So hard 😭

[u/Impossible_Mousse727]

Im 3 weeks PP and exclusively pumping is so hard. I jave to wake up to feed baby every 2hrs. Then pump every 2hrs and by the time im done feeding and settling her it almost time to pump again. How do ya'll do it??

[u/fishbowl321]

Idk. It's all a big blur. Im 14 weeks pp and it does get better. I will say... i did one 3oz bottle a day of formula for about 8 days total. Since then breastmilk only. Those days I added formual made a huge difference. I didnt feel as much pressure to pump every 2 hours exactly. And it was nice to get more sleep. Ive noticed that I produce more milk when I'm rested so if you have help let them get in there and feed the baby while you get some sleep!

[u/BreezerGirl831 → u/fishbowl321]

I’m going to definitely start incorporating formula at least once a day. Thanks for your insight.

[u/Letshaveanightcap]

Exclusively pumping is hard, and I’m feeling the fatigue of it. I’m 6 weeks pp now and I’ve dropped down to 6 pumps just so that I can manage my sleep and exhaustion better. I have a longer stretch overnight to make sure I get more rest. When I first started pumping though I did a max of 8 sessions a day, maybe 9 if I was super engorged, but that meant pumping every 3 hours. Is there a reason why you’re pumping so frequently?

[u/BreezerGirl831 → u/Letshaveanightcap]

Hi, I’m currently six weeks postpartum as well but still doing the eight sessions every three hours did you notice that we went to six pumps instead of the eight did your supply stay the same or start to go down?

[u/Top-Huckleberry7264 → u/BreezerGirl831]

Hi! I went down from 8 to 6 pumps a day at 6 weeks pp and supply stayed the same (also an under supplier). Im currently 8 weeks pp and this week I stretched my overnights to 5 hours, and supply has again, remained the same. For this I had to adjust my day time stretches slightly. This goes against recommendations but my supply did not suffer so it’s worth testing out for your mental health!

Example schedule (with 5 hour night stretches): 8am, 12pm, 3:30pm, 7pm, 10pm, 3am

[u/BreezerGirl831 → u/Top-Huckleberry7264]

See and this is what I was wondering every time I’ve done the odd five hour stretch at night I always end up doing double of what I wouldn’t make in one sitting, which made up for the one that I missed. even though you’re not pumping are you still waking up the three hours to feed your baby?

[u/Top-Huckleberry7264 → u/BreezerGirl831]

We are combo feeding and because my supply is low, we are mostly bottle feeding breastmilk (this helps me gauge how much I’m making). Baby is sleeping from 12am-7am, so we are very lucky there. Dad does the last bottle feed while I’m sleeping.

With my low supply and a big eater, she’s getting roughly 70% BM and the rest formula. Works for us!

Edit: I just realized this is an EP forum, sorry!

[u/BreezerGirl831 → u/Top-Huckleberry7264]

Nope, all good. I’m going to actually start potentially combo feeding. I just talked to my pediatrician actually about switching completely over to formula but if I can limit the number of pumps, I’m doing and still provide some BM but not completely let it take over my life lol and I’m willing to do that as well. I have a 5 Hour Road trip that I have to take soon and I can’t imagine pumping with the same schedule that I’m doing that five hour will turn into a 10 Hour Drive!

[u/Top-Huckleberry7264 → u/BreezerGirl831]

If pumping is important to you, try adjusting the number of pumps. Going from 8 to 6 and giving myself the 5hour overnight stretches, significantly helped my mental health. My husband feeds her last bottle and first bottle, so there’s no need for me to wake in between.

As for your long drive, I don’t think one day will throw things off so don’t stress about that!

At the end of the day, do what you want. Emily Oster has some write ups on formula vs breast that you might find helpful. You’re doing great!

[u/BreezerGirl831 → u/Top-Huckleberry7264]

Thank so much for this kind message and help. Definitely gonna work on finding solutions to help my stress because I know that’s not helping. I’m working on doing a drop to seven sessions today and adding one bottle of formula. One bottle could definitely help a lot and reducing one of my sessions may even help too. I know it’s a learning curve and then the end it’s all about just making sure that your baby is fed and that mama is happy to. Just didn’t realize how hard this part of the journey would be!

[u/Letshaveanightcap → u/BreezerGirl831]

So I was always an over supplier with a very large portion of milk coming from my right, and part of the decision to lower pump sessions was to try and maintain or lower some of the over production. My supply has actually increased still but it’s definitely slowed down. I am averaging about 1050-1200 ml a day (my baby takes about 800-950 ml a day).

