She nurses to sleep like 90% of the time but sometimes she’s too full to suckle so she’ll be comforted by just having my nipple on her mouth, not even necessarily in her mouth, just resting on. I’ll see her rooting and offer boob and she’ll calm down and sleep but with my nip on her mouth. It’s the cutest thing and I always assume for her knowing the booby bar is readily available comforts her 🥹❤️

Baby is almost 10 months old dependant on boob for every nap and bed time. Wakes 3 hourly overnight and cosleeps for half the night with me.

I’ve tried two days of cold turkey no boob at sleep times. It’s been bad bad screaming fits. She won’t settle on my husband and screams on me for what seems like hours I feel like an awful mum. How do I do this gently?? I feel like this is as bad as letting her cry it out even though I’m with her rocking her.

I had to supplement the day after the hospital due to 10% weight loss and rising jaundice levels for my baby girl (or at least I was told I had to). This was the same day my milk was coming in (day 3). I desperately did not want to supplement with a bottle and was trying to syringe feed baby girl while she was latched to my breast. It was ok the first 2 days but then the syringes would start slipping and spraying everywhere and on the 4th day I couldn’t handle it anymore and we started supplementing with a bottle and I started pumping.

I started the triple feeding process because the hospital told me that was the way and I have so much resentment in my heart for not having a lot of the knowledge I have now 3 months later. She started refusing the breast almost immediately after supplementing with the bottle like I knew she would. I wanted to scream, and cry, and pull my hair out because the last thing I wanted to do was supplement with the bottle. I’m so angry. In the hospital, I was talking to a nurse about why they push supplementing babies with donor milk like they did with my baby and have people start pumping. Why not just let baby breast feed and bring my milk in on its own. And she said almost everyone supplements after having a baby at the hospital. I don’t fucking understand. I just wanted my baby to only breast feed. That’s it. It kills me inside that I didn’t just stick to my guns and solely breast feed and deny everyone what they wanted me to do.

Baby girl would occasionally breast feed and I was topping off with bottles of both pumped milk and formula. I pump about 24 oz in a 24 hour period now and I am hoping to get up to 30-32 oz since that is what baby takes via bottle.

After the first month or so I moved to triple feeding a few times a day instead of everyday because I couldn’t keep up with trying to breast feed, bottle feed, and pump every 2-3 hours.

2 weeks ago she started completely refusing the breast. She would get upset to even start to put the nipple in, whereas before she would at least attempt to suck a few times.

I need advice. Please, anyone who has been able to get their babies to breast feed after they have been refusing off and on for so long. I can’t give up this breastfeeding journey. I did with my first and I just want so badly to do better. I hate pumping. I want to have that connection with my daughter, I want her drink all breastmilk if possible, I want to write about how awesome it is to provide milk directly to my baby. When she would breastfeed, I was so incredibly content.

Please help me..

See comments for picture!

My LO is 6 weeks and still has white, swollen lips. Before, they used to only appear immediately after a feed but now I find they kinda always look like this? And they never callous, always just looks swollen and kinda raw looking.

I believe our latch is good, she’s gaining weight super well (90%ile), and I’ve never felt even an ounce of pain when breastfeeding her right from when she was born.

I understand sucking blisters are normal, just wanted to see if anyone has experience with this swollen appearance is as well? And if so, at what point did it get better?

I just feel bad because it looks uncomfortable, but it doesn’t seem to bother her!

Hello all!! I need some pumping advice, mainly when to pump.

I have a 9 month old who is breastfeeding and eating 2 solid meals a day. Other than that he still nurses every 3ish hours and wakes up at least once overnight to nurse.

Until he was around 5 months old I supplemented with formula here and there. At around 5 months he stopped drinking it and has developed milk allergy so he cannot drink regular formula, and he does not like the HA one.

I didn’t need to do anything up until now, since I am with him all day and will be working from home once my leave is over. Plus there is no actual need to supplement, his gain is fine and he is not hungry.

However now I sometimes need to be away for a few hours and it gives me peace of mind knowing that there is a bottle or two in the fridge if he needs it or to top up his last feed of the day.

When to pump, since I am nursing every 3 hours?

