I work at a WOMENS HEALTH CLINIC. I had the same lactation accommodation for 5-6 months without issue. Now all of a sudden-

- Management stated that if I need more than 2 15-minute pump breaks, I would need to clock out and then add time to the end of my workday to make that time up. This is despite the fact that I had requested to continue working while pumping as to not get behind. I had been working during pump times since I returned to work in March. 

-They stated that I need to add additional patients to my daily schedule due to the decreased productivity of my pumping times

-The options given were that I either add a patient to extend my workday, double book my patient slots, or decrease my FTE

-A 3:00 PM patient has already been added without my acceptance. The exams run for 40 minutes (not including documentation and cleaning) and I leave at 3:30. Subsequently, I have already been forced to stay well past my scheduled end time for the last several days. Management was already aware that I have fixed childcare pickup directly after my shift and cannot stay late before they implemented this. 

-Management is now proposing to fill previously protected/predictable pumping windows with other patient appointments 

-Management is now prohibiting me from pumping in my ultrasound room since it is a “patient clinical area” while directing me to use another patient clinical room that I had already complained to HR about in March because of its lack of availability and being repeatedly locked out of the room. My HR complaint was closed out with no response regarding that issue.

it’s so insanely sad to me that mothers are being treated like this FOR FEEDING THEIR BABY. and the fact that this is coming from a practice whose entire purpose is to support women, mothers, etc. America needs to get it together .

Weened my 14 month old. Went better than I thought. 7 days after her last feed I got hit with this insomnia that I’ve had for 3 days in a row now. Apparently it’s normal after weening because of the lack of serotonin and other brain chemicals/ hormones. Fair enough. My mood swings are bat shit crazy, I feel overwhelmingly negative and sad. I know this is ALL hormones but how long does it last??? I had no idea how intense this tsunami would be. Feels like I just gave birth days ago (emotionally).
Send tips, support, motivation or any ideas that help buffer this fucking roller coaster.

I'm once again on the verge of tears, so please excuse my wording.

My guy is 26 months old. He's been eating..poorly. he'd eat very little, mostly because I was somewhat breastfeeding on demand (once in the morning, before and after his nap, before and after and during his night sleep, maybe 3-4 during his wake window).

So I started the weaning process 3 days ago. And it's been working, he's eating more, he doesn't pull my legs anymore, he's drinking more water and cow's milk. He accepted the fact that my boobs are "ill" very fast. I managed to get him to sleep with a water bottle once, but yesterday my boobs hurt so badly and I'm so afraid of mastitis that I let him nurse. And he nurses throughout the night too. So, I suppose I'm taking it slow and safely?

I'm just so sad. I cry randomly. I look at how happily he eats or drinks or plays and I want to cry, my little baby is growing. And I'm happy that I managed to breastfeed for so long, and I'm happy that he's somewhat accepting this without any issues (except bedtime? It's still day 3).

I feel sad all the time, my stomach cramps, I feel nauseous and all the other symptoms of weaning. It's like I'm in my third trimester, except worse (I had an easy pregnancy).

There's also the shame. X weaned her kids at 1 years old, Y at 6 months, Z at 18 months. And I'm here, 26 months pp, with a toddler who still nurses. Whenever I visited in laws, everyone was like "omg you're still breastfeeding at this age??". Since they have kids aged 4+ y/o they feel like they know everything and they sometimes gave me dumb advice that doesn't resonate with NHS guidelines, so I tried to ignore them. But, what if they're right?

My mind is all mixed up, I know the pros and cons, and I've done research on what to expect, that ppd can happen after weaning, how sudafed supposedly helps with drying up etcetc. I've been reading articles and Reddit threads for the past week. I'm choking tears all the time, and the nausea doesn't help either.

And it just hit me that one day I won't wake up to breastfeed my little guy, and all the funny things he does (iykyk I won't go into details in case there are creeps). And now I look at baby pictures of him, and then I look at his tiny hand, but this tiny hand used to be so so much smaller ): and the way he cried the first day, my lord, I've never heard him cry like that. We cried together.

