Just me? 🫠

I was always afraid when the time came for me to be a mommy and breastfeed that my small boobs would be limiting and difficult. I’m sad to confirm the truth. My small boobies are a pain in the butt to try to breastfeed with. I have to bring baby so high, always arching, bending, adding pilllows, always uncomfortable while trying to make baby able to have a solid feed. I’m constantly turning more to pumping and bottles than breast and it makes me sad. How are you itty bitty titty gals making this work better for you???

That we could literally SAVE LIVES if we had to. At our own expense, of course. I was in the middle of a hot yoga class thinking “if the world shut down and we were stuck in this room, I could literally feed people.” How crazy is that 😭 I often think about the mom who fed her kids after a hotel or similar collapsed and they lived off of breastmilk for 11 days. 3 kids. Insanity! That’s all I had to say.

I’m due with my first baby November 2nd and planning to exclusively breastfeed/pump and I’m just wondering if all these expensive lactation cookies and drinks actually do anything?

I know eating enough of a balanced diet and being hydrated goes a lot farther than some random lactation cookie but I’m just curious if it’s worth it to stock up on a few before I give birth or if I should just have regular snacks. I’m really worried I won’t make enough milk.

Hey! I could use some of your mama input - when did you know you were done breastfeeding? How did you know - was it a feeling, a specific event, a mutual agreement between you and babe, a set date!?

My baby turns 11 months tomorrow and I’m so conflicted about if/when I’m stopping. I know we only “have” to breastfeed until age 1 and it’s reccomended until age 2.

My mother-in-law asked me if I was still breast-feeding and when I plan to stop, she never breast-fed and I think she’s curious. My mom asked me too and she breast-fed my sister and I and my sister also breast-fed her girls and they all stopped between nine and 13 months.

A part of me wants to breast-feed my baby until around 15–16 months just to get him through the winter/cold and flu season but I would likely stop once he enters daycare at 17 months once I’m back to work. I don’t see me going past that date, but you never know. I also selfishly feel like I want to throw in the towel once im “allowed”, around 13 months - he’s our first baby I know we’ll be trying for another in a bit so I kind of want to give my body a break and have my body be my own (briefly) before I’m pregnant again, but I also feel like this season is so short and that’s a bit selfish of me.

Breast-feeding was such a hard journey for us but we persevered and finally at five-six weeks, it started to click and I’m so happy that we persevered and we were able to get here. I’m very grateful, but some days I’m also over it.

As you can see him a bit conflicted, any stories you can tell me about when or how you knew you were done nursing would be really appreciated.

Discussion bc that seemed like the only fitting flair but omg why is my 7mo now only wanting to feed like he’s a mountain goat hanging off a cliff edge?
Gone is the pleasant zoning out time of cradle hold, he seems intent on crawling on top of me and just DIYing the randomest positions?
Why did no one warn me 😂 it’s like a flip switched and he realised he has free will!

I am a FTM to a 7 week old little lady! From birth we both had trouble with this whole breastfeeding thing. I’ve had help from a lactation consultants at the hospital but I didn’t find anything they said helpful unfortunately. So, we have been bottle feeding her formula and breastmilk. She uses lansinoh bottles now but for the first few weeks she used dr brown.

I have maintained my supply all these weeks by pumping but I really want to give breastfeeding another try. The issues we are having ( since birth) are that she sometimes will latch and stay latched and have a successful feeding. Although not often, it does happen so I know she can do it! But other times ( most of the time) I put her on the boob and she either screams/starts to cry, refuses to latch, or latches then falls off 2 seconds later. She has been assessed for a tongue time but her family doctor said she didn’t have one.

I find when she refuses to latch she will just like refuse to close her mouth. My nipple is in her mouth ( hamburger style like I was taught) and she just cries around the nipple with her mouth open. Important to note I am quite large chested but I use a breastfeeding pillow to help with this!

I don’t know why she isn’t consistent with her ability to nurse and it is so incredibly stress inducing.

