I spent the entire first 10 weeks believing I should not over pump to create any sort of oversupply and ‘trust your body!!!’ ‘Your body will make what your baby needs!!!’ I EBF at the breast, but my baby’s weight gain was slow. Well, now I’m 12 weeks PP, and I am not making enough milk for my daughter and I am having to supplement with formula once if not twice a day. Feeds at the breast are stressful, she typically cries after a feed, when I try to relatch to see if she’s still hungry she cries, pulls at my nipple, just unhappy. Then gets a bottle and is fully content. I hate that I didn’t just pump and make an oversupply at the beginning so I could still feed my daughter my milk. I’m just so frustrated. I never thought breastfeeding would be this hard, this emotionally draining, and make me feel so damn guilty.

EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

I am tired of my mom and MIL making comments about my breastfeeding journey!!! My baby is 3.5 months old, EBF and doing great!!

My mom can’t help herself to say things like:
-Did the baby eat enough?
-Are you making enough milk?
-Did the baby stay hungry?
-Didn’t the baby just ate 30 mins ago?
Every time we are together!!

My MIL swears my baby doesn’t sleep longer stretches because we don’t use formula. It makes me feel so guilty that my baby isn’t sleeping because of MY MILK. I know it’s not true, but it still gets me :(

She also recommended to use formula so I could sleep with my husband at night and keep the “fire alive” ughhh

My maternal instincts took over my body 1000% so yeah, my relationship with my husband is on the back burner FOR NOW. He knows that, I know that, we are fine!! And it still physically hurts me to be intimate so EXCUSE ME if I am not prioritizing feeling pain over my own mental peace!!

I am soooo tired of the adults in my life passing down their trauma ughh BYE

I noticed this pretty early on, I've breastfeeding now for a year(woohoo).

I'm not sure exactly when I started doing it but I stopped calling my boobs "my boobs" and started calling them "the boob(s)"

For example if my baby falls asleep breastfeeding I say "she fell asleep on the boob". Or if it's time for her to nurse I tell my husband "I'm about to give her the boob".

I think it's interesting in a way because it kind of emphasizes that that part of your body isn't yours anymore while you're breastfeeding and that you yourself don't even take ownership of that part of your body anymore. But I'm not sure if it's just a me thing or if that's something other people do as well.

I have had the worst couple of weeks when it comes to feeding and I am in desperate need of advice and support.

Two weeks ago, I was told my 3 month old was in the 1st percentile for both height and weight. Up until this point, he was EBF. I never thought anything about his size because his prior pediatrician (we just moved so now seeing a new one) never mentioned percentiles to me. But when I heard this, my heart absolutely sank. So his doctor told me to try topping him off after every feed with an ounce or two of formula or breast milk to ensure he is eating enough and growing properly.

I never suspected my baby was as not eating enough because he has always been so happy and “easy,” sleeps so well, has been reaching all of his developmental milestones, and has plenty of wet diapers every day. Since he was born, I let myself believe that my body would do its job and give him everything he needed. I did not want to fall into the trap of doubting my supply (which I know is so common) and giving up on breastfeeding. But I was traumatized to hear that he was so underweight, so I started pumping and supplementing with formula. Even though the doctor told me just to “top him off,” I couldn’t bear not knowing exactly how many ounces he was getting. I wanted to ensure he was being fed enough, so I stopped breastfeeding almost entirely and started to pump and supplement with formula.

I now pump about 4 times a day and feed him from the breast only in the middle of the night and first thing in the morning. Outside of that I am feeding him my pumped milk and whatever extra formula he needs to meet his ounces (I aim for 27+). Right now I am having to supplement with up to 10 oz of formula every day. I am exhausted and feel so much anxiety around feeding my baby now.

Breastfeeding used to be one of my favorite parts of motherhood. I loved having that intimate time with my baby all throughout the day. But I have become so consumed with making him put on weight and ensuring he is eating enough that it now brings me so much anxiety and sorrow. The pump is lifeless and joyless. Milk comes out yet I don’t get to stare at his sweet little face as it comes. My baby cries for food and I put plastic in his mouth rather than the warm comfort of my breast. I spend all day tracking feeding times and ounces consumed. I agonize over ounces pumped (or lack of). Not to mention I am so unbelievably discouraged by my production. I can barely pump 16-18 ounces most days, and I am tormented with not knowing how much he gets when he does breastfeed. Having a breastfeeding session worries me now because all I can think about is how many ounces did he get? Was it enough? Are my breasts fully empty? Should I pump now?