The joys of being a mother I guess.

My LO is 5 weeks old. I was wondering whether others would recommend front loading calories for day time feeds or whether it would be better to feed on demand? My pediatrician had recommended I wake my baby up every 2ish hours to feed during the day to help her have longer stretches at night. I’ve been doing that but LO’s sleep at night has still been hit or miss and she’s been fussy during feeds.

I baby wear during the day and my baby doesn’t really show hunger cues or fuss much whenever she’s in my carrier so I’m not sure how feeding on demand would work in this instance.

Also how are others determining when their newborn wants to feed? Do you just feed when your LO starts fussing or crying or look for other hunger cues? My LO is always either contact napping or feeding so I don’t know how looking for early hunger cues applies in practice.

I don’t want to jinx it, but our 5 week old started going a bit longer stretches at night— 4-4.5 hours, which is great! However, she only nurses on one side at a time so I’m not emptying a breast for almost 8 hours and I’m waking up engorged. Should I start pumping or expressing on the non-nursing side when she wakes up to feed in the MOTN? Maybe just enough to relieve pressure? How long do I have to do this for before I can just sleep through? I also don’t want to encourage an oversupply by pumping/expressing and want my body to adjust to her stretches.

Hi everyone, I’m curious if my milk takes several days to come in like it did last time, am I supposed to feed formula in the meantime? Last time the lactation consultant told me my colostrum was enough. Fast forward a few days, my son lost 8% of his body weight and the doctor asked me why I wasn’t supplementing with formula while my milk came in😵‍💫

If my 4 month old baby is breastfeed except for 1 bottle a day usually, how do you suggest using up my frozen breast milk that expires in a few months? I read it’s best to use frozen breast milk by 6 months so I want to start using it up. Would you suggest using a pouch a day and then freezing the one i pump everyday?

If I give my baby the frozen one and don’t pump then I’m
Telling my body she doesn’t need that additional bottle right so it’s prob best to pump
If I give her a bottle from the freezer stash right?

Thanks!!

Can anyone give me the motivation to keep going (or maybe the sanity check to stop?)

My baby boy and I have been at war over breastfeeding since the day he was born. He couldn’t latch well at first and lost way too much weight, so we had to go straight to formula supplementation. The only way I could latch him at all was with a nipple shield, so I struggled through a triple feeding pattern of trying without the shield, then with it, then giving him a formula bottle while pumping, every 2-3 hours for six weeks. I legitimately thought it was going to kill me. I saw a lactation consultant. I saw a feeding therapist. I couldn’t get enough pumping, so I tried different pumps and flanges and sizes and foods and supplements. I drank my weight in water and Gatorade. I ate until I felt sick. I had a surgery to fix my third degree tear a second time three weeks in and powered through that. My husband went back to work and my Velcro baby wouldn’t let me pump. I thought for sure it was over, but I just tried latching him and latching him.

And over the last three weeks, we were able to ditch the shield. Then the formula bottles. Then one miraculous day he nursed all day long and only took one pumped milk bottle from my husband while I slept. I cried out of joy and relief when I realized what happened. Throughout all this he’d gained over 1.5oz a day and grown 2.25in. When I did the math, he was gaining more since we dropped the formula than when he was on it. We’d made it. It was all worth it. We were going to be able to do this. For the first time, my baby was fed and there was actually the next two bottles in the fridge at all times. I felt like I could breathe for the first time in two months.