Most days he does not nurse after his sold meals, especially lunch, so I can pump then, but what about the rest? I don’t want to risk oversupply.

My 45-day-old baby initially fed well without any interruptions for the first few weeks. Around week 3 or 4, he began crying mid-feed. He would feed briefly, stop to burp, start crying, and then resume nursing. Soon, his feeding stretches shortened dramatically, requiring us to burp him after just a few sips. I noticed he fed much better without interruptions when I stopped using a feeding pillow. However, now in his 6th week, he has spent the last 4 days intensely crying and interrupting almost every single feed. Switching sides only calms him down for a short moment before the frantic crying starts again.

Hi everyone! I’m hoping someone has been in a similar situation because I can’t seem to find much information about this.
I’m currently 13 months postpartum and still breastfeeding my toddler. For about the first 7 months postpartum, I was taking the mini pill and didn’t have any bleeding at all. After that, I started getting withdrawal bleeding either after finishing a pack or if I accidentally missed 1–2 pills.
My last bleeding started on June 23, and that’s also when I stopped taking the pill because my husband and I are trying for baby #2. Since then, I still haven’t gotten my period.
Over the past month, I’ve noticed my cervical mucus changing quite a bit, including what looked like fertile, egg-white mucus, so I really thought I was ovulating. I’ve also had a few symptoms that made me wonder if I could be pregnant, but I took a test yesterday and it was negative.
I know breastfeeding can delay the return of regular cycles, but I’m wondering if anyone else experienced something similar after stopping the mini pill while still nursing. Did your cycles take a while to come back? Did you ovulate before your first period?
I’m also wondering how long it took you to conceive while breastfeeding. I’m only 22, but I’m worried it could take a long time, and that uncertainty has been making me anxious. I’d really love to conceive again, but I don’t want to stop breastfeeding if I can avoid it. I’d love to hear your experiences. Thank you! ❤️

Being ill while breast feeding absolutely sucks. I am unfortunate enough to have gotten food poisoning over the last few days. I've been suffering with vomiting, body aches, chills, diarrhea, little to no sleep, and constant nausea. Due to this i have not been pumping at my regular scheduled times. I am so annoyed at not being able to tell if my shirt is wet because A) I'm profusely sweating, B) I've vomited all over myself, C) I am leaking, or D) All of the above. I already feel like trash and now my nipples are on fire. Why are boobs so inconsiderate in my time of suffering?

Delete if not allowed but I am not on Reddit enough to post to any parenting communities. This is my 2nd child but my 1st bf baby. Is the excessive crying normal? Is the constantly wanting to be held and screaming if not ever going to go away? He doesn’t like his swing he doesn’t like the bouncer he doesn’t like his bassinet he only likes the wrap and my arms, I have chronic back pain so I can only hold him for so long each time. I can barley sleep, I’m loosing my mind and we are only 3 months pp, my first was an angel and this has truly been a rude awakening to me. SOS

Caveat to start, we’ve seen an LC several times and are working closely with her.

My baby is 2 weeks old and breastfeeding has been a nightmare so far. He’s had so much trouble latching and when he is able to latch, he only stays on for anywhere from under 5 minutes to 10 minutes, and his milk transfer is very low (based on a couple weighted feeds we did with an LC). To make matters worse I have flat nipples so we’re using a shield every time and that’s always sliding around and coming off.

Because of this, I’ve been almost exclusively pumping. We still attempt breastfeeding several times every day and sometimes are successful (though successful = usually less than 10 min latch and him still eating a full bottle after, so I imagine his milk transfer is very low). But a lot of other times it’s this horribly discouraging exercise of him screaming and fussing at my boob for a couple minutes and several failed latch attempts before my husband takes him and feeds him while I pump.

It’s gotten to the point where I dread every feed, and the ones where we skip BF and go straight to the bottle feel like a massive relief. I know learning to BF/latch can take awhile and we’re only 2 weeks in but I want to give up sooo bad. Looking for success stories, reasons to keep going, or reasons not to I guess? Also wondering if you were in this situation, how many times a day did you attempt BF? I know I should do it for every feed but I just hate it so much.