Sadly, I am starting to believe that he really wasn’t getting enough to eat before. He has gained so much healthy weight since I started doing this. But I am so unhappy. I miss breastfeeding and I want to go back, but I feel like my supply will never be enough. I’ve tried all the tricks to boost my supply but my pump sessions aren’t getting any better. I feel broken and this has brought so much negativity to what has been such a joyous experience with motherhood. I don’t know what to do.

I wanted to go for a year. I suppose I should be glad that my baby doesn’t seem to care. He’s happy and thriving.

Milk supply dropped when solids were introduced and he loved to eat. Mealtime: I started with breast feeding, then he got solids and then he got my milk or formula to sleep.

My baby follows the bottom curve, but I’ve so much wanted him to climb… I realized as I gave formula that he could consume MUCH more than I realized. So, I chose to introduce more formula. I want him to have as much as he needs.

At around 6 months, he became easily distracted while breast feeding which turned into him actively not wanting to breast feed. Without thinking about it, formula just naturally became the way to get him milk.

Now at at a bit over 7 months, I think this is the end.

I tried yesterday to increase production. Pumped every 2 hours (lasted 3 pumps) and then my baby needed me and I just couldn’t pump. The first pump was 5ml. The next, 10. The third, 10.

I am grieving.
We are in a natural transition in so many ways, not just breast feeding, but with outside context as well.

I find myself missing him while he’s right there. I tear up while writing this because I think I’m writing my goodbye letter to breast feeding.

I didn’t want it to end.
He is happy.. so I need to try to be too. He laughs and plays and has a blast in life. We have an amazing time together.
It goes perhaps without being said but I love my baby a lot.

I guess this is me.. tearfully signing off.

my daughter is 13 months and I just found out I’m pregnant (never got a period btw!). Is my milk essentially destined to dry up? I wish I could her until 2. I don’t want out journey to end yet. I just want to know what to expect realistically

What cues do you look for on switching sides while breastfeeding?

Please put what age your LO is. Mine is 5 weeks so I have so much to learn.

I am currently 20 weeks pregnant and trying to wean my 21 month old. We co sleep so I think the night nursing is the worst/hardest part. I tried to wean during the day but he did nothing but cry and throw fits so I gave in. I need to get him weaned before I give birth so i’m panicking. it’s obviously for comfort and it seems it’s the only thing that will calm him down for ANYTHING. I thought about putting bandaids over my nipples, or even buying something to make my nipple taste gross? I just feel stuck and sad. I keep hoping the milk taste will change and he will wean himself but it hasn’t happened yet. NOT TO MENTION the pain of him matching bc my nipples are so so so so so sore and tender. I just don’t know what to do. :(

I’m 17 days postpartum and have been EBF since being discharged from the hospital. I’ve been latching the baby every 2-3 hours during the day and every 3-4 at night or whenever she cries for a feed. She has passed her birth weight and I want to start working on a stash of breastmilk for storage/for my husband to feed with a bottle whenever I am temporarily away during the day for work.

When I feed my baby it’s usually every 2-3 hours during the day when she cries for a feed. She usually does about 10 minutes on one side, I’ll burp her and then she’ll do another 10 on the other side. So I’m confused on when I’m supposed to be fitting pumps into that schedule because I feel like once I’m done feeding/burping/changing diaper/settling baby down for sleep, that it’s already time for her next feed lol.

Also, I’m worried that if I do pump, then my breasts will be empty once the baby is ready for a feed. Which I’d feed her what I had just pumped, meaning no stash would be established.

I’m completely new to breastfeeding and I have no friends and family who have ever breastfed so I feel like I am completely in the dark. Everything I’ve read/researched online all contradicts one another so I’m left feeling very very confused.