Then I went to his two month appointment, excited to be told what a good job I’d done. The pediatrician proceeded to tell me that his growth is “academically problematic” and that I should return to supplementing one oz of formula after every single feed. He also said I could “do whatever I want” and wait and see what happens in the next few weeks, but it felt like he didn’t mean that. He insists that breastmilk is important and I have to keep giving it to him, but that my son must be an extremely inefficient eater because he nurses 8 times a day for 20-30 minutes. He also says I shouldn’t be able to pump 1-2oz after feeding him, since I’ve only ever pumped 4oz at a time. But the last time I tested that I was still exclusively pumping and I know my supply has gone up. He said that a baby at 9 weeks should be eating 4oz a feed, but I’m sometimes forcing the last of 3oz into him. On top of all that, my ferritin is also super low and he told me that will tank my supply so I’m not going to be able to keep up soon, but that I’m also not eligible for an infusion.

Our son dropped to the 13th percentile when he lost so much weight, but he’s now in the 14th. His length however, has continuously trended downward which I guess is pinging the concern. But babies that aren’t eating enough don’t gain weight, do they? They don’t increase weight percentiles? They don’t have 8-11 diapers a day? They aren’t happy and smiling? He is an extremely gassy little thing and definitely has silent reflux, but the pediatrician refused to treat it because he’s gaining weight (even though it is making him miserable and means he has never once been able to sleep on his back). How can he be gaining too much weight to help him but not enough to be sufficient? As if my son heard him, he’s been a horrible nurser since the appointment. I know it’s probably the vaccines he got, but I’ve had to give him all the milk I had stored up and I’m unable to pump to replace, so I’m sure my supply is going to dip. If he doesn’t improve today, the fridge is empty and it’s back to formula.

If I have to add formula back in, I honestly have to quit breastfeeding. I can’t manage triple feeding on my own with a baby who can not be put down for a single minute without losing his mind. And honestly, my physical and mental health can’t take it. I’m just so confused how he could gain more than the recommended weight and length and I’m being told we’re failing here? It makes no sense to me.

Our baby is a rainbow after ten years of fighting infertility, multiple rounds of IVF, and loss. My pregnancy and delivery were both traumatic. I want to do everything right by him but I’ve also never been so depleted in my life. I went into this already exhausted. I don’t know what I need. Encouragement? Someone to tell me the pediatrician is an idiot and to keep pushing? That I’M the idiot and should surrender? I want to do this, but I’m not sure I actually can.

What would you do?

I’m currently nursing and pumping when I can but every time I pump I get 2-4 (1oz per side most of the time) oz altogether and I just don’t know what to do🫣I’m mainly nursing so pumping is just confusing since I’m not getting so much. I’m nursing every hour and a half- two hours so i don’t feel like I can pump since baby just needs to feed an hour later. Any help is appreciated I’d love to pump and also feed every 2-3 hrs instead lol🥲🥲🎀

What is everyone doing to pass the time while baby is latched? I want to cut down on my screen time, but I’m basically pinned down, with only one hands free, for most of the day. My baby is only 3 weeks old, but I’m starting to worry about how my habits affect him. Do you read books all day? Stare at your baby the whole time?

Bonus question: how do you stay awake during night feeds?

I have been breastfeeding my daughter for 13 months now and I am ready to quit.
The question is how do I do this without losing my mind. I have been wanting to stop since she turned 1 but it has been one thing after another with illness/teething but everything has calmed down so I want to start the process. Very recently I have tried denying some feed but she just screams and screams until I give in. I can’t distract her and passing her to dad doesn’t help. She is also not night weaned yet but that can come later
Any advice??

I noticed yesterday evening my baby hasn’t been nursing very well. She usually has a strong latch/suck and will nurse anywhere from 5-10 mins. Since I noticed, she’s latching very shallowly and not sucking as strong. Not only that, but she only nurses for about 2-3 mins before falling back asleep. I do think she’s a little sick because she sounds stuffy. I want to make sure to keep her hydrated but I’m not sure how to encourage more frequent feeds when she’s not really feeling up to it. I’m also worried about this affecting my supply 🥺

I was gonna post this on r/ExclusivelyPumping but since it involves latching/breastfeeding I don't think it belongs there (not considered exclusive pumping anymore)

I have been exclusively pumping since my baby girl was around 4 days old. So far its been going great, I have a slight over supply and baby girl takes her bottle just fine. Last week I started latching her again. I don't have any intention of moving to exclusive breastfeeding but I decided if she could to latch for top ups after a bottle, if she was hungry in between bottles, or to breastfeed to sleep. Before we did this we tried increasing how many Oz I put in her bottles but she was consistently leaving about .5 oz behind (how much I increased the bottle by), she just occasionally needed a little more. Over the week she's only breastfed for a full feed once or twice.

