I wanted to post about this because no one told me I could potentially produce less milk because I’m in my late 30’s. Not the midwife. Not the nurses at the hospital. Not the lactation consultant at the hospital. My baby is 11 weeks today and about 4 weeks ago I started to get frustrated because my baby was a terrible sleeper. Naps and nighttime. My husband had been passionate about me breastfeeding and I was nervous about proposing supplementing with formula but we were both so tired that he put up no opposition when I finally did. At our two month check up my baby was 24th percentile in weight. Since birth she has gained weight very slowly. So...we started trying to supplement and it was a battle at first to get her to take the bottle but I was persistent. In the process I decided to start pumping so we could exclusively bottle feed. I pump 4–6 times a day and have come to figure out that I was simply not producing an adequate amount of milk to feed my baby. My right breast in particular is pretty lazy at producing. My baby was fussy because she was hungry and I didn’t know which makes me feel terrible. She is now so much happier and gaining weight and sleeping restfully.

Everyone says things like... “your body responds to the baby and makes enough milk.” But this isn’t always true.

Just wanted you future AMA moms to know this is a possibility so you can look out for it. I didn’t know and I wish I had.