How Do I Know When I've Run Out of Milk?

Breastfeeding is all about supply and demand. There will be a supply as long as there is a demand - in other words, as long as you continue to nurse. Don't doubt your milk supply. I nursed three of mine, the last until he was a few months short of 3. If you can manage another 6 months, weaning should be very easy. At this point your daughter is not nursing for nutrition, but for all the other benefits that go along with breastfeeding, so how much milk she is getting is irrelevant. Also, the full feeling does go away after awhile, so that is no indicator of how much milk you are making. Same thing with the dry diaper.
You will never regret the time you spent nursing, although you may very well regret stopping too soon. My kids are now 26, 23, 21 and 8. The bond you develop through extended nursing, the closeness that comes from attachment parenting, will serve you both well in all the years to come. Attachment parenting creates emotionally healthy, secure and independent young people. Think of it as an investment, with a payoff worth more than all the money in the world. Keep up the good work!

R., to me it sounds like your milk is dried up and she is using your breast as a pacifier. If it's too hard to just take her off the breast then give her a pacifier to suck on until you can ween her from the pacifier. She will always continue sucking for the comfort.

Best wishes, its' hard but has to be done.

C.C.

Hi there, First of all congrats on making it this far with you daughter. Dont forget the wonderful health benefits of breastmilk are still there. My son will be 2 in just a few weeks. I still do pump (actually I express by hand) most of the time at work because he still takes a bottle at naptime when I am not home. I rarely feel full like I used to, even if I dont have time to pump at work. I think maybe your daughter would not be interested if she was not getting any milk, or she would probably let you know somehow that something wasnt right. Can you tell if she is swallowing? Is she still nursing alot during the day or just at night. From what I have heard kids will gradually cut down the number of times they nurse, until usually it is only once or twice a day, then they make go like that for a long time, even a year or so, sometimes even skipping a day or 2 and mom still produces milk. I think that since that is the natural weaning process that our bodies expect that and respond to that. Somehow our bodies know what and how much our kids need at different stages. My son still nurses a few times during the day bur more at night (we co-sleep too). I have noticed that he is asking for water more during the night so I keep a cup by the bed and give him water when he asks, and sometimes I will trying to distract him from night nursing by offering him water, maybe you can try that too. He has been waking up dry for a very long time now, at least 80% of the time. I was actually a little concerned because he drinks tons of water and nurses alot at night. Maybe during the day you can just try to offer snacks or distract with other things during the day if she still wants to nurse then. Usually my son only nurses at naptime during the day, and maybe one other time. Alot of times if he asks and I am busy, I will ask him to hold on a few minutes then he forgets he asked. If he is persistant I will usually go ahead, because it is still a nice bonding time, and it is nice that he sits still for a few minutes. One of his favorite times to ask lately is when I am cooking dinner, because he is hungry. But if I let him know the food is coming and give him a bite of something or having him start taking things to the table for me, he is ok. My opinion is you are doing a great job, just try to look for signs of what your daughter needs from you. When she needs to nurse, go for it. If she is just bored, hungry, thirsty, etc, it should be easy to distract her. If no, maybe she does need it. BTW, I know very few people who are nursing a toddler like me. Nice to read your post

R.,

As long as you are nursing you are likely producing milk. It is all supply and demand. How much? No way to tell other than pumping and why would you want to do that? LOL

Most women only run out of milk when they quit entirely, get pregnant or go on hormonal birth control.

Good luck with weaning. I weaned my son at 2 and it was quite a process.

:-)T.

Hello,

My first breastfed for 25 mos, my second just over 3 years old, so I get your question. I say it is the whole supply and demand. Your body is making what she drinks, you won't stop making milk until she stops nursing. I do not know how long that takes and I'm sure it is different for everyone. My son stopped in May and in July he wanted to check in and see if I still had milk. I couldn't express it if I tried but he said he got some. The full breast feeling goes away when nursing is more of a comfort and there is only an occasional feeding. W/my second, my son, toward the end, he nursed once about every 6th day or so - personally, I think he was just making sure it wasn't going anywhere - this went on for awhile. My guess is, you aren't out and even if you tried to pump it may not be a good indicator of what is in there. I know with my first, I was 5 mos pregnant when she stopped nursing and I know for a fact I had no milk, she "nursed" for sometime just to suck and wasn't getting anything but she didn't care. I on the other hand did because it hurt like heck! You are at a great time to gently wean. With my son, around 2 years old, I started by night weaning first. I'd tell him when Mr. Moon is out we don't nurse, he could nurse when Mr. Sun came up. He eventually caught on and was fine with it, the day time was easy since I could just keep him busy and/or I didn't mind that he only nursed maybe once a day unless he was sick - which by the way was a saving grace to still have some milk! I swear it kept him out of the hospital on a few occasions, just letting him nurse 24/7 so he wouldn't get dehydrated. Anyway.. I'm babbling now. (-: Feel free to email me if you have any questions! Oh, and by the way, my kids are 3 and 5 - they are very independent despite the fact that some people think responding to kids needs, extended breastfeeding and co-sleeping causes them to be clingy/needy/unable to self sooth and so on.. so far they've turned out pretty darn good and I'll do the same with number 3!
M.