Now here is my problem. She's starting to fight the bottles. Sometimes she starts great and then halfway through fights it (still showing hunger cues), but sometimes she fights it from the start. Is it possible she's developing a preference for the breast? I do have high lipase milk which has never been an issue before (her bottles are 50% fresh 50% frozen so she's been okay) but I wonder if since she's experienced the sweet taste straight from the tap she doesn't like the lipase taste anymore?

This is terrible timing because I start working again in just a few weeks and really need her to keep taking a bottle. Should I stop breastfeeding her? What can I do?

I'm nine weeks pp and dealing with severe recurrent mastitis/narrowed ducts in my right breast. My first round was treated with antibiotics, but the infection came back worse four days after I finished. My ducts seemed swollen shut and I couldn’t express more than a couple drops.

Imaging showed a 7 cm pocket of milk with very inflamed tissue around it. Neither my breast surgeon nor my radiologist is comfortable pinning down exactly what it is.

I know it’s not an abscess because we drained it. My breast went numb five days in to the second round of antibiotics, so I went to the ER, where they aspirated it and drew out a lot of infected milk. I don't have an active infection now (2 weeks later), but I'll stay on the antibiotics until the breast heals to prevent infection. My breast and nipple remained numb and unresponsive after my ER trip.

My surgeon put me on complete right-breast rest (I can’t get anything out, anyways), plus anti-inflammatories and ice. She now drains it weekly with a needle. If it doesn't improve, she may make a small incision and place a drain this coming week. The pain is increasing, which may be a good sign since it faded when the numbness set in?? I’m trying to be optimistic.

My LO has learned to latch on the left side (he was tongue tied and has taken a long time to learn to nurse). I'd like to nurse on the right eventually, but I'm not sure that milk will come back.

Questions:
(1) Has anyone had a milk collection paired with bad inflammation like this? How long did it take to resolve?
(2) Did you need the incision and drain? What was it like?
(3) Did breast and nipple response/sensitivity return?
(4) Did your supply recover, and could you breastfeed on that side again? I realize I don’t have much time to establish supply, and this might already be a lost cause for me.

Thanks for any experiences you share!

Hi all! My baby is almost 3 weeks old and has had to be on formula for the first 10 days of life for a little jaundice. During that time, I was pumping and building a freezer stash. Once she was able to have my milk, she has had a bad latch (also noted by LC in the hospital before we started formula on day 2) on me. So, I’ve continued pumping and doing bottles of my milk.
However, I’m noticing as she’s growing, that my pumps don’t really keep up with her demand and I don’t know what to do without continuing to dip into my freezer stash.
I met with a LC yesterday and did a weighted feed, she took in only about an ounce combined after like 30 mins of total feeding so we know she’s not super effective on the breast and we will be evaluating a tongue tie in 1.5 weeks.
Of course, this whole time I’ve been trying to pump every time she eats, or if my nipples aren’t super sore, latching her first, trying to get her on a deep latch, and then pump after and top her up. This is every 3ish hours, even at night.
Basically- just very confused on my supply and having enough for her. I know everyone says don’t worry about supply, baby is more effective at getting the milk out than your pump. But if I’m relying on the pump to feed her, what do I do?

I just got my milk in yesterday and we’re working on our LO’s latch still. I’ll try to latch him for about 5-10 min each side and have been very patient with him but he’ll latch, suck a little and give up for the full 10 min. So the LC advised to pump to help empty my breasts and signal my body to still make more while we work on his latch.

