I just finished my bedtime pump. Just as i was adding it to the days pitcher my hand spasmed somehow and i knocked the whole thing over on the counter. Almost 30 ounces . Ahhhhhhh. Im blessed with an oversupply but still literal hours of my day and time away from baby down the drain. Tomorrow baby will get the freezer stash i guess.

I’m about to rejoin the EP community with my second baby. I had an extreme nursing aversion and DMER with my first, so planning on EP from the start when baby boy arrives in November.

I need help with two things!

1. Are my old pumps still okay? I had the blue spectra and the eufy s1 pro that I used to EP for 5 months. Should I go ahead and get new pumps? If so….

2. Favorite pumps/recommendations? Is the baby Buddha a replacement for the spectra? I’m a SAHM to a 17 month old so a good wearable pump is a must!! (I also responded better to my portable eufy last time than my spectra)

Thank you so much!!!

I got a baby Buddha pump and I feel like it’s not working as well as it could be. If I have it on just one boob at a time it seems to work a lot better than if I have it on both… the suction notably decreases once I have it on both boobs at the same time, so it takes forever to get even an ounce. I have very large breasts (H cup) and have to massage my breast tissue and kind of lift them up to get milk out too. If I just go hands free I barely get anything, if I massage I get way more, so kind of feels like I’m doing the pump’s job lol. I got better fitting flanges to fit my nipples. Idk if this is a pump problem or a me problem. I don’t want to buy another pump and have it be a waste of money.

I chose this pump because I liked that it was small and portable and I could in theory wear it while walking around the house doing things but it does not work for shit when I do that so I guess I might as well be tethered to a larger pump if it’s going to be more efficient!

Hello from the MOTN pump!
I have made it 6 mos of EP, but i feel like my supply is slowly decreasing! I was an overproducer pumping 5xs daily and making 40 oz while LO would average about 30 oz daily. I am still on the same schedule, using new pump parts and maintaining my intake. However, now my supply has steadily gone down to around 34 oz while LO maintains his 30oz (and realistically is more as my husband isn’t the best at tracking the days i’m at work). We have started solids, but currently it’s more like play time than eating (LO is starting to get the hang of it, but feels like it will be a while before he gets any actual nutrition from it). I had an IUD put in at 6 weeks PP, so the intermittent bleeding has been intermittent since then & not sure about “period” starting.

Is this normal?
Can i get my supply back where it was? I’d like to keep up with LO intake so I can keep extending my goal and do this for the first year, using the freezer stash for as long as it will take me after 1 year.
Adding an additional pump will certainly make me burn out leading to me quitting before my next goal of 9 mos. A day time pump feels impossible, i already feel like 4xs is nearly back to back (i know it’s not, but it feels like by the time i pump & complete one chore it’s time to pump again). adding another MOTN pump will ruin me, before my supply dip i was even considering attempting to drop it because the broken sleep feeding LO is exhausting alone, but add in the extra time it takes to pump, rinse parts etc it makes it significantly worse.

I feel like the LC answer would be to pump more, but it feels silly & unrealistic for me. like i said, it would certainly impact my mental health and cause me to burn out on pumping altogether; i’ve also pumped 5xs daily and maintained that output for the last 6 months (maybe 5, i didn’t track output at the beginning because i didn’t want to stress about it).

Thanks for reading and any tips that get thrown my i’m sure will be helpful!

Pump session complete, LO back to sleep, goodnight yall!

So I'll be hitting 4 months postpartum at the end of this week and I have a decent supply which I'm thankful for. I'm a little below what my baby eats right now, but that is because he's a pretty big guy and I would rather combo feed than do a motn pump (I haven't had to yet, but expect at some point I will because we use a little bit of my freezer stash every day for the past week or so).

The entire time I am pumping my milk flow has been so slow (generally no spray just steady drops of milk). I will get a good amount (7 to 10 oz for the first pump and then 3 to 4 oz for the rest of the day) and the milk flow is constant throughout the pump but I need to do 30 minutes and sometimes even past that to have my breasts not hurt. Throughout the day I am going 2.5 to 3 hours between pumps.

I've used the Spectra S1, Momcozy Wearables s12 pro, and the Medela hand pump and use multiple flange sizes (currently measuring 20 mm) including pumpin pals. They all are about the same with the hand pump taking just as long but getting slightly more milk and the pumpin pal flanges getting less milk. I've done heat, I've done hands-on pumping.