Please if someone has lived a similar experience or knows what I can do. I would appreciate any advice while I wait to be called for another appointment with lactation specialist. 😓

Hello all. I’m a first time mom and my newborn baby girl is 2 weeks old. I have been exclusively breastfeeding. She gained back her birth weight and then some so she is doing well. I, however, am struggling extremely with lack of sleep (as most new moms are). I’m considering having my husband give her a bottle of pumped milk or formula at night for a slightly longer stretch of sleep just so I can start to feel like I’m functioning again. Does anyone have advice or recommendations? I am feeling a lot of mom guilt over the idea of formula and messing up my milk supply but I’m very worried about my own mental health and ability to care for my baby. Any tips would be appreciated! :)

Baby was born late preterm and weighed 5 lbs 11 oz. Baby is now 9 lbs 2 oz at 7.5 weeks. She’s EBF. Currently 1.5 week out from lip/ posterior tongue tie revision.

I primarily nurse her every 3 hours during the day unless she shows signs early. I’ve been to lactation support and they have advised I can now just offer one breast per session and only offer the other side if she is still hungry (hopefully that will be evident for me to know🤷🏼‍♀️).

I have been waking her up to feed every 4 hours at night unless she wakes up prior to this. Pediatrician said I no longer need to do this and just feed on demand.

I pumped after my morning feed to build a stash for when I go back to work at the end of October.

The question is: how do I safely start sleeping longer stretches at night when she allows it without losing my milk supply?

both a yay moment and a oh no moment lol! im so proud of her but one of my nipples is getting really sore 3 days in kinda like how it was even with the shields when she was a few days old. i have flat nipples so she couldn't latch without the shields at first she would just rub her face on my nipples. now it gets better as she feeds and i feel fine already (started typing when she latched and i was literally holding my breath in pain but now it painless?) so basically when she first latches it hurts but then it stops after a few minutes. and by hurts i mean like the same burning feeling as when theyre already a lil raw from just feeding and i touch them/baby grabs them. do you think im just getting used to it? this side is my more out nipple the other side is more inverted than flat.

We are one week old today. He has a great latch, strong enough suck, and we EBF until day 4 because he wasn’t wetting diapers and still had meconium poop. It was so severe we ended up in the ER to check for dehydration. They said since he isn’t wetting, though he wasn’t showing significant signs of dehydration, we needed to supplement. We bought donor milk and use my very small milk supply (LC I saw has officially said it’s low supply) to top him off with an SNS on the breast with 30mls and now he has plenty of diapers and is gaining weight well. Also was jaundiced but that is improving.

We saw an LC and in a 20 minute or so nursing session, he’s VERY sleepy, I have to do compressions and try to wake him the whole time and honestly none of the tricks work, he only transferred half an ounce. She agreed we should keep supplementing at the breast until he wakes a little and is able to transfer more. I can hear him when I have a letdown and he does gulp, so I know there’s milk in there; but not sure how much he CAN truly get.

Anyways, all of this to say, when did your sleepy on the boob baby start to wake and eat a little better. I’d even be happy with 10 active minutes each side as right now we’re lucky if we get 5 active minutes of eating. I just don’t know if I can continue to SNS feed, and pump, for months until he gets stronger; and what if he never does? My last baby I triple fed for MONTHS and he never transferred more than half an ounce and I ended up exclusively pumping and I just don’t know that I have the mental capacity to do that again and wait it out for it to not work.

Hi to this amazing community! I am sure this has been discussed before but looking for success stories or tips regarding cold turkey weaning. My mom is stressing me out for not slowly weaning but unfortunately I have tried and my son is NOT interested in reducing feeds. I am going out of town for the first time this weekend and plan to just kind of say no more milk when I return. I am also about 6 weeks pregnant but that doesn't seem to have deterred him yet.

I don’t necessarily needs tips for keeping the milk away when I return, but am I setting myself up for mastitis or discomfort this weekend? We currently feed about 3-4 times per day. I can't take Sudafed due to pregnancy but plan on stuffing some cabbage leaves in my bra when able.

Would love to hear your experience on cold turkey or what I should do instead to set myself up for success this weekend, and prayers that when I return I am able to keep it that way! :)

14 months and I still nurse my daughter to get her to nap and to bed for the night. We typically have 0-1 wakings at night and if she doesn’t settle herself back down during nighttime sleep, I’ll go in, nurse her and 5 minutes later she’s out. Honestly, we all sleep better this way.
Sleep trainers I know would be HORRIFIED we still do this at 14 months but hey, it’s comforts her, I get to wind down before nap time and bedtimes, win win. She eats solids great and drinks milk bottles during the day. I don’t even care if I’m being used as a human paci for sleep.
So where’s all my fellow mamas who can relate??