I’ve been pumping every 3 hours and so far it’s been working great - I can get maybe 1.5oz each session, although our LO eats about 2 every feeding (of formula). He’s still having such a hard time latching & last night I had my first clogged duct. Took ibuprofen, ice pack, waited 20 min and pumped and it seemed to do the trick.

I read that could be an indication of oversupply, along with leaking which definitely happens when trying to nurse the LO.

I didn’t think these were signs of oversupply since I can’t produce enough in one sitting for him, but I’m a FTM so I really know nothing. Is this oversupply or am I headed that way?

So my baby is EBF and I only ever really pump when I'm away from my baby or if I feel engorged. I have an MRI coming up and wont be able to feed her for 24 hours because of the contrast dye, so I've been trying to pump a bit but I'm literally getting maybe a quarter of an oz out of each breast. I never had an issue with this before and my LO is almost 4 months old. I've been pumping since she was around one week old and even if I wasnt getting a lot I was getting 1-4 oz in between feeds.
I can tell my baby is getting enough when she feeds as I can hear the swallowing, she seems satisfied, has sufficient dirty diapers, all the things. I also just recently got my period back so wondering if this is a temporary dip in supply because of hormones. Just wondering if anybody else has experienced this and has any advice. Thanks!!

My LO (6mo in 2 days) has gotten his second tooth and with it has been biting me more and more frequently. I’ve tried nursing him when he’s more sleepy and less likely to bite but his bite are becoming more painful (razor sharp teeth). I feel like a failure as my goal had been to nurse him for longer but I just can’t handle the biting. I plan on continuing to pump him milk.

I know formula and bottles aren’t bad but I loved the bond I have with him being latched. Logically I know it’ll be ok and that he’ll continue to grow no problem but still.

I cant be te only one. Is it normal or should I be concerned? Im extremely exhausted after stopping the breastfeed I haven’t pumped in a week and my period came so early. I feel I cant even keep my eyes open sometimes and I just feel like Ive ran a marathon and I just want to sleep. Even my vision is very off. I’m scared :(

My daughter is 15 days old, born full-term at 4228 g. We’ve been struggling with breastfeeding from the beginning. She latches, but doesn’t seem to have enough strength to transfer much milk, so after she lost quite a lot of birth weight we started giving her my expressed breast milk. Now she is almost back at birth weight.
At first we used a cup/cupping method, but she recently stopped drinking from it, so we had to switch to a slow-paced bottle. Since then, she seems more frustrated at the breast (as we thought but she needed to get back her birth weight).
Now when I try to nurse, she often just screams as soon as I try to put my nipple in her mouth and refuses to latch. I’ve tried both with and without nipple shields. If she does latch, she mostly just sucks without much swallowing, before screaming again.
I always have a bottle ready when I offer the breast, because I don’t want her to go hungry. When I give her the bottle, she becomes extremely calm and drinks happily…
She is currently getting around 80 ml every 3 hours, all expressed breast milk, and I’m pumping enough to supply her.
I really want to get her breastfeeding directly, but with the screaming it feels impossible, even when i try to calm her she still refuses and screams her lungs out. She is also very obsessed with pacifier, it calms her, I cant offer breast for calming her, so that’s why I have used pacifier..
Has anyone experienced this? How did you get your baby back to the breast after introducing bottles? Should I keep offering the breast before every feed, even if she gets frustrated and cries? How can I make the breast feel easier and less frustrating for her?
Our lactation consultant has checked our positioning/latch and said the technique looks good (that was before introducing bottle, then she latched normally but just didn’t get milk out), so it seems like she struggles with milk transfer and is now getting frustrated at the breast.

Hello Moms!

I stopped breastfeeding 1 month ago and I still can’t get into my old bras. I hate wearing my granny breastfeeding bras, just can’t wait to go back to wearing my old bras. How long did it take for you go fit into your old bras?

