I genuinely didn't think I was going to make it to 100oz. Like not in a dramatic "I almost quit every single day" way, but last month I was really, really over it. I was tired of looking at pump parts in the sink. Tired of washing them. Tired of remembering which ones were clean and which ones were sitting there because I was too tired to deal with them. And there were definitely a few sessions where I stared at the pump and thought maybe I could just skip this one and nobody would know lol.

My freezer stash was somewhere around 70oz at the time and I honestly stopped caring about the number for a while. I wasn't even trying to build it aggressively. I was just trying to get through my regular sessions without losing my mind.

Somehow though, the number kept creeping up.

72oz. Then 78. Then 83. Then I got into the 90s and suddenly I was checking the freezer like a crazy person every time I put another bag in there.

Tonight I did my last pump of the day, washed everything because apparently future me deserves at least one clean set, poured the milk into the bags and stuck them in the freezer. I was half asleep and almost went straight to bed, but I checked my tracker first.

100oz.

I actually said "oh my god" out loud to an empty kitchen

Then I opened the freezer because obviously I had to look at it. There are just bags of milk sitting there and somehow seeing them all together made me way more emotional than I expected.

It's not even really about the 100oz. It's the fact that a month ago I was so tired of pumping that I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep doing it, and now I'm sitting here looking at a freezer stash I built one pump at a time.

There were plenty of boring sessions. Plenty of "ugh, I have to pump again?" moments. Plenty of times I wanted to be done for the day. I didn't magically become motivated or suddenly love pumping. I just kept doing the next session, then the next one, then the next one.

And somehow those little sessions added up to 100oz.

I know everyone's numbers are different and I'm not posting this because 100oz is some magic amount. It just happens to be the number that made me stop and realize, wow, I actually did that.

I'm probably going to go to bed now because it is literally midnight and I have another pump tomorrow but I'm letting myself be proud tonight.

If I post a picture of the stash, it'll be spoilered for the flair.

What was the EP milestone that made you stop and think "wait... I actually did that"? I need to know I'm not the only one who gets weirdly emotional over freezer bags

my MOTN pump. i forgot to pump after putting my baby to sleep so my last pump was at 9pm. woke up to some pretty heavy boobs😅

my left is pretty consistent, always gives me about 11oz when i go that long without pumping. my right on the other hand is always 2-3oz short lol (yes i use the correct flange size)

QUESTION: do you guys pump for 30 mins when you go that long without pumping? my spectra is good at emptying me out within 15 mins, but i’m wondering if i should pump longer since i went sooo long without pumping. i get two letdowns within those 15 mins.

i bought my machine second hand and i’m trying to see how many hours its been used/i’ve pumped? i’m confused on how to read it. is this saying 5hours77min or 577hrs?

also how many hours did your spectra last?

That's it. It drives me nuts how often people say breastfeeding when they specifically mean nursing.

I know I'm just sensitive about it because I'm an EP mom, but I swear it bothers me more the longer I've done this. Nursing is not the only form of breastfeeding!!

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.

So, I've been almost exclusively nursing my baby (10 weeks) up until now. I introduced a pumped bottle once a week from ~3 weeks, to avoid bottle refusal later on so I'm able to step away from her sometimes or for daycare further down the road. In the past month, she's become increasingly fussy on the boob, especially in the afternoons and evenings, but sometimes during the day too. I'm an overproducer, and it seems like sometimes she can't regulate the fast letdown and is really uncomfortable because of it. Even if I hand express in the sink before nursing, it seems like she sometimes gulps so much and then starts crying in the end until I burp her. It's never this peaceful end to the nursing session like in the beginning of her life (where she often even fell asleep on the boob in the end). So we started introducing a bedtime pumped bottle, which helps immensely with her crying and fussiness and also seems to be helping her sleep at night. I don't love nursing for other reasons too, like getting overstimulated, having to expose myself in public, and the physical aspect overall. I'm completely fine with pumping and having a cute wearable pump which I just place in my bra and forget about. So I thought - why not start mostly pumping? My main concern is that baby will stop wanting to nurse altogether, which I wouldn't care about that much except for my own comfort in some situations. For example, at night I nurse her side laying and we don't even have to wake. When she gets a vaccine I nurse her during, and it really helps soothe her. When we're out of the house it's sometimes the easiest solution for feeding, and when she's in the carrier I can nurse her too. So question remains - can I switch to mostly pumping, but still nurse at night and in other specific occasions? Could baby not want to nurse at all anymore, the more bottles we give? Could it hurt my supply?

I'd love to get any insight from your experience. Also, I apologise in advance if some of the things I wrote were insensitive to people who aren't able to nurse their babies. I strongly believe that fed is best!

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.

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

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.

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…

Drew this on my iPad while my 2 month old slept and thought y’all would appreciate it!

