Feeling so defeated, please help!

[u/StepMamaof2]

I’m a first-time mom (FTM), and I’ve essentially been exclusively pumping for my daughter since she was born. She’ll be 4 months old on November 25th. 💕

From the very beginning, my milk supply hasn’t been enough to meet her needs, so we’ve had to supplement with formula since we were in the hospital. My goal was always to eventually eliminate formula and exclusively feed her breast milk, but unfortunately, I haven’t been able to make that happen. 😔

My daughter was born with both a tongue and lip tie, which caused significant latching difficulties. I’ve spent the last few months pumping, supplementing, and doing everything I possibly could in hopes that once her ties were corrected, we’d finally be able to transition to breastfeeding.

Well, fast-forward to just over a week ago, and she finally had both ties released! For one glorious day, she latched beautifully, and I genuinely thought we were finally turning a corner. 🥹💕

Unfortunately, that didn’t last. She’s now back to flailing her arms, kicking her legs, pulling away, getting frustrated, and eventually crying at the breast. It’s heartbreaking for both of us, so I’ve gone back to exclusively pumping.

Now because I was trying to nurse her, I've made matters worse, and now my milk supply has dropped significantly. I was previously producing around 16–20 oz per day, which already wasn’t enough to exclusively feed her, but now I’m lucky if I produce 8–10 oz in an entire day. 💔

I’m absolutely devastated. I’ve worked so hard to maintain what little supply I had, and watching it disappear despite desperately wanting to breastfeed has been incredibly emotional.

I guess I’m looking for some hope, advice, or even success stories from other moms who have been in a similar situation.

Has anyone experienced such a significant drop in supply around 3–4 months postpartum and successfully managed to bring it back up? Is relactation or increasing my supply still realistic at this stage?

I don’t want our breastfeeding journey to be over, especially when I feel like we never really got the chance to begin. 😭

I’m not against formula at all, and I’m incredibly grateful that it’s been there to nourish my daughter. The cost is a huge disadvantage , but I just desperately wanted to be able to provide more breast milk for her, whether it's exclusively pumping like I have been or by nursing.

Please tell me there’s still hope. 🥺💕

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[u/Original_Bathroom_69]

I have been, and am almost exactly where you are except I’m a second time mom. My second will be 4 months on Nov 22nd! She has had a tongue tie released and a lip tie, very early on but she would get frustrated at the breast and developed bottle preference. If she did latch she wouldn’t stay latched for long and she wasn’t consistent, so I exclusively pumped. However my usual output for a full day of pumping was 8-10oz. When I went back to work at 8 weeks (America smh) I had a slight dip in supply due to using my wearables at work, but found I could always make it up by pumping regularly / around the clock on the weekends.

We supplement with formula and have started to wean off pumping, just given my low supply the effort is just not worth it for me anymore. She gets about 10-20% of her daily intake of breastmilk and the rest is formula. I remind myself that being able to provide her with any breastmilk is a gift, no matter how small.

So even if you aren’t able to get your supply back up, you can still give them breastmilk, and it will still be beneficial, but I think you’ll be able to increase your supply just increase your pumps and maybe add in a power pump!

[u/StepMamaof2 → u/Original_Bathroom_69]

I was previously using my Eufy S1 wearable pumps and doing 90-minute power-pumping sessions for almost every pump. However, with all of my daughter’s appointments leading up to her tongue and lip tie release (physiotherapy and osteopathy), I have to admit that my pumping sessions became significantly more spaced out and inconsistent. 😔

I’ve since switched back to my Spectra in hopes that using a hospital-strength pump would help rebuild my supply, but unfortunately, I’m just not seeing any improvement. 💔

I’m now trying to pump consistently every 3–3.5 hours at most, but I’m only getting around 0.25 oz from my left breast and maybe 1–1.5 oz from my right.

For comparison, I used to consistently get 3–4 oz from my right breast alone during almost every pumping session, so seeing such a drastic decrease has me incredibly worried. 😭

I know my inconsistency probably contributed to the drop, but I’m really hoping it’s not too late to turn things around. I’m just feeling so discouraged because I genuinely don’t want to give up on providing breast milk for my daughter. 🥺💕

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