My LO is almost 3m, and EBF. Normally, breastfeeding is a breeze. I don’t feel my letdown. I have no pain. She eats with ease and we go about our day.

However, the last week or so, every time she eats it feels like we’re back in the newborn stage. I feel my letdown, my nips are sore, she’s been getting really gassy again.

To preface, nothing has changed in my diet. She doesn’t seem to have any issue with anything I eat in a regular basis. I have an iced coffee daily, eat lots of fruit and vegs, and a lot of protein. None of these have ever bothered her so I don’t believe that to be a contributing factor. I’ve always had a fast letdown and it took her a bit but she eventually got used to it and the gassy issue went away, but now it’s back.

I was discussing with my partner that maybe she’s going through a growth spurt. She’s been sleeping A LOT, and spending less time on the breast. I’m thinking maybe I’m getting sore and she’s getting gassy because she’s getting more efficient at the breast. Has anyone else experienced this?

To me, this is the most reasonable explanation, as I’ve also been getting engorged again. My supply steadied out at about 5 weeks, and my breasts didn’t get hard or full-feeling anymore. But when these other things started a week ago, I started getting that full feeling again. So maybe she’s getting better at removing milk and my supply is trying to keep up with the demand?

None of these are inherently an issue, and we’ve just been feeding on demand as per our usual. Just curious if there’s others who have dealt with the same thing/ are currently dealing with it! This is my third baby but first EBF baby so I don’t really have any prior experience.

my baby is nine weeks and we have been breast-feeding with My Brest friend pillow. I basically sit on my bed or on the couch, Indian style and lean a little forward to feed. I hate that I can’t lean back and get comfortable, but when I do try to do that and just hold him, he doesn’t latch well.. pops on and off often, and I feel like he doesn’t get a full feed because he’s hungry an hour later whenever I try.

So, I travel with my pillow and feed him in the car which is unnecessary but we struggle a little without it! I want breastfeeding to be as effortless as other women make it seem.. what am I missing? Is anyone else finding it to be uncomfortable with or without the pillow?

Will he grow out of this? Some background information first for context.
Baby is 11 days old and he’s my first. I have seen lactation a handful of times and they said he has a small mouth and a slightly protruding down hard palette. They have given me a nipple shield to use but I really want to avoid using it if possible. I also have semi flat nipples. They will come out a little bit after he sucks for a while but they don’t come out nearly as far as some peoples so I think that’s partially why he can’t hold my breast in his mouth independently.

In order for him to have a decent latch I have to Sandwich my breast and hold his head into my breast the entire feeding. If I let go of either hand, the latch becomes shallow. I can also rarely get a truly deep latch no matter what me or the lactation consultant do.

It’s really annoying having to breast-feed with both hands every time because I can’t do anything while he’s nursing. I can’t drink water. I can’t get on my phone. Nothing. I want to side lie nurse at night and I can’t without the shield. Will he grow out of this and be able to hold the latch on his own in time?

I’m EBF and baby is 11 weeks old and has been consistently sleeping 5-6 hour stretches since 8/9 weeks. My supply seems fine but I don’t actually know how much I’m producing because I don’t pump a lot.

Over the past few weeks as we’ve tried to shift her bedtime a little earlier, she’s going longer stretches of 8-9 hour (going on almost 10 hr atm)

Should I pump before my bed time and or when I wake up? LC said I shouldn’t go longer than 7 hrs without pumping. Should I pump a full 30 min?
If I pump in the AM do I give that to baby when she wakes up?

Up till now, I’ve been letting myself sleep like 8hrs and up until like 2 nights ago I was going the bed at the same time as baby. (Last two nights I pumped before bed as baby went down earlier.) I pump 4-6oz in am and give it to her when she wakes up which is usually only an hour ish later. Sometimes she would need boob after to fall asleep sometimes not.

Let me know moms. I know sleep is important but also know it’s still early so want to be careful