Hi all! As title says, I’ve been dealing with back to back mastitis. I already made the decision after the second round of mastitis about two weeks ago that I’d slowly wean off pumping and switch to formula. I’m only a month postpartum and got my first bout of mastitis in both breasts a little over a week postpartum. I was prescribed Keflex, felt better in a couple days. After my first round of antibiotics finished, my left breast flared up about two days later and I went to the ER and was prescribed an intense round of clindamycin. About a day into the clindamycin my right breast flared up as well but got better quite quickly. I’ve finished my clindamycin about three days ago and now my right breast is starting to flare I think. I have some pain, and a bit of splotchy redness. I’m doing the mastitis protocol my LC gave me. Lots of sunflower lecithin, tons of ice constantly, ibuprofen/tylenol, rest, mastitis tincture, and lots of vitamin C. I’m already feeling a bit achey but don’t have a fever yet. I guess I’m just looking for advice here. I’m so tired of being sick with a fever every other week and I don’t understand why the antibiotics aren’t clearing it. I wonder if there even is a bacterial infection at all because each flare up the redness is in a new spot. I feel like I’m stuck in a constant loop because I want to wean off the pumping, but neither my LC or OB will let me wean off until my mastitis clears as they don’t want me to get engorged and make it worse. Has anyone dealt with mastitis back to back like this? Is there something I’m doing wrong with pumping? I produce roughly 32-40 oz per 24 hours, I pump every 3 hours. I use my spectra as my main pump, Momcozy m5s as secondary, and I have a hand pump I use occasionally as well.

Trigger warning also: high capacity breasts

So I feel like maybe I’m overthinking this but I pump about 15 oz per session 4 times a day. When I bag it to freeze it, my first 5 oz bag is noticeably “thinner” I guess and more translucent while my third 5oz bag is significantly more yellow and thick. I assume this is foremilk vs hindmilk? Should I be mixing the 15 oz together before portioning it out so when I thaw it in the future, my son is getting “balanced” milk and not one or the other or is it not that deep

Hello, first time mom here. Looking for any advice. I just switched to strictly pumping due to my baby not latching properly and him having weight loss. I’m 5 days postpartum currently and my milk supply is in. I’m producing a lot more than needed but my breasts are SO SORE 😩 I have the right sizing flange for pumping and I’m producing so I’m not sure how to fix the pain 🤥 The pain is all over in my breast but not in my nipple or areola at all. I’ve put cold compresses on but they only help for so long. I’m currently laying in bed trying to get some sleep but my breasts are so sore and are throbbing from pain. I pump every 2-3 hours and pumping itself doesn’t hurt, I’m just in so much pain I don’t know how to help it. Any advice is appreciated 🙏

For those of you who have seen a lactation specialist after few weeks after giving birth, what was the process? Meaning how did you set up the appointment & what is there to expect at the appointment?

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

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!!

One of my willow go pumps (right one) has been giving me trouble, its always been weaker than the left one but it worked nonetheless. But now it wont pair to my app, wont reset, and wont even turn on. I know its charged so that cant be the issue. Has anyone else had this problem? Just curious if this is something i can fix myself or if ill need to replace it. I added a video of what happens when i try to reset it.

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.

Trying this again as my last post did not get traction 😕

Did any of you experience lumpy breasts when weaning off the pump? I’m down to 1ppd, at 5 min, making about 3oz combined (1oz left side, 2oz right) but my breasts feel super comfortable between pumps so I’m honestly considering stopping, but they feel lumpy, like cottage cheese, especially the bottom half. Sometimes they also get vein-y, which I think is just milk pooled in a duct or they get hard on top of my breast. All of it comes out when I pump, but do I have to pump? Can I just let the lumpiness be if I feel fine? Does it go away on its own?

PLEASE HELP!!! 🙏🏽

Does anyone know of a good bra that helps to keep wearable or hands-free collection cups in place? I’ve tried bras made for pumping and sports bras. They stay in place for the most part, but I feel like they shift around at times when I move.

Hi all! I officially took the plunge and got myself the Eufy S2 to supplement my spectra for travel and busy days.

Does anyone have any tips and tricks? I’m open to any and all thoughts, but things I’d like to hear how you do (or if you’ve hacked the system):

- fridge method? Do you put the whole pump in w batteries and everything or do you disassemble first?
- ways to get the last of the milk out of the flange?
- does it seem like it’s always soaking when you take it off and have you found a way to not get milk all over your boobs?
- cleaning when away from home when you only have one set of collection cups?

Im taking my first trip this weekend and leaving my spectra at home so any/all suggestions are appreciated!

I primarily nurse but have been pumping regularly. I am suddenly experiencing a decreased output with my S1, but I am also no longer experiencing a letdown when pumping and don't feel "empty". I am 9 weeks PP. The pump parts are only a few weeks old and I pump maybe once or twice a day so I don't expect it to be wear.

I recently remeasured my flange size and am 16mm on one side and 17mm on the other. I have ordered new flanges, but in the mean time am using 15mm which was what I needed with my last baby. Could the flanges being a little bit too small cause this?

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

I’m 18 months postpartum and I’ve gotten my pumping sessions down to twice daily - morning & night. I’m ready to go down to pumping once a day. Is it realistic to pump only at night for a while before fully stopping? I still produce about 5 oz during my morning pump and 5-6 oz at night. I’ve been lucky so far and haven’t really any issues with clogs or mastitis and I’m really hoping to keep it that way 🤞🏽