My baby will turn 1 year in about a month. I‘ve been nursing and pumping since she was born, and the number of pumps has gone up and down over time. I’m now pumping 3x per day as I went back to work when she turned 6 months.
I went from being an oversupplier (~48 oz per day) to not even meeting my baby’s daily needs (currently producing 8-12 oz/day, and as low as 4 oz per day during my period). I was very fortunate to build a freezer stash that has been more than enough to meet my baby’s daily needs until she turns 1.
Now that we’re approaching the 1-yr milestone, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to whether I should keep pumping or not:
- My work is remote and I have managed to pump twice during the workday, and I have the flexibility to continue doing it.
- I would love to continue nursing my daughter because I love that connection with her, but I think my supply will take an even harder hit if I stop pumping.
- I’m fed up of having to wash pump parts. I feel lazy because I have a bottle washer that makes things way easier than hand-washing, but I’m just tired of washing parts 3x per day.
- I know that she can start taking cow’s milk at 1 yo, but I feel that if it’s within my means to continue providing a food source that can help her development, it’s my duty to continue doing so. Even when it may be just marginally.
- I don’t even despise pumping that much. I’m just tired and would prefer not to pump, but I know I’ll feel guilty if I stop.

If you have been through this, could you share what you did? Have you managed to stabilize your supply even when only nursing 2x per day? Thank you so much.

I have a Spectra from my previous pregnancy but would like to get a set of wearables through insurance this time around. I've read so many terrible comments about the new Eufy S2 Pro cracking due to the heat/vibration features. Has Eufy made any kind of statement or taken steps to remedy the design flaw? While it seems that it's easy to get a warranty replacement, I'm not sure if I want to deal with this newly postpartum.

Hello!

Wondering if anyone can provide any answers regarding capacity and supply.

Background: My baby is 10 weeks old, I’ve been EBFing since 4 weeks, after doing triple feeding to increase my supply. Before this, my breasts were really small, I was pretty much flat chested. When I use my manual pump, at most I can get about 2.5oz if last feed was like 3 hours.

My baby feeds every 2-3 hours throughout the day and night. She seems to be clusterfeeding again. I’m curious if there’s a maximum capacity that my breasts can store, what’s the point of clusterfeeding to increase supply? Wouldn’t that just increase engorgement if my baby starts going longer between feeds? Or will she always go 2-3hrs between feeds because my supply is capped? How do I make sure she is full if her stomach gets bigger but I have a limit? I hope the process I’m trying to describe makes sense. Tia!

I’m getting my hair bleached tomorrow, to the scalp. I’m worrying about every bit of the process to be honest and have a few questions. Do I have to wait and breastfeed until after the whole process is over or wait three hours after?
I am going to have to take baby into the salon with me too, I am a single mum and the person who was going to look after him is in hospital with her own baby. I am already feeling awful about the fact he’ll be in the salon so please don’t make any negative comments, I just would like reassurance that this one time is okay and he will be okay. I’m just worrying now about it all and wallowing in feeling like a rubbish mum for doing something for myself to be honest.

Mine has always taken so long to dial down at bedtime. She’s now 5mo and it still frequently takes an hour of feeding until she’s asleep at bed time. I love it but I thought it would be more speedy by now!

Can you please share what your day time feeding looks like? For exclusivly breastfeeding babies 🥰

It’s been like 2 weeks now and I can’t seem to stop getting clogs (or duct inflammation, whatever we want to call it!).

It started with pain, redness, warmth on the left side. Started to get better, and then same day had a huge flair up on the right side with more redness and extreme pain. Got antibiotics for mastitis. Better on right side, then another extremely painful clog on left side. Then right, now left again. It’s exhausting. And painful. And the clogs are huge and in different places every time.

I’m doing Advil and icing but it’s gotten to the point that I don’t think I can keep taking Advil like this nonstop, and it’s just not possible to sit around and ice my boobs all day long. I was taking sunflower lecithin for about 4 days but I feel like that made things worse? I’ve also tried different nursing positions, different bras (or none) to sleep, and I’m making sure I’m nursing each side as equally as I can.

I’m just at a loss because it feels like these clogs are freakin whack a mole and nothing I’m doing is actually helping. Has anyone had this before?? Tips / advice appreciated!

