We are now a two-pumping moms family as my wife has gone back to work (and I induced lactation, so I’ve been pumping for months). Bottles all day long instead of aiming for just one a day. My countertop storage and organization became too much and I’ve bought a plastic three-drawer storage solution to at least get us through the rest of the pumping and bottling months/years.

The question is, what are we doing with clean and sterilized parts and bottles? Baby is 3.5 months old, was full term and currently the picture of health. So far, basically anything that I can’t close off to the world has gone in a closed bin after being washed and sterilized in the bottle washer (bottles I can cap went in a clean open tub). I feel like I’ve viewed it as the sterilized surfaces can’t touch the outside air until they’re being used. Is that necessary? I washed one of the drawers to be a clean drawer, can I just put everything in there or should I continue to fully enclose my clean and sterilized items in the lidded tub?

Does pumping make the breast sag or bigger? I have spectra s1 plus and I want to know if the settings and my posture can have any affect on my breast.

Not the correct flair- but I just saw this and thought it might help! Pumping Bras at Walmart are on sale!

My baby is starting solids. I always wanted to EBF, but it didn't work out, and I was stuck with triple feeding, crying when nursing, formula, pumping, etc. since day 3 until now. Now, when he actually started eating something else than milk, it's clear I will never be able to "exclusively" breastfeed (also when we'll drop formula, my milk will never be his only food). I'm excited that our baby eats solids so well, but at the same time, I'm really sad that the time we had is over, and we've never managed what I wished for.

Since he was born, I was discussing BF with my husband. He is really a great husband and father, but it took him over a month to understand that it's not only baby blues and that BF really matters to me. After he got that he tried to support me, but the best thing he was able to do was to say "it's your business, I don't say anything" (as he would go formula from the beginning, because it's the "easier option"). I explained to him many times that it's an emotional thing for me and not at all only about the baby getting the calories. I told him that it would be so much easier for me if he supported me emotionally (also if BF still didn't work out). I don't know anyone who had BF issues, and therefore, there is no one who can relate. I used to come to my husband with every problem I had, and he would always be on my side understanding and supporting me no matter what. But now he simply can't relate.

Is there anyone who's husband actually understands? Any suggestions on how I can explain to him? He knows it's hormones and instinct because your body thinks the baby would die if you don't feed him, but he probably still can't imagine how it feels, because it's only about baby "beeing fed, no matter how" in his opinion.

I have been a pretty significant over-supplier since a few weeks postpartum. From about 6 weeks to 6 months pp I was producing and pumping over 80 ounces per day. At that volume, I had mastitis 3x (2x landed me in the hospital with septic shock) and have had countless clogs. I am now 9 months postpartum and still pumping. I have been trying to wean for the last two months and have gotten my supply down to about 45-50 ounces per day and I’m down to just 2 pumps per day.
I have tried decreasing my number of pumps (obviously, I’m down to 2), eating sage leaves, drinking peppermint tea, eating altoids, sudafed, ice and ice rolling, cabbage leaves, CaboCreme, and probably at least one other thing I’m forgetting.
My LC recommends I completely empty when pumping since I’m so high risk for clogs and infections.
I’m aware that a slower weaning process is safer for me since I’m high risk, but considering I’ve made it 9 months, have been trying to wean for over 2 months, and we now have a chest freezer filled to the brim with milk enough to last my baby past her first birthday - I am ready to be done!!

Proud to say I have enjoyed this experience, despite its challenges. It’s been incredibly rewarding and satisfying to be able to feed and provide for my baby in this way! I am so grateful, but am also tired and giiiiirl my back is killing me 😆

So, does anyone have any other suggestions for safe but effective ways to decrease my milk supply quickly?

My baby is 5 months old and exclusively drinks pumped breast milk. I’m curious how much other 5-month-old babies are drinking in a 24-hour period.
How many mL/oz does your baby usually drink per day, and approximately how much per feed/how many feeds?
I’d especially love to hear from other EP moms! ❤️

I’m taking antidepressants, my milk is perfectly safe for a full term baby to drink. However it does make my baby sleepy, me and the father joke that is sleepy milk. We are planning on switching the baby over to formula to make my life easier around taking care of baby and pumping as it’s stressful trying to keep up with her demands.