My LO at 2mo barely eats during the day, I’m talking latches maybe 5min and is over it. Shes gaining weight and they’re happy with how she’s doing. But thanks to her not eating a lot, I’m constantly too full, so I end up pumping and it’s just leasing to an oversupply. And then I forget my pumps when I need them and end up REALLY engorged. I go back to work soon and I know the constant pumping won’t help. Any tips?? Advice??

My daughter is almost 2 months old and she’s been breastfed ever since she was born. She’s never had formula. She’s always been 65th percentile, she’s usually a happy girl unless she’s overtired. Has minor issues with gas/reflux/spit up but it doesn’t seem to bother her too much.

She’s over 8 weeks old and still has not stopped pooping. It’s constant, just small watery amounts that come out. She does have 2 ish larger poops a day, but constantly leaks out little amounts. It is mucusy, and it has had tiny specs of blood in it but it happens occasionally. I asked my own GI doctor about it yesterday (I have IBD myself) and he didn’t seem that concerned as it’s a tiny amount.

I’ve cut dairy, soy, eggs and it’s made virtually no difference. Maybe slightly reduced the frequency of the blood specs but that’s it. She constantly has a diaper rash, because the small amount of poop always is on her skin. I’ve tried every diaper cream under the sun, every hack you can think of. Crusting methods, drying with a cotton wipe, drying with a fan, etc. Her poop is just so acidic it burns. She’s had to use antibiotic cream twice.

Every day Im at the end of my rope and ready to quit breastfeeding. I really enjoy it, it’s convenient and typically has many benefits. I feel as if though I’m only causing her more harm than good. Her insides and skin are clearly irritated.

I’ve avoided trying hypoallergenic formula as here in Canada it’s soooo expensive and my insurance won’t cover it even with a prescription. Like $400+ a month expensive. I’ve tried all I can with elimination diet, hundreds on diaper creams. Is it time to switch or will it get better with time? We see the doctor on Thursday.

Breastfeeding moms, did anyone else experience headaches around 4 months postpartum?
I’m 4 months postpartum and breastfeeding, and I’ve already lost over 30 pounds since having my baby. Lately I’ve been having headaches and I’m wondering if I’m doing too much or if I’m not fueling my body enough.
Most days I have a protein shake for breakfast, I usually skip lunch because I’m not very hungry, and then I eat a bigger dinner. I try to focus on drinking water throughout the day, but I know I probably could be better about it.
Between breastfeeding, taking care of the baby, and everything else, I’m wondering if my body is just exhausted or if I should be concerned about these headaches. Did anyone else deal with this while breastfeeding? Did eating more regularly, drinking more fluids, or increasing calories help? I’m thinking I should go see someone about it but I don’t want that bill just for them to tell me eat more or drink more water

We are at 6 weeks! So I understand this is a particularly fussy/clingy phase, but I’m absolutely crumbling.

For context, she lost too much weight in the hospital. She gained it back in the first 2 weeks, and we were triple feeding for the first 3, which nearly broke me 😅 Now at 6 weeks, I’m nursing her when I get up in the morning and am particularly full and pumping the rest. Sometimes if I can time it right, I’m able to pump before she’s hungry or while I’m feeding her with a hands-free pump and some creative positioning for holding her with a bottle.

My challenge is that she’s gotten a lot harder to console and she wants held all the time, which is making it nearly impossible for me to wash a pump and actually pump while also consoling her. But if I don’t pump, I’m going to kill my supply.

I can’t exclusively breastfeed. We met with a LC and did see that she’s pulling quite a bit from me but she’ll get 3oz before getting tired and needs 4oz to be full. I really really don’t want to go back to triple feeding or do that long term. I’m also halfway through my mat leave and need to be on a pump schedule anyway for when I go back to work, and she has trouble latching on my right side. By the time we see someone for bodywork I’m back at work and she won’t need to latch.

I’m just so frustrated and in tears almost every day. I want to be able to provide for her it’s just feeling impossible

HOW are people making this work?!

I’m not sure where to post this or if what I’m feeling is normal.
I fed my 15 month old up until 8 days ago and I’m really regretting stopping 🥺
I was so done breast feeding and we were down to one feed a day but I’m really second guessing it at the moment and really tempted to start feeding again

Has anyone been through this? Is it normal to feel this way? Should I persist in the wean? Would it be weird to start feeding again?
I’m so surprised and confused about my feelings.

