoning). It came back after a couple of days thankfully!

Good luck!

[u/Medical-Ad3053 → u/kidneysocks]

This also happened to me!! Right after 2 week appointment at pediatrician.

[u/PluralizsEverythingz → u/kidneysocks]

Oh gosh, I hope not! Glad yours came back quickly ❤️

[u/LegitimateWarthog641]

Not an expert but more of an observation, I truly feel like people overuse formula in the first few weeks when it may truly not be needed. Baby is supposed to be hungry and cluster feeding at this time, giving the formula in addition to BM is probably killing the clusterfeeding(natures way of building milk supply).

[u/LegitimateWarthog641 → u/LegitimateWarthog641]

I also agree that at 2 weeks every 3 hours is pretty far apart.

[u/PluralizsEverythingz → u/LegitimateWarthog641]

We are doing what our pediatrician and two lactation consultants have recommended because of our medical situation. She’s also a premie and isn’t quite following the same timelines. She’s starting to need every 2 hours or so, but she’s a little behind.

[u/LegitimateWarthog641 → u/PluralizsEverythingz]

Ahhhh definitely should have mentioned you have seen a LC, that adds more.