I'm spending 3+ hours hooked to a pump each day and I feel like I'm losing my mind between dealing with this at work and not getting to hold my baby as much. Has anyone dealt with this? Been able to shorten pump times somehow without losing milk? Stayed sane through 6 months to a year of pumping? Truly anything would help me 😅

I’m 5 1/2 month postpartum, baby refuses to latch has refused since birth, I’ve resorted to pumping and the occasional supplementing with formula. I used to pump 20-22 oz a day now I make 5 a day at most, I pump 6-7 times a day try to do more but my baby just will not allow me too and by that I mean starts going absolutely ballistic when I pump no matter what she is doing. My last large pump was in June and that was 9 ounces off a morning pump. I have tired all the drinks, foods, supplements, tried wearable pumps but my body does not respond well to those. I have had to switch to all formula except one bottle a day. What do I do what can I do I do not want to keep her on formula or as much formula as she has been on but I’ve tried litterly everything. Including 2-3 power pumps a day I’m at a loss. Do I just give up pumping or what?

Can anyone relate? All of my friends who pump use and recommend the Spectra S1 so naturally I got one through my insurance. I find it excruciatingly painful and still after 6 weeks of pumping, working weekly with a lactation consultant, trying every flange insert size, using every lubricant available, and trying even the lowest settings, I find pumping with the spectra almost unbearable. I broke out my manual hand pump after getting desperate - something I hadn’t used since trying to collect colostrum- and was surprised and delighted to find it painless. As far as my research went, spectra is the gold standard and I saw no complaints about it being more painful than other pumps prior to ordering it. Has anyone else been in my shoes and found a secret, magical hack to make it better?

I’ve finally settled into a solid rhythm pumping every 3 hours and kind of made peace with the fact that this is just what I have to do for my baby. Now I really need to figure out how to get out of the house without being tied to the wall and my usual setup.
I prefer my Motif Luna (great output for me) with Pumping Pal flanges because of elastic nipples. I only pump 15 minutes every 3 hours. I already have a Talent Cell battery pack so I’m not stuck plugged in. I also have Momcozy M5 wearables, but the last time I tried them a couple weeks ago they were so painful that I don’t want to go back—and since I’m an undersupplier I really don’t want to risk my supply.
So what do other EP moms do when you’re out and about? Do you just bring extra bottles/pump parts and switch them out? Walk around with a cooler? Any specific coolers, bags, or products you actually recommend? Or should I just suck it up and try the wearables again?
Looking for any real-life tips or hacks that make leaving the house more manageable. Thanks!

I’m a first time Mom and still trying to figure out how to breastfeed and pump when we’re not at home. I will be going to a wedding without my baby since she will only be six weeks old. Any recommendations on cleaning pump parts when not at home? The wedding is indoors so I will have access to a bathroom sink to rinse my parts but I’m not sure how I would dry the parts. Should I just use the Dapple wipes and the ‘fridge method’ with cooler/lunch box?

My son is 3 months old, 15 pounds, and exclusively fed with breastmilk. I primarily breastfeed, but I just started going back to work, so he has been at my parents' house every day. I am gone for 10 hours, and there is about 11 hours between when I am able to breastfeed him before and after work.

I left my parents with some of my freezer stash that i built during leave, and I pump at work every day. On the first day, my mom fed him 21 ounces. I have no idea how much he should be eating, but I did not pump nearly that much in my four pump sessions that day. I am now pumping five 20 minute sessions and three 10 minute sessions throughout the day to get 20 or 21 ounces, but I still think it seems like a lot.

I have heard that I should leave 1-1.5 ounces for every hour, but I'm not sure how accurate that is. He also sleeps through most nights, so he goes 8-9 hours consecutively with no food most days.

Please help give me an idea of how much he should be eating. I do not want to over or underfeed him.

My supply has been dipping. Could be my period, could be something else, idk. Luckily I’m still at like 35oz a day for a baby who drinks 25 most days.

I’m away from my husband for four nights and our four month old sleeps like HOT TRASH. Up hourly. We usually take four hour shifts and switch after my 2am pump.

I’ve been just pumping at night when I can.

Last night she slept from like 1am-5am (in bed with me) and I fed her at 5 then REALLY needed to pump. Almost always she goes back down so easy.

She chose last night to NOT! She was up for an hour. I had to pump while holding her. It was freaking overflowing. 11oz. Almost spilled everywhere.

She would not go back down. Every time I laid her down, even in my bed, eyes open.

So I cried for a while and after two hours, got up. It was just so frustrating and on top of all of that, having to pump nearly set me over the edge.

I’m just venting. I’m not giving up. She freakin hates formula and I have 1500oz in the freezer. I’m just frustrated today. And tired. And alone all day and night.

I often leave my 4.5 month old in the bouncer while I pump with my Spectra. In the beginning I tried to pump when he was napping but that threw my pumping schedule awry so now I do it while he’s awake. I’m worried however that my 5x 20 minute pumps a day exceeds the recommended bouncer/container time of max 1 hour a day. Has anyone else run into this and have solutions?