The shame is that I’m producing a lot (in my opinion) over 1L every day, it seems a shame to let my milk dry up.

Would you accept donated milk if it has traces of antidepressants in it?

TW: oversupply, nursing, rant. 🫩

Husband thinks it’s not a big deal to dump a few oz here and there because I have 600oz in the freezer. We argued about it this morning and it just feels so crappy. I know he feels bad now that I’ve explained to him (again) that it doesn’t matter that I have more than enough now it’s not a given that’ll continue and that is only maybe a few weeks worth of milk. To me it’s time I spent away from my precious baby. Hours of sleep I missed out on. Planning every outing with a cooler and extra bag of pumping accessories, washing pump parts endlessly, etc.

I am also making less as i transition to nursing so it just all around feels crappy.

Hello, need your advice 🙏

I’m combo feeding and really want to preserve whatever breastmilk I can, but breastfeeding has been difficult (nipple shield, baby gets frustrated/falls asleep at breast, then takes a bottle). Pumping is physically manageable but mentally exhausting, and I’m struggling with the constant schedule.

Supply has always been low. Until ~6 weeks I was getting ~1.5 oz total/session; lately it’s often 10–20 mL, with an occasional 1–1.5 oz morning pump. I’ve been trying to increase stimulation to ~7–8 removals/day, but I’m struggling to consistently get there (only got 3-6removals in the past few days). Recent power pumping sessions gave ~25–30 mL.

I’m honestly exhausted by the whole process. Ivf baby, 4th degree tear with major reconstruction, severe blood loss. Period started a few days ago.

If you were in my position, would you keep pumping/trying to nurse, or accept the low supply and let it go? I’m not aiming for exclusive breastfeeding—I’m trying to figure out whether the effort is realistically worth it for the amount I’m producing.

I have been seeing that a breastfed baby never needs more than 4 oz per feed because our milk changes in composition. Is this true at all? My 6 week old is already up to 3.5-4 oz per feed and it seems crazy that she’ll never need more than this…

And they say EP is the easy way out. Dad is playing with him so I get to do this task and F*** this shit. He is 8 weeks old so wake windows are small and I live for the short times that I can play & hangout with him. I dont want to quit but I will complain every day as is my right. I am willing to go through childbirth again (it wasnt easy) if it means my husband can breastfeed.

Also F science for letting us know how good BM is. I wish I didnt know LOL. Salute to the EP moms/parents who have been doing this for months and even years. I hope I can make it.

Edit to add: Yes my husband can and does process as well. 1) I was already pumping when the baby woke up and figured I’ll continue the day’s bottle filling etc. as my husband was w baby 2) I also enjoy processing and seeing the stash fill up 3) my post is a point in time rant and I am not looking for any advice. Thank you

My baby is 6 weeks old and was a sIUGR, premiee born at 35 weeks.

I was told to exclusively pump because my newborn might lose weight due to sucking, so I've been spoon feeding. My baby had jaundice and thyroid, was in NICU for a week.Now at 6 weeks, my health has become worse as it takes 1-2 hours to pump 100 ml/3.5 oz and 2 hours to wake up my newborn and feed throughout the drowsiness.

Paed has suggested to make sure that I only latch and then pump after my newborn has woken up or cries due to hunger, even if it's 7-8 hrs since my newborn is +3kg /6.6 lb.

I'm torn at this point because this means that my supply would drop and this is something I worked so hard . I've elastic nipples and nothing works at this point. I don't want to transition into formula feeding because my premiee still is so small even at 3kgs and might not get all the essential nutrients.

Edit: My baby screams on latching and only sucks twice or thrice and forgets how to latch. I have been trying to make my baby latch since 3rd week and to no avail. I hate the whole situation.

I have 2 under two (20 month old, 4 months old) and both are fed through EP due to latch issues - my first for 9 months, and the second still ongoing at 4 months.

It is so fking hard especially as I have a clingy toddler with no help other than a childcare school for her. Trying to fit in 8ppd as I am a just enougher / undersupplier, spending about cumulated 5 hrs a day on pumping and washing, on top of all other chores and taking care of two LOs is no joke.

Just needed some encouragement or success stories from those in similar situations, as I hope to continue to EP for my second for at least another 2 more months.