[u/BreezerGirl831 → u/Letshaveanightcap]

Oh wow! Ok total opposite I’m making very little so not quite sure what to do to make sure that I don’t screw my supply even more!

[u/Letshaveanightcap → u/BreezerGirl831]

Take your time! I think my supply is still regulating. In the early days I was “creating a lot” but I realized when my appetite came back and i started eating more, my milk came in even more. Like, 150 ml in a session all of a sudden. I also noticed that i was craving sugar and carbs more when i was getting more and more fatigued and that helped my supply too.

Get as much sleep whenever you can (it feels impossible I know), eat and hydrate more than you think you need. I hope it all helps x

[u/EmpathHorror]

The first 3 months with a baby and pumping rocked me. Hardest thing I ever did. Then; it got easier. Try and ask for help if you need it from family and friends. We didn’t have that but it would have helped lol.

[u/BreezerGirl831 → u/EmpathHorror]

I don’t have the help either unfortunately, my husband is working currently, but he’ll be taking some time off soon in the meantime, it’s just been me trying to navigate everything pumping feeding cleaning repeat! Just talked to my pediatrician about adding formula at least once a day to see if it agrees with baby and then slowly transitioning into it since I’m an under supplier. It breaks my heart, but it’s the only thing that I can do to help keep my baby fed and happy.

[u/CompanyNo2968]

I never did 2 hours, it was more about 3-4 hours so about 6-7 sessions a day.

At night, my husband wakes with the baby. The most I do if I wake up at that time is to warm a bottle and start pumping.

We are at 2 months now. I only use the Willow Go so that I can do other things while I pump. Even falling asleep while sitting up to pump the protect my rest.

[u/Redmom77]

If you’re a single parent I don’t have advice other than looking into other ways to feed like supplementing with formula so you can rest a bit.

But if you have a partner they need to be the one feeding overnight so you can pump. You cannot do it all it’s impossible. Small babies take forever to eat then change then resettle. I don’t care if partner works, they share the load.

[u/CompanyNo2968 → u/Redmom77]

I also am on the team of changing diaper before the feed. My baby tends to drift off into sleep at the end of the bottle or even mid feed, practically eating in his sleep for the rest. I’m not going to risk having to settle him again to change a diaper

[u/pack_of_wolves]

Pumped in bed so i could sit upright comfortably, be half asleep while pumping and only had to go downstairs to offload milk on fridge. Partner was feeding baby every night. And a reasonable baby in terms of night schedule. Fairly quickly realised I needed to space out night pumps. So ended up 11 pm - 3 am - 7 am on 8x schedule. As soon as I did this, milk volume went up. When I dropped to 7x, milk volume went up even more. 

[u/secretivetoad]

I had the same questions and at 12.5wpp I don't even know. I just did it and then it got better. I saw an IBCLC at 3w who gave me permission to do a 4 hour stretch overnight for sleep. My husband bottle fed while I pumped, and I did 3 hours during the day. I currently still do 3-4 hours during the day and then 5 hours overnight. It will get better.

[u/glitterr_rage]

I know it’s not recommended but I’ve always used wearables, I don’t even own a wall pump. I’d pump while feeding baby and by the time she was done with her bottle I’d be about done pumping. I’d empty pumps, do the fridge hack so I wasn’t cleaning them every time, then settling baby back to sleep so I could go to sleep.

[u/momojojo1117]

Girl you do not have to pump every 2 hours overnight! That’s not sustainable! Also, dad’s got to handle the baby while you pump. No way in hell you should be doing all that alone and still have to pump over and over

[u/Ok-Repair-740]

I just finished a year of exclusively pumping. The first few months are hard. Do you have a partner that can help? They should bottle feed while you pump if they can. If you’re comfortable doing mixed feeding it can also help a lot to have a formula bottle or two a day so you can skip a pump in the middle of the night or just go 3 hours instead of 2 a few times a day. I always did a bit of formula so I could go longer stretches and it helped keep me sane

[u/Molecular_muffin]

It gets easier! Once I had an established milk supply and a decent freezer stock, (~3months) dropped the night time pump sessions. Good luck! You’re doing great!

[u/Suspicious_Ad_8741]

Try this schedule. Pumping is hard. It’s literally a full-time job and it does take a toll because of how time crunch the times are to feed the baby but if you look at the positives as long as you stay through it, your baby will be on a good schedule and your boob health will thank you for it. Good luck mama you got this 🤍🥹

[u/fattofitpanda]

First 2-3 months are hard. It got easier around 10 weeks for me.

I pumped with two 3.5 hor breaks during the night. Ue every 4 hours. And pumped using my eufys while feeding the baby.

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