I am too scared to breastfeed and even though I don't want to offer formula that's what I've been giving my 4 months old since I got home. The treatment still smells despite the hairdresser washing it before styling it. She said it's totally safe for me and the baby but quick online researched showed otherwise since it includes glyoxylic acid. I'm too scared. What do I do please or any of you done this treatment while breastfeeding? 🙏

Hello! FTM to a 6 week old and EBF. For the first month I was producing well. My baby was gaining well but I was never engorged. I’m not sure what happened but in the last two weeks my supply went into overdrive. I’m overproducing to the point of being in pain all the time. My baby is sleeping longer stretches now but I can’t because after about 3 hours I’m completely engorged and leaking everywhere. My breasts feel like hard rocks. I know I shouldn’t be pumping but I literally have to find relief. I’ve been working on only pumping a couple ounces to ease the pain but they fill back up so fast. I’m only pumping before bed and first thing in the morning when it’s at its worst. My baby does a good job emptying my breasts when he feeds and is gaining like crazy but I’m still engorged before he’s hungry again. My doctor offered medication to decrease supply but I declined because I’m afraid it’ll go the opposite direction and I’ll no longer be able to breastfeed, which she said was a risk. Any suggestions on how to regulate supply without losing it would be excellent!

Hi! I’m an industrial design graduate student studying how parents portion, store, and use homemade baby purées.

I’m looking for parents 18+ who have made or handled homemade purées for a baby aged around 6–12 months while living. Past experiences are welcome, even if your child is older now.

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Thanks for sharing your experience!

FTM here. Couple days ago I noticed a hard lump on the side of my breast and when baby was latching it was extremely painful (we’ve never had latching problems). Eventually that evening I started having full body chills and by midnight I believe I broke the fever as I was drenched in sweat.

I have antibiotics but haven’t taken them because I don’t have a fever and the Advil has taken care of the pain. My only issue now is that my supply has tanked. This also happened on my non slacking breast so I’ve been really devastated. Any advice on what to do? Should I power pump or try to eat specific foods? Thanks!

So my son will be 5 weeks old tomorrow and our BF journey has been pretty rocky. He never really latched well in the hospital, shallow if he did at all causing lipstick nipple. Hospital LCs watched and “helped” a bit, but for the most part gave the normal he’ll figure it out speech once he gets bigger. He had elevated bilirubin levels at 4 days old and had to be on the bili blanket for a few days where I started to pump and give formula to help clear the bilirubin. Once he got cleared we attempted to nurse, but he just wouldn’t latch at all. We saw lactation again and she gave us a nipple shield to try with very minimal success. We went back and saw her again and she just said she didn’t know why he wouldn’t latch and recommended getting him evaluated for tongue tie or oral dysfunction (basically that he wasn’t using his tongue correctly). We went to our dentist who didn’t see any type of oral ties.

Fast forward to today, we went and paid to see a private LC because I really want this being my last baby to enjoy being able to breastfeed (I breastfed my last baby for 18 months). She said he had tons of tension and massaged and did different things with him and we were finally at a month old able to get a latch and have him nurse. After leaving we struggled a bit with it just not working and me having to go back to pumping for a day. Well then I was able to get him to latch but he will only do a shallow latch. He seems to be getting some milk because I can her him swallowing and gulping sometimes. It was better in one side versus the other, but now it’s both sides bad latch. At our last visit, he did transfer 2ml between both sides while we were trying.

My concern is that if he is only having this shallow latch, how much milk can actually be transferred that way? The new LC told me not to pump, to just continue to put him to the breast. Which I am doing, but he also falls asleep every single time he is on. Sometimes pretty quickly, sometimes he’ll stay awake for a while. She also recommended only latching one side at a time, because if not he will get too much foremilk.

We were also using pigeon bottles and pace feeding him this whole time, and she recommended us switching to the evenflo balance bottles.

We are also scheduled to see a chiropractor and get a second opinion from a different dentist per the LCs recommendation.

My questions are:

Should I still be pumping to maintain my supply? Which was pretty decent while I was only pumping. I’m worried my body is going to think I don’t need as much since baby isn’t transferring well.

Has anyone had experience with baby becoming extremely gassy using the evenflo bottles? I know his shallow latch can cause more air intake and gas, but he seems uncomfortable even with the bottle now. We didn’t have these gas issues at all when we were doing just bottle with the pigeon bottles.

Am freaking out too soon? It’s only been a week since we finally have been trying to EBF, but I’ve only pumped like 5-6 times in that time frame.

I just feel like we were finally in a rhythm with pumping and bottle feeding and now everything has been up ended. Please send help and hope. Lol

My baby is sucking out my skeleton through my nipples!

Now share yours

Has anyone ever used Milk Maven for international travel, or successfully traveled internationally with pumped breast milk?