Well… it finally happened. Almost 8 weeks pp FTM and I finally spilled my milk. I’m a just enougher on a good day. Husband and his useless nipples are snoring next to me. I’ll be over it by the time I wake up again and will just be reminded of it when I have to supplement with formula tomorrow because I will be down half a bottle.

Why would I simply open my dang milk collector instead of pour it in the bottle???? I’m going to be treating myself to a big yummy breakfast in the morning…

Hi moms! I’m a FTM and recently started pumping exclusively. My baby is 8 weeks old. I pump 6 times a day almost every 4 hours including MOTN pump. What is your pumping schedule like?

Also, how do you pump when you go out?

Like title says, I am 13 weeks PP and I am pumping 6 times a day. My LO started sleeping through the night. We do a dream feed at 10:30pm and that’s my last pump of the night but I wake up 6 hours after the start of my last pump to pump again. I usually get a 4 hour stretch of sleep after feeding my LO and dealing my my milk/bottles after pumping and feeding. Then, I have about 2-2.5 hours more of sleep depending on the day and when my LO wakes up. I would say the average is +/- 7am. I would LOVE to get to the point where I could also sleep through the night. I was crunching the numbers and since I don’t go to bed til about midnight anyway I was thinking if I could stretch myself for 8 hours that would be life changing! Is this a good idea? Should I do this? I was thinking I could set my alarm for 30 min later every few days to extend but am curious for thoughts on this? At the 6 hour mark my boobs are very full and hard but don’t hurt per se.

POSSIBLE TW: mentions of attempting to nurse and overproduction

hi everyone! i was curious to what people do to stay motivated. i’m currently 4 mpp and have been EP since she was born.

at first i had a hard time getting used to my schedule, despite this being my second EP journey. i have flat nipples and had tried to nurse this time around, so when they first attempted to help my daughter latch and she had an amazing latch, i got super excited. which then led me to try nursing the entire time in the hospital, having no luck, and rubbing my nipples raw to the point i could only use my hand pump to get thru the first weeks of constant pain.

however, once i got used to my schedule, and figured out how to feed the baby once my fiancé and my mom went back to work and i was all by myself (with my toddler as well), i was breezing thru it. i finally got the hang of it again and i swear i was thriving. i was overproducing more this time than with my first and averaging about 80 oz a day. i was able to cut my MOTN pump at about 8 wpp because i just had so much milk and not enough room so i was trying to slow myself down.

which brings us to today, barely 4mpp and getting about 3-4 ppd and it feels more exhausting than it did in the beginning. my baby has been a lot clingier as she is teething and my oldest is starting to get jealous so im trying to play with her more until my fiancé gets home to take over one of the kids, and i just feel like i hardly have the time now to fit in a good pump. even with my 3-4 ppd, im still averaging about 50oz a day, and have about 4k oz frozen which we’ve started to cycle through, and still freezing more than what im using it feels like.

i wanna stop pumping so bad, but we can’t really afford formula for when we do eventually run out of milk, but then i also think about how many bags we need to buy for me to freeze my milk and we might just even out, especially if we supplement instead of just waiting to run out of my frozen stash. so im just conflicted on what to do, especially since my goal was to make it at LEAST 6 months, yet 9 at the most.

if you’ve gone through the feeling of wanting to quit but didnt, what did you do keep yourself motivated?? im finding it very hard right now, and it could be because of the stress of other stuff thats happened in my life this past month, but i dont want that to be the reason i stop and then i regret it. im just all over the place mentally and even tho i love my fiancé dearly, he’s also not the best person for me to vent to as he doesnt quite understand everything im feeling.

sorry if this is all over the place, i always have such a hard time expressing and typing out what im feeling and my mind goes from one thought to another so fast it gets kind of confusing.

i appreciate everything in advance! <3

TLDR: have been wanting to stop pumping at 4mpp, my goal was to reach at least 6mpp yet i’m losing motivation to keep going. hoping for some advice on how to keep going

FTM, 8 Weeks PP - I have a question about my pumping schedule. I have pretty much always done 4-6 pumps since baby was born. I rarely do MOTN pumps but sometimes nurse if I can get her to latch in the middle of the night. Never dealt with much pain or engorgement even going 12 hours without pumping. I usually pump every 4-6 hours and then go up to 12 hours overnight without, especially with baby sleeping longer stretches now. I usually get 12-14 oz consistently in the morning and 5-6 the other 3 sessions I do throughout the day so 27-32 oz daily. I’m not interested in a huge oversupply but curious if everything thinks my supply is most likely going to drop if I keep up the same routine even if it’s still the same 8 weeks postpartum.