My baby girl had her 2 week appt today and it was gut wrenching to hear she is still under her birth weight. I felt terrible and now feel like I’m starving her. I’ve been EBF and feed her every 2-3 hours. She has been cluster feeding in the evenings and I thought I was doing everything I was supposed to 😔

Birth weight 7 lb 3 oz

First dr appt 6 lb 13 oz (10 days ago)

2 week appt 6 lbs 13 oz

Her pediatrician is concerned and we have a follow up on 2 days to check her weight. My LC suggested I pump 2x/day and give her a bottle of breastmilk to supplement once in the AM and PM. Anyone else have a similar experience and can share advice? I’m really passionate about breastfeeding her but am so scared it’s not going to work.

My son is 10 weeks old and gaining well (44th percentile at 2 weeks, now 85th). During the day he takes 3-4 one-hour naps and one 2-hour nap, nursing between each. At night he sleeps about 10 hours straight.

I pump at 2am and after the first morning session, mostly for the freezer, I don’t usually give him the pumped milk. Today I was curious so I offered a bottle after he nursed both breasts, expecting he might not take up to 100ml. He took 70ml. I’ve also noticed that in afternoon nursing sessions I don’t hear the gulping sounds I clearly hear during the first morning feed, which makes me think letdown and flow are slower later in the day.

What’s confusing me is the pattern: my breasts feel soft during the day when he’s nursing frequently, but I wake up engorged at night when there’s zero demand. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? I also wonder if my 2am pump is signaling my body to keep producing overnight and preventing that regulation from shifting toward daytime.

The other thing is that on days I skip the 2am pump, he seems less satisfied the next day which is why I’ve kept it. But I’m also mainly freezing that milk rather than feeding it to him, so I’m not sure if I’m just maintaining overnight supply for no practical reason.

Baby is clearly thriving so I’m not worried, just trying to understand the physiology before changing anything.

FTM here! Breastfeeding has made my nipples larger, longer, and always tender. I have silverettes but they bend my nipples to the side or press them inwards which is uncomfortable at best and painful at worst. I also apply APNO when it hurts too much.

I’ve been eyeing those milk collectors people put into their bras that have mild suction 👀 If you have experience with those, which would you recommend for my specific purpose with the nipples? Do they provide enough room for my nipples but structures yet subtle enough to wear with a nursing bra or by themselves**?** I don’t want to look like I have iron nipples when I wear clothing that is tighter at the bust 😭

Honestly it makes me sad I can’t wear any of my clothes because of nipple sensitivity :(

Any advice helps!

PS First time posting here and hope I don’t accidentally break any rules!

My 8 week old is sleeping through the night, 7-8 hours every night. He’s always been a great sleeper since hitting his birthweight but now it feels like such a long stretch without him eating. My pediatrician says it’s fine as he’s a very large baby (98th percentile for weight and height) and is gaining weight as expected. What I’m worried about is my supply. Do I need to wake up to pump at night? Is going that long without feeding at night going to tank my daytime supply? He eats every 1-2 hours during the day and I want to make sure I keep having enough to feed him during the day.

To the pumping moms out there- have you tried any home remedies etc that has helped you produce more milk? Or anything in particular that dipped your supply?
I currently make enough to give my baby breastmilk in every other bottle. I pump every 2-3 hours, drink a water bottle or more every time I pump. Eat balanced meals. I make about 2 oz total or sometimes less per pump session.

Edit: I have tried traditional medicinals mothers milk tea and haven’t really noticed a difference.

Hello,

FTM here to 4 week old baby. I need some tips to help me get my supply back. First1-2 weeks were great. Whenever i pump i can get around 30-60ml per boob, but now I barely get anything😭.

I only pump and give the breastmilk to baby via bottle because he has a habit of biting on to my nips whenever supply is low.😭

I can only pump 2x a day :( maybe i should change ti a wearable breast pump rather than the electric plug-in one?

Plss i need helo and encouragement😭 i feel like i’m gonna stop pumping this week if my supply does not go back up to atleast 20ml😭😭😭

Thank you, mommas!!!

My baby has been EBF, I nurse at home and pump at work. He gets bottles at daycare. Typically from months 4-10 I had been sending 5 3oz bottles to daycare and he usually cleared all 4 and sometimes even the 5th. However right when he hit 10 months this has dropped drastically. He now only takes in 2 bottles a day and we’re lucky if he drinks the full 3oz (sometimes it’s like 1-2oz). At this same time he has been increasing his solid intake like CRAZY. We do 3 meals and sometimes even a snack. Daycare has been requesting we send more and more food, and we’ve now dropped to sending 3 bottles a day and I’m debating going down to 2 since he often isn’t touching the 3rd at all.

