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I never had any supply issues that I know of (although LO's weight gain slowed drastically at 4 months, but I think it was more him just getting to his own natural body type), and LO didn't STTN/night wean til 13.5 months. I think it helped because LO stopped nursing much during the day due to being distracted. I think if he had nursed better during the day, the night sessions would not have been so important (after about 3 months--I think up to that point is when hormones/milk production are really important).

@Foodnerd81: yeah, its crazy. i mean, I'm still not getting enough sleep and she has been waking up at 5:30AM- but all day yesterday I kept thinking, with shock "I'm not that tired right now!!!" We moved her out of our bedroom, after resisting for a loooong time, and its been a huge change.
I have so much more energy to play, and patience with her too.
Things change pretty quickly though, so I'm trying not to get too used to it!

@Foodnerd81: I gave up trying to breastfeed at 3 months and became an exclusive pumper but I think it's similar.

I didn't stop have a night time pumping session until LO was 4 months. And even then, I would pump 6 times, just all during the day and then I would go no more than 8 hours at night without pumping (so even on weekends, I would pump say 11 pm and then again at 7 am).

In my real-life mommy's group supply issues are rampant. I'd say 60% of the moms who still BF struggle with this and supplement with formula, but some of them have those magic "sttn" babies (and they don't pump when the baby is asleep) while others have babies that wake up, but that's when they give formula because they won't want to have to BF or pump at night.

I do think it can hurt some people's supply. However, I also have a friend in my mommy's group that has always EBF, has a very large and healthy baby boy who has slept 12 hours a night from about 4 weeks old. And she doesn't pump or do anything during those 12 hours. And her supply is fine. He also only feeds every 3-4 hours during the day--no constant snacking, if you will. So he's obviously extremely efficient and her body has a good supply.

It really all depends on the baby and the mommy in question. Latch, natural supply, eating and drinking habits of mom...I think they all play a part.

I had supply issues despite having a baby who didn't sleep through the night. But I also WOHM full time. I'm quite sure I never would have had supple issues if I stayed at home.

@scg00387: @MamaMoose: good point- I SAHM. WOHM and pumping is a whole different ball game.

No supply issues for us. LO is still nursing at almost 13 months. She STTN early at 11/12 weeks. I was SAHM until this month though.

I have yet to have any supply issues even though DD has always been a champion sleeper. In the hospital she was sleeping for 5 hours at night which stretched to 6-7 hours at one month, 7-8 at two months, and now 10-11 at 3 months. I was slightly concerned that this would affect my supply, but it hasn't at all so far. I guess my body just adapted to her sleeping and eating pattern.

I'm pretty confident they were related for us. S started STTN at 8wks, at which point AF returned and my supply tanked--either as a result of AF or because she wasn't demanding enough of me. But I will say that pretty much all of the mums in my IRL group that were EBF, have started supplementing around 4-5mths. Their babies are still waking up 1-2 times per night and yet they still don't have enough of a supply.

So I don't really know. I guess it all depends on the mum-baby combination. I'm combination feeding at the moment and I would say she gets half breastmilk half formula. If I could start again, I would make sure she continued to wake at least once a night up to this point.

Not at all related for us...DD had a nice run of STTN that she initiated (zero efforts at sleep training at that age) from 2.5-4 months. I think I produced a lot more because I had to pump last thing at night/first thing in the morning (so about 10 pm and 6 am) due to discomfort and I'd get about 5-8 ounces each session. All of that milk went straight to the freezer so I figure I was producing enough for 1.5 babies. With that said...I wanted to build the freezer stash and I could've chosen to wean off of those pumping sessions. It all became moot when the 4 month sleep regression hit. Now at 6 months I WOH and supply is more established...we've recently been doing 1 night wakeup and I pump 3-5 ounces more at work than what she consumes at daycare.

Xander started sleeping 7-8 hour stretches at 10 weeks and I've been WOH since 12 weeks. We only have supply issues when I'm sick and/or have AF, but it always bounces back.

@Foodnerd81: your LO sounds very similar to my LO although Miss A was a pretty decent sleeper prior to six months (not that she's a bad sleeper but she's not consistently STTN yet).

Miss A is 15.5 months and still feeding 6-10 times in a 24 hour period incl 1-2 night feeds and providing I ate plenty of calories I never had issues with supply. I do attribute my good supply partly to biology and partly to night feedings.

I have often wondered if the connection between sleep and supply is more affected when a baby is sleep trained rather than STTN on their own accord.

No supply issues here and LO STAN since about 2 -2.5 months. I am a SAHM though so we still nurse a lot during the day. I got my period back at 10 months pp.