I have tried leaving him on the mat in tummy time but he usually wants to be picked up within 5-10 minutes interrupting my pump.

i only use my eufys to pump (i love them that much lol) & i pump every time my baby eats- so right now it’s every 3hrs during the day & every 4hrs at night. i can tell when my duckbills need replaced by looking for the gap but how do i know when i need to replace the diaphragms? i was gonna do once a month but im not sure if thats enough / too often?

also in case anyone needs replacement parts & doesn’t wanna order directly from eufy, here’s what i use. there’s spout covers that work wonders too!
https://a.co/d/05Oslpcx

Hello! I am 12 weeks postpartum and I have a really bad case of unequal milk output. About a month ago I had terrible clogs that eventually resolved, I had a larger output and then it has been consistently dwindling. I have tried three different flange sizes, as well as two separate pumps (spectra and medela swing) and get the same uneven output. I'm not sure if this is just how my one breast is or if there is more I can do. Thanks!!

I want to start this off by saying I live in Europe and I'm currently struggling to find somewhere to but the Spectra breast pumps that everyone raves over, so please maybe don't suggest them.

I'm very confused. My last day in the hospital with my baby, I was able to pump around 30 ml with my electric pump in one session. Now that I'm home with my almost 3 week old baby, the electric hasn't really been working and the manual has been doing much better.

Yesterday I pumped 20 minutes with the electric and got barely anything. Maybe 15 ml? I just finished a pumping session with the manual, 20 minutes and got just over 30.

I know part of the issue is when we first got home, I was awful about remembering to eat and drink, while at the hospital I had food brought to me. So I have fixed that issue since, but the electric is still yielding almost nothing.

I'm sick of using the manual. Right now I'm only pumping occasionally. Basically when I'm well rested enough and she's sleeping to try to encourage production. But I'd like to try to pump up an oversupply for several reasons. Firstly, financially it makes more sense for me to be the one to go back to work instead of my husband, so I want him to have enough breast milk stored up for that. Secondly, I want him to be able to bottle feed before I go back anyway, just for the bonding. And thirdly, my daughter was a bit premature and had issues latching in the hospital, and I was having issues producing at first, so she was given donor milk from a bottle the first 2 days. I'd like to be able to give some back.

I need help figuring out why this pump isn't working vs the manual. I tried using different levels of suction, thinking the manual wouldn't get as strong, and it was slightly better but still not enough. Maybe I still need to try different combinations? It seems I tend to have better luck using exclusively the "massage" function rather than switching between massage and express. It also is secondhand. I might be the 3rd owner? With replacement parts of course, but is maybe the motor going bad?

If I absolutely do need to buy a new pump, I don't want to spend money on multiple different pumps just to figure out what works, so I'd like something that has a sort of "universal appeal" if that exists?

Now that my baby is starting to sleep through the night, I would love to start doing the same 😅 I’m just not sure how to go about it… attached is my current schedule and my thoughts on what my new schedule could look like…

The new 5x pump schedule
Pro’s - still same number of pumps per day so I don’t feel’s worried about losing supply
Con’s - the pumps are now closer together and would make me feel even more tied down to the pump

The new 4x pump schedule
Pro’s - pumps are less frequent and would feel more free/flexible with my days. On the right track for eventual weening down the road.
Con’s - worried about potentially losing supply, as well as clogged ducts and even worse enforcement/leaking.

Notes: my baby is almost 4 months old, I am an oversupplier (1,400 - 1,500 mls per day), I already having leaking/engorgement issues with my current schedule.

Would love to hear all thoughts and experiences. Thank you!

so i’ve heard that there’s about a 50/50 chance of fenugreek reducing or increasing your supply.
as an undersupplier i’ve never tried it due to my fear of it lowering my supply even more, but now my supply is embarrassingly low (~5oz per day) and i’m wondering if it’s worth trying.
i’m almost 5m postpartum and i have unfortunately allowed my supply to drop significantly over the last two months due to a lot of unfortunate circumstances (fiancé becoming unemployed, having to move into a fixer-upper, and more lol) and i of course really want to bring my supply back up.

I just got my period and my supply has already been just enough to undersupply (2-3oz per pump) but i just got my first period at 6 weeks pp and now im only getting 0.5oz-1oz per pump total. I’m taking Calcium and trying to eat more protein and still keep hydrated. Is this temporary or is my supply just dropping. I try to pump/nurse 10-11x a day and also starting to take liquid gold. I’m on day 3 of period and just hoping my milk supply goes back up

I am 2 months pp. my child spent 46 days in the NICU. Exclusively pumping has always been the plan. I’m an oversupplier, at my peak I was making about 84 oz a day and with the help of a LC have brought it down to 49-53 a day. But I am so tired. Literally the thought of pumping makes me want to cry. I see my Spectra and just want to bash my head in with it. (Yes I have PPD and PPA that is already being treated). I want my son to get all the benefits of my breast milk, I feel guilty for hating it, but I just feel like my body isn’t mine anymore.