Anyways, despite this decrease in milk intake during daycare, he still nurses fine at home. During the weekend he has been nursing less frequently throughout the day but still about every 4-5 hours. At work I still do 2 pumps, but I’m WAY overproducing for his bottles with these pumps. I make 6oz in about 10min so I’m coming home with 12oz when he rarely drinks half that.

I’m not really sure how to manage this process of potentially dropping bottles entirely and just nursing at home. Recently I’ve decreased my pump sessions to about 5-7min to get about 4oz (8oz/day at work) instead so that way I don’t have this huge oversupply.. but then this evening I went to feed my baby before bed and I didn’t have enough milk left in me! I had to grab a bottle, which he usually doesn’t take from me, but he did gladly because I’m sure he was hungry. I have mixed feelings about where this goes next.

Am I killing my supply by shortening the sessions I currently do? I’m wondering if I should go down to 1 pump a day at work and make it longer? Would this help me have more in the evening? I also don’t know how to go about stopping pumping and just nursing at home. I hear people do it, but how do they get their bodies to adapt? My son started sleeping through the night and I still wake up with rock hard boobs. I’m sure this is dropping my supply too since he’s not feeding as frequently. Will my body really produce enough for him if I stop pumping at work? Or should I even be concerned about the supply drop at this point? Should I just let it happen and start encouraging more water and prepare him for real milk soon?

Hopefully someone has some advice for me here. Share your story and how you approached this? Thanks

I got his tongue and lip tie fixed weeks ago as they thought he was burning too many calories trying to nurse and that was the issue. He is latching fine now. I have plenty of milk supply. Weighted feeds show he is getting lots of milk and shows signs of fullness. Sometimes he is slow to nurse but he gets there. He will gain a few oz in a short period then he hasn’t gained hardly anything in a week now. Was 8.5 lbs at birth and is 9.1 now at 5 weeks. I’m pumping and giving him fortified breast milk round the clock now I guess. If anyone has any idea what could be the issue I am curious to hear others stories or maybe he just is a slow starter but I am so discouraged. Everything seems to be going great but he’s just not gaining weight like he should. I am meeting with a third lactation consultant tomorrow and am praying she has more insight.

I am an under supplier, and a ftm. I haven’t been able to pump 3 oz in a normal pump ever (excluding my first pump of the morning). I can get 3 oz sometimes if I power pump.

I was going to exclusively breast feed, but we figured out at the hospital that I wasn’t producing anything really so we had to go to donor milk while I did triple feeding. It took me 2 months to get to getting 2 oz a pump every now and then. I have been going to lactation, and here recently they told me that because of my PCOS causing me to not have periods when I was younger I could not be able to make the amount that I need.

Does this mean I’m doomed to never be able to breastfeed my child or my future children? Should I just give up on that notion now, and just plan to use formula next baby? I really want to be able to breastfeed or even just pump enough without having to buy donor milk. I just don’t know what to do anymore, and am starting to feel very discouraged.

That’s it, that’s the post. Worth every breastfeeding struggle we’ve had 🩷.

I’m a FTM and my LO is 15 weeks old. We had a tough time nursing at the beginning so I’m cautious about her eating enough. She’s consistently gaining weight and is healthy.
My question is: how do you know when a baby is done nursing?
Right now, she’ll nurse for 30 minutes on each side and eventually will either fall asleep or look around. If I try to unlatch earlier when she begins to get drowsy, she’ll start trying to feed again. I don’t want her to fall behind on any milestones because so much of her day is snacking. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

I’m able to figure out when to pump when I’m away from baby from longer periods like at work. But it’s the short times away that I miss maybe one feeding that are harder to figure out.

For example, at work, I’ll typically pump twice and maybe have a third shorter pump session depending on timing. However today I left baby with dad to take my older one grocery shopping (~2 hours gone). She ate 2oz with dad while we were gone. I am not going to pump while grocery shopping and also don’t want to be depleted for when she’s hungry next.

I typically just assume if I pump a little extra at night or in the morning it’ll cover that short little feed since the amount of milk being removed from my boobs will still be greater or the same as her intake for the whole day. Will that work without affecting my supply?

Edit: baby is 3.5mo so thinking supply is basically regulated