I don't think you have run out. (I breast fed all 3 of my kids, but my oldest only for 3 months, next one for 2 1/2 yr's, and still breastfeeding my 1 yr old.)
I know that with my daughter (the middle child) I didn't feel like it did in the beginning. I couldn't pump, it felt like nothing was there.... but there was milk in her mouth. Even if it's just as a sort of pacifier -with taste- I still think there are benefits. I only stopped because she wanted to sleep in her own room... Anyway, by now your baby is eating food and drinking out of a cup right!? she'll be fine, you did great. keep going if you want. when they're older its easier to ween (at least that was my experiance!)

Your body will continue to produce milk as long as you continue breastfeeding. Your body has adjusted to the nursing pattern your daughter has established, which is why you no longer get that full feeling you had when your body was trying to establish how much milk your newborn or infant needed to fill their belly. Since your daughter is 2 and eating and drinking regularly, your body is only producing enough milk to fill in those nursing gaps, which is probably around bedtime. I nursed my oldest until she was 2 1/2 and I had the same feeling. When she stopped nursing the transition was actually easier for me because she had cut back so much on her nursing and I didn't have to go through the pain I've heard so much about from mothers who weaned their infants at an earlier age.

I've nursed all three of my children past two years and I still had milk (drops of it) a year or so after they weaned. The way we weaned was to get it down to only in the morning and only before bed. Then we went on vacation and they were too busy to nurse or out of their 'comfort zone' so they didn't. I wanted it to be their leading and not 'cut them off'. Good luck!

If you continue to nurse, your milk will not dry up. Your body produced milk on demand, and it is normal to not have that full feeling anymore. YOu are probably not making as much as when you exclsively nursed, but you are producing. Please remember that a baby can always get out more than a breastpump so that is not a good indication. I am very glad ou have nursed so long as you have given your daughter such a gift. All the benefits of the nursing for as long as she had had it is great! But if you feel it is time to wean, then do it slowly. Chenk out Breastfeeding friendly sites to see if there are any suggestions. Maybe have a ceremony where your chest closes up. Or explain that she may only nurse before bed and that is it for a while. The best way is to slowly wean one feeding a day back, until you are at one, and then explain to her she is a big girl and you can have special time in a new way now. Then maybe have some special time set aside to do something special with her, or start including her in your dinner prep. Kids love that. Good luck, and congrats on your choices.

Try to listen for swallowing noises while she's feeding. My son just turned 1 year and I'm still breastfeeding. I feel like you do about not having much milk and not feeling full. He still swallows a lot though for a few minutes so I know I still have something in there. Try to listen for the swallowing and good luck with the weening process!

My daughter weaned herself just before her 2nd birthday. My husband informed me the other day that I still had milk. I hadn't had a full feeling for months but there was still milk there. My daughter got to the point that she would only nurse in the morning at 5 when she woke up and went back to sleep in my bed nursing.

Good luck

When you squeeze your nipples, "nothing" comes out?
Also, yes, at this point, you will not have that "full" feeling in your breasts... with extended breastfeeding... the child is now "nursing" less frequently... so the body naturally adjusts to that.

Your daughter is now 2 years old... she can certainly "tell" you if milk is still coming out.. .just ask her. That's what I did with my girl.

Also, her morning diaper is probably "dry" because at this age... they are of potty training age, and they can go longer before pee'ing and they will naturally have more dry diapers upon waking.

I too did extended breastfeeding....until my girl self-weaned at about 2 to 2.5 years old. Maybe your girl will just stop on her own. Mine did. By this time, I still had milk coming out.. but it doesn't matter how much, since by this age it is not primarily for nutrition anymore and is just comfort & bonding, and they do not "nurse" as frequently or as long anymore by this stage. But, I did not have the "fullness" feeling either in my breasts by this time... the body just changes and adjusts.

Don't worry about how much milk is there or not. Really. Hopefully, it will help in weaning your daughter, if this is the route you want. Also, just explaining things to her is good, age appropriately of course. That's what I did with my girl to "egg her on" and I was glad she self-weaned. I did not force it... just one day she thought it was "silly" she was still doing it, and stopped and said she's "a big girl now." I was glad.

If you truly want to wean her... you need to shorten the time she is at your breast... and the frequency and duration. Otherwise, she may not be able to go to sleep on her own.... for example, maybe there is no milk.. but she is just at your breast for comfort & sleep.... then at this point it is no longer "breastfeeding"... and just a habit they do to sleep. For my girl, this was the case as well.

I never regretted extended breastfeeding...and my Hubby also supported it and me in doing it. In fact many child experts encourage it. In our culture... the emphasis is always on "weaning" quickly and emphasizing how children/babies should NOT get "attached" to anything and un-attaching children as quickly as possible from the Parent. ie: no pacifiers, no breastfeeding beyond 1 year old, no co-sleeping, no getting attached to "lovies", crying it out to sleep, sleeping on their own, etc. Other cultures nurse for longer and nurture bonding.
But, everyone is different.

Well, just my situation and what I experienced.
All the best,
~Susan