Hi,
It is a common myth that your milk could “run out” or “dry up” and of course very concerning for mothers to have this idea in their head. In fact, what’s happening is your baby’s behaviour. Your body makes milk the same all day and night. When your breasts are relatively emptier the signal is for your body to make more milk - quickly. When your breasts are relatively full milk making slows down. But what changes is baby’s mood. Babies need their mum (or dad) to help them regulate themselves. When they suck a hormone, CCK is released in their body and that helps them relax and go to sleep. As they get more tired/overstimulated at the end of the day they want to suck more - and if they feed more your breasts don’t get to fill up. think of the toilet cistern - filling at the same rate - but if a bunch of you go to the loo in quick succession you don’t get much of a flush. Most babies feed at least 8-12 times in 24 hours. Usually there is one time of the day or night when they have a longer sleep - maybe three hours or at most 4. But then there is another time of the day or the night when nothing seems to make your baby happy. They are trying to “wind down” and will have a cluster of feeds over several hours before they have a longer sleep. Not sure what you mean by your anxiety increasing hormones. Hormones in your milk won’t be making her irritable. If she is outside the norm it might be worth talking to some-one about allergies in your milk, but probably best to see and LC about this. Are you getting a bit of a rest during the day when she sleeps? You are doing so well, but the early weeks with a baby are tough going, however you feed them.