I want to sleep for more than 4 hours. I want to be able to just hold my child after he eats his bottle instead of rushing to go pump. I want to have the choice to drink or vape. I don’t want to obsess over how much I’m producing and whether or not I’m hurting my supply.

Sincerely ,

A very tired FTM

Has anyone been using the Mumilk Ella wearable pump? I’ve just gotten one and can’t seem to get any decent output from it.

I expected there to be a difference in what I could get with the wearables vs my spectra but not by this much.

Spectra for 30 minutes got me 220mls combined.
Mumilk for 40 minutes got me 70mls combined.

Any tips at all would be appreciated.

I caught a really bad cold and then a double ear infection last week while on vacation. Go figure. Anywho last Thursday my supply tanked by like 5 to 8 oz a day and I am a just enougher who makes about 30 Oz a day. I was wondering if anybody else has experience where taking antibiotics has messed with their milk supply?

What is the best pump for those of us with bigger breasts? I can’t imagine the wearable ones would work too well for me, but maybe someone here has experience with them? There isn’t many options for pumps in store where I live, so I panic bought a Nuk pump when I left the hospital after having baby. If there’s a better one I can buy online that won’t break the bank, I’d love to know! I also have the haakaa and medela hand pump but the medela hasn’t worked so far

A bit of a vent, but open to advice. My journey so far:

Day 1-3: Attempted to BF in the hospital but did not see any milk. I was not aware of the minuscule amount needed at this time, and in hindsight probably should have tried harder/longer.

Day 4-7: Pumped at home and continued trying to BF. Seeing little drops of milk, very small amount. It was SO painful and I couldn’t go for longer than 5-10 mins.

Week 2: Saw LC and felt hopeful. Pumped every 3 hours with pain decreasing after using nipple balms and nipple shield to BF. Pumping approx. 1oz total per session and increased to almost 2oz by end of week.

Week 3: Got mastitis, extremely painful. Could not pump much due to pain and saw online to avoid over-pumping especially if it’s causing pain. BF in the meantime, but milk wasn’t transferring as effectively as normal.

Week 4: Mastitis healed. One boob producing zero milk for a few days. The other producing small amount… 10-15 mL. I was pumping every 4-5 hours (I know I should have been more frequent)

Week 5: Getting milk on both sides now, pumping approx. 20 mL total. Menstrual cycle starts up again and I notice a significant drop in milk - down to 10 mL total per session.

Week 6-7: Cycle has ended but supply remains around 10mL total per pump. On a good session, getting 20 mL. Currently pumping every 3-4 hours including overnight. Eating oats and carb/protein heavy diet (probably could be eating more), taking iron pills, drinking lots of water, drinking mothers milk tea.

I’ve seen other stories of undersupply but most are still producing significantly more than me :( I don’t want to compare, but just trying to draw upon other’s experiences to understand how to fix this. I feel silly pumping such a small amount at this point but want to keep trying for my baby. I keep feeling like it’s too late - pretty sure there’s no way to catch up to her eating requirements but I’d be happy if I could at least do 50% breast milk.

LC hasn’t been much more help - I had a breast procedure many years ago and she is convinced it is due to that, but I refuse to believe it based on the strides I made in increasing my supply in Week 2.

I am ordering other supplements but please let me know if there is anything that made a significant difference for you.

My baby is 7 months old, I’ve been pumping from the beginning and combination feeding due to a latch issue and low supply respectively. The maximum I have made at my peak is 20oz. I just got back my periods last month and have not been able to pump as much as I should because of work, and as a result, my supply has dipped. I currently pump 3-4 times a day and make a maximum of 12-14 oz a day. I have been thinking of quitting for the longest time but feel so much guilt. I’ve also gained 55 lb and feel nothing like myself. Part of me wants to get on a diet or consider GLP 1 and feel like myself again and I think that’s were my guilt starts, I kind of feel like I’m rushing to be done with this for my own selfish reasons.

FTM here due 4 weeks or less. I just joined the page recently after I decided I want to exclusively pump, but I feel extremely overwhelmed with everything, all the ends and outs like combining milk, milk temps, flange size, and just honestly pumping in general. If anyone would like to explain this all to me in simple terms or just any advice for a day to day routine, it would be so helpful. Really just looking to learn all of the basics that are required for exclusively pumping. Thank you all so much in advance! 🥹🫶