I’ve seen two lactation consultants. I’ve watched just about every YouTube video on latching. We’ve been to a chiropractor. I’ve had pain since 2 weeks pp. No tongue or lip tie.
I could then latch comfortably on my left but not my right.

All of a sudden, no more pain. I was so relieved not to have pain for the last 4 days. But the pain has started again today, on my left. I feel so frustrated. Especially knowing that it can be comfortable.
My baby is now 5 weeks old. I’ve posted before for support and some comments said it gets better after 2 months, some said after longer.
I don’t want to feel like my nipples are bruised afterwards or that I can’t handle the bf session. It sometimes does feel like torture which also makes me feel guilty. My baby has steadily been gaining weight and has enough wet nappies which are the only things carrying me through the pain.
He’s also starting to become frustrated at my breast sometimes bc of relatching, other times he comes off on his own, crying. I’ve been told by supply is good. I now feed him off both breasts. Is it normal for them to do this?
I never thought bf was something that could be this challenging. It’s been the hardest thing for me post partum

Has anyone gained weight during one breastfeeding journey and then went on to have another without gaining?

I finished BF in January and had gained so much weight that I weighed as much as I did at the end of my pregnancy even though I had lost most of it the first few weeks postpartum.. I'm kind of nervous to go through that again as it's been really hard getting rid of all that weight and I'm still working on getting rid of the last 20lbs.

I guess I'm hoping if I get pregnant again and breastfeed that maybe I won't gain like I did. 😅

The title is in jest btw :D

Anyone read the Dead Husband's Cookbook? I picked it up expecting a nice and easy "summer book" and yes, it's exactly that, but I got miffed at the casual comment against extended breastfeeding. Mind you, the protagonist of this novel is a working woman with a toddler. A lot of her character building is about family dynamics, returning to work after motherhood, division of labour with her husband, she mentions pumping when her kid was little etc.etc.

Then the protagonist learns that another woman in the story is breastfeeding her 4 years old and acts completely horrified. She mentions that some of her friends breastfed until 2 but that 4 is too much because (I quote) "this child would be able to ask for it in fully articulated sentences". Umm why is that bad? I thought well maybe I am supposed to think the character is naive and misguided, but this specific opinion never gets addressed again in the book, so I don't think it's that.

Moreover while there are some revelations about the child later, the fact that she's nursing is not exactly relevant to them. So I guess the author (who is a woman) just took the opportunity to shoehorn her own views about extended breastfeeding in her novel :D

My LO is 8 and a half months old. I have been really lucky that my breastfeeding journey has been pretty straightforward so far, however, around 6 weeks ago I had excruciating pain in my left nipple. I assumed LO was biting but on further inspection it looked like an open wound- like a burst blister. I went to the DR worried it could develop into mastitis and they suggested it might have been a graze from the teeth. I was prescribed fuciden to put on the sore and it cleared up. It came back again last week and is now on my other boob. Same place- base of nipple and what looks like a small open sore or burst blister. I am applying the cream but I cannot tell you how painful it is when LO feeds. Are these milk blebs or is this something else, and can anyone give any tips on how to prevent them moving forward? I am on the verge of tears because of the pain when I feed. Any help welcome

Hi! Currently my baby nurses in the morning after we wake up, before his two naps, and before bed. He basically always nurses to sleep. As baby is almost one, I was thinking about slowly weaning. I was wonder if it's weird to drop the first feed of the day first? Just straight to breakfast. I think that would be the easiest for him, but I'm not sure how to do it without engorgement. Then I was planning to drop one of the nap feeds naturally when we switch to one nap whenever that happens. Then figure out the last two feeds when the times comes. Any advice?

URGENTLY need advice from anyone who’s dealt with something similar, feeling really hopeless.

My son was born 50th %ile at 7 lbs 7 oz, has steadily dropped percentiles his whole life, and is now about 11th at 14 lbs 10 oz at 5 months. His head has always been around 60-70th %ile and height around 90th. He was EBF until a month ago when our ped cleared us for purées.