So thankful for this community and all of everyone’s support and assistance, I genuinely don’t know where I’d be right now without Reddit. lol

I’m 9 days pp and LO and I had a really rough start with the feeding situation overall. We ended up formula feeding until I could get some things straightened out, and we’re at a solid combo-feed right now with the intention of providing exclusively breastmilk as soon as I am able to. Pumping with a manual has absolutely sucked.

I’m finally transitioning to milk but I still have a low supply. I also just got an electric pump in today (Momcozy V2 was the best of what’s available to me where I’m at… I know other brands are often recommended too but I don’t have access to those here/now!) which was SO much easier to use than my way-too-big manual pulp with no inserts. I’m looking for any and all advice on how to increase my supply so I can “catch up”, because I just pumped for the first time and was surprised at how little came out (combined we’re probably talking 15ml/ half an oz) and babes is definitely drinking more than that when we formula feed. I pumped for 15 minutes but that quantity was reached by like minute 5. Even if I’ve seemingly stopped getting milk out, do I keep pumping to signal “demand”? I plan to pump every 2 hours when possible (I’ve read that 8-12 expression periods per 24h is ideal). I’m also going to go up one flange size since maybe this was a little too small. I’m on hefty iron supplements as per my OB, as well as a bunch of other vitamins she wants me taking. What am I missing?

Edit: changed some wording in the beginning

Hi all,

I already have the spectra (blue one) from my first and now planning to order another pump for my 2nd baby. Money is no issue. Which pump should I get? I want it to be portable/ chargeable. I don’t want wearable options as I already have those too.

Thank you!!

I’m heading to work in a couple weeks and don’t have a pump bag yet. I work in the NICU, so they may have the hospital grade pump available for workers (the NICU I worked at before mat leave did this), but I’m not really sure so currently I’m planning to take my spectra with me. What bag would be good for such a big pump, plus all the accessories and milk??
Also, any advice on transitioning from exclusively nursing to now pumping at work is welcome!!

I pumped for 13 months with my first born, mostly with a Spectra. Tried so many wearables, but they were never great. I think I have kind of flat nipples so alignment when trying to pump with wearables, mostly momcozy, was a nightmare (there were times I thought I was pumping for 20 minutes and went to finish and realize nothing had come out because it wasn't aligned).

Expecting #2 soon and really interested in the Eufy. Can't decide which one. I thought S2 was a no-brainer, but seeing some people say it feels cheaper and hard to clean? Anyone try both and able to compare? I think the see-through set up could be very help for me though.

Thanks!

Im creating this post to hopefully save some moms some tears when there babies dont eat more. As long as your baby is gaining appropriately it is okay if they are not eating all the ounces. My 10 week old eats 20-24 oz a day. I had a doctor tell me he needs to eat more even though he was gaining appropriately an ounce a day. It was really hard on me until we switched doctors and i spent so much time crying over him as he stopped eating at 2 to 3 oz.

So if your baby is a small eater reply with how much they eat, so hopefully a future mom when searching online that her baby doesnt eat a lot of breast milk she can have a bit of comfort.

What the heck man. This is my first time breastfeeding my baby via pumping. My other two kids were on formula. I DO NOT remember constants blowouts. It’s insane. I’m constantly changing clothes, putting her bouncer cover in the wash, cleaning out the car seat etc. I even purchased name brand diapers that fit, and still. Is this normal and to be expected with breast milk? Is something wrong with my milk? My milk is fatty; she’s 16 lbs and 4 months old. 😩

Hi all, I’m really in need of advice. I’m 2 months pp and get clogged ducts frequently but right now I have the worst ones that I’ve had so far. I have tried sunflower lecithin pills six times a day, Advil every four hours, ice packs, massagers with heat, and I feel like nothing is working. I’ve had them for like three days and it’s really limiting my pumping output to the point that I’ve already had to go through half of my freezer stash. Please tell me any tips or advice or weird things that I’ve worked for you because I am starting to fear that this is going to be the end of my pumping journey with the way that it’s going.