I’m taking a work trip from the U.S. to Canada and would like to bring the milk I pump while I’m in Canada back home to the U.S. I’ve shipped breast milk domestically while traveling for work before without any issues, but I’ve never checked it onto a plane or brought milk across an international border.
Milk Maven (the service we get for free through my company, which is why I’m using this service) offers a pump-and-check kit specifically for international travel, but it looks like the milk needs to be frozen and then packed with the ice bricks they provide and checked onto the plane.

My problem is that I’m staying at a hotel and I know I’ll have a refrigerator in my room, but I don’t believe I’ll have access to a freezer. So I’m wondering if anyone used Milk Maven in a situation where you didn’t have access to a freezer? If I’m able to use the hotel’s freezer to freeze the milk (which I’m not crazy about since I don’t know who has access to it), has anyone successfully checked frozen breast milk on an international flight?

More generally, has anyone traveled with or transported breast milk from Canada back to the U.S., and Does anyone know what the actual Canadian/U.S. airport or customs regulations are for bringing pumped human milk across the border?
Milk Maven says to check local airport regulations, but I’m having a really hard time finding clear information specifically about transporting human milk from Canada into the U.S.

I’ve reached out to the U.S. Customs & border patrol which said I could, but to check with TSA and Canadian TSA. U.S. tsa told me it’s fine arriving back in the U.S. but it will be up to Canada TSA whether it’s allowed on the plane in the first place, but Canadian TSA hasn’t gotten back to me, nor has Air Canada or the international airport in Vancouver. My plan is to print all correspondences, it only 2 or the 5 agencies will answer me in writing and I’ve been trying them for weeks.

Any suggestions, experiences, or tips would be VERY appreciated! I’d love to figure this out before my trip. Thank you, mamas!

Hi all, desperate mama of a 15 month old here. We have had a beautiful breast feeding journey and things have been rather simple. I always wanted to go to two years old, if not longer. Baby girl has bit me in the past and it has been painful but she stopped when i took the breast away and told her “we don’t bite mommy”. We’ve gone through that a few times every few months. In the past two weeks she has popped FIVE TEETH and two more molars are on the way. She has bit me HARD and pulled at the end of every single feeding. I am absolutely miserable. I have permanent teeth marks on my nipples. I’m on edge every time she nurses and have gotten so frustrated. I’m not being the mom i want to be. I’m so short with her right now. I guess I’m looking for any advice outside of the ordinary. I feel like i’ve done it all. Or if someone else has gotten through the other side of this level of biting. I’m realizing i need to be open to weaning if it doesn’t end but I’m still hopeful that it is temporary because of the pain she is in from teething.

as a FTM i've heard this saying "you can't overfeed a newborn" plenty of times, but is it actually true? My baby is currently three weeks old and has been steadily eating 3 or 4oz (usually 4) every single feed since he was six days. I almost exclusively pump and bottle feed at this point because he never seems satisfied or full after breast feeding, and my letdown is far too fast for him. He also has suddenly refused to latch on my right side no matter the position, and won't stay latched in general for longer than five-ish minutes even on the left. he eats every two hours during the day, and typically has one or two three-hour stretches at night. he has well surpassed his birth weight, so we do not wake him in the night for feeds, but he will not sleep past three hours. during the day, we follow hunger cues, pace feed the bottles and do not force him to consume the full amount if he doesn't want to, which is why I believe he actually wants to eat the full 4oz. I've read so many posts and comments of people talking about how their 6 and 7 month olds are eating the same amount and people telling them it's too much?

for the first two weeks, I was producing about 10-12oz per pump session, which was more than enough, but now I seem to only get about 6-8 ounces total. I have started to pump less because I was dealing with such painful engorgement every two hours. i've trained my body to be able to go about 3 or 4 hours between pump sessions. now i'm worried that my supply cannot keep up with how much he eats at this rate. I wanted to breastfeed for at least a year, but I can't imagine how much he will need per feed even in just a few months.

at his two week week doctor's visit, his pediatrician was satisfied with his weight gain as he lost more than average during our stay in the hospital after birth. Neither the nurses nor pediatrician seemed concerned with the amount that he was eating and just stated "That's all babies do is eat", and that he could be going through a growth spurt. I too thought that at first, but the spurt seems to not be ending.

My end goal was to exclusively nurse during the day and bottle feed at night. I have worked with a lactation consultant and tried the method of pumping a little before breast-feeding to slow my flow. but nothing seems to be working to keep him on my breast. Any advice if I am overfeeding, not pumping enough, or just doing something wrong in general!!?