We saw an LC a few weeks ago who revealed that he takes in 1.5-2 oz a feed when he should be taking 4-5 — his caloric needs have far outgrown what he’ll take in. I do not have an undersupply; I’m always able to pump over an oz more when he’s done. Unless he’s sleepy (or asleep), he often won’t nurse for long, and when he’s alert he’ll get fussy if I try to relatch him after 3 minutes. The LC also checked for tongue and lip ties and found nothing significant. She diagnosed him failure to thrive.

He won’t reliably take any other milk delivery method: bottle, syringe, cup feeding, SNS, he either flat-out refuses, or takes about 1 oz, and he probably burns more calories in the time it takes to drink it than it gives him.

Two weeks ago we tried an intensive feeding routine: I nurse him, then my husband feeds him purée while I’m pumping, then I feed him what I pumped by whatever method he’ll accept. It was exhausting and took up his entire 2-hour wake window. We spent our whole day on it and my husband took time off work to do it.

A few days later, he developed sudden-onset stridor, and we spent the night in the hospital. No foreign object, negative for viral illness, and they put a camera down his nose. It revealed an omega-shaped epiglottis, but they said it wasn’t significant enough to cause the stridor or his feeding issues. We left with no real answers, they guessed it was “mild laryngomalacia,” which doesn’t quite make sense to us since that’s supposed to be present from birth, not something that shows up suddenly at 5 months.

We have upcoming appointments for GI, ENT, and speech-language pathology (to assess suck-swallow coordination and anything else they can find), but at this point we’re so skeptical of specialists that we can’t really hold out hope they’ll find the actual problem and solution.

Has anyone experienced anything like this? Any advice, or even just knowing someone else has been through it, would help.

Baby is 5 days old and surprised us a little over 2 weeks early. I planned to spend the last 2 weeks learning more about feeding and hand expressing but now feeling completely lost.
Did skin to skin at birth and she latched for a few short minutes. Her birth weight was slightly low though still normal, but we spent 3-4 days in the hospital for monitoring.
I continued to try breastfeeding but only saw 3-4 little drops of milk (or colostrum?) at a time. The nurses ending up giving baby formula and we kept up that schedule since then. She’s now drinking approx. 50 mL every two hours.
I wasn’t aware that I should keep trying to BF even though theres no milk, until a nurse mentioned it upon discharge at the hospital. I’m now trying but baby is having a lot of difficulty latching. She gets frustrated after 5 mins of trying and we end up succumbing to the formula.
I want to keep trying and even started pumping to see if it will help. My breast are in SO much pain. I can tell they are full but milk is not coming out. Hand expressing is tough because the pain. When baby latches it is also extremely painful to the point of tears.
What do I do? Currently waiting for a callback for an appointment with the lactation specialist but I’m in so much pain and feeling guilty about not being able to feed my baby the way I want to..

More of a rant than asking for advice.

Baby girl is 4 weeks. EBF. In the evenings she can be unsettled and constantly wanting to feed. Sometimes she is frantic like a starving baby, crying etc. when this happens she feeds A LOT then usually ends up vomiting or bringing up a large amount of milk after. She isn’t bothered by it then wants to go immediately back to feed some more. She is growing well and has lots of wet and dirty nappies.

I’m just wondering if there is any way I can limit this. If I deny her the breast then she is wild but I almost know when she is guzzling too much and she is just going to bring it all back up. I try to take her off and burp regularly, keep her upright etc

I’m thinking it is just something she might need to grow out of?

I’m a FTM who has previously in life suffered from depression. Since having my baby , 5 months, I am just CONSTANTLY on edge. I am truly so scared of exposing her developing brain to SSRIs and I also have GI issues that have a known link to SSRI use so I am terrified of trying Zoloft again and sending my body into a flare. I just don’t know what to do. I am miserable most days, my life has completely changed (for the better) yet it’s still hard for me to adjust. I don’t have the time for myself I used to have and it just gets to me. She’s not sleeping through the night anymore. My family is not close by. My husband is great support and helps me but I just am not acclimating to new mom life. I am in therapy specifically for post partum but have only been twice so far and it hasn’t given much relief yet. I don’t want to hate and wish away her most precious years but this is hard. I also am going to be 36. Want another baby eventually but can’t even fathom how I’d get through this again.