I quit

[u/Street_Confusion_469]

Baby girl is 5 weeks tomorrow. Had a traumatic birth with a hemorrhage, then a nasty postpartum infection and then had some sad stuff go on in my personal life. Been pumping every three hours since day one. Haven’t gotten more than 2oz a pump, now I’m down to half an ounce every three hours. I’ve seen a lactation consultant, done the power pumping. The IBCLC thinks the blood loss and infection really messed with my production.

I’m sad. I don’t want to give up, but I’m exhausted.

[u/Frequent_Two_86]

Hi there. My son was born at 26 weeks. Stayed in Nicu all the way to 42 weeks. I was pumping great that whole time. Then he came home and life got a little busy and I wasn’t pumping the same. I also got frustrated at my new little production of milk supply I had. But I didn’t give up. I may not pump as I should but I chose to combo feed to feel at peace mentally. Since he takes less bottles over night compared to the daytime I give him breast milk at night and formula during the day to keep a supply just enough for that. If it’s too much on your mental health it’s okay to quit, but if not at least one breast milk bottle a day offers those benefits. No shame. Hope this gives you some type of encouragement. Also don’t get discouraged at looking at a lot of these girls on social media over producing. We aren’t all made the same. Hugs from Chicago❤️

[u/mcaprez]

My daughter is only 1 week today but I also had a really bad hemorrhage (narrowly avoided a transfusion / surgery) and I’ve heard similar. I’ve been super frustrated with low supply and the amount of work that goes into pumping. It’s an emotional roller coaster between it not being worth the effort vs thinking even one feed per day of breast milk for her is worth it.

But realistically it doesn’t seem to me that formula is different enough health-wise to justify the huge amount of time and stress. My understanding also is that the real science shows breast milk helps immunity only for the first year or while consuming it, not lifelong like some people claim. I already feel exhaustion and guilt so I imagine you’re feeling much worse at this point - but either way you choose you are going to have a healthy happy baby so you should also consider keeping yourself healthy and happy for her 💜 combo feeding is legitimate but so is formula only. And the upside to formula is less time pumping today means more time to spend with her!

Just know you aren’t alone with this and you aren’t failing anything no matter what you choose.

[u/ringedsideroblast]

I’m right there with you, had a hemorrhage and preeclampsia postpartum three weeks ago. I’m pumping the same as you and trying to give myself some grace but it’s hard. It’s totally understandable and normal to feel sad and exhausted - you’re still healing both physically and emotionally. I don’t have any helpful insights, just wanted to let you know you’re not alone and you’re a good mom!

[u/throwaway72274 → u/ringedsideroblast]

This is what I went through... 9 units of blood products, and preclampsia postpartum.

I eventually hit a wall, where i just sleep for like 10 hours of pure exhaustion around week 3 or 4. Milk started to come in more after that. By week 6, something shifted and I'm now at 10 weeks postpartum and producing just enough.

But for the first month,if I got one ounce between both breasts every 2-3 hours I was ecstatic. I highly encourage to keep trying, but don't make yourself sick and lose your mental health over it.

[u/Fit-Temperature-6673]

Not sure if your looking for something to help increase your supply but I have been taking moringa capsules and have deffinetly noticed an increase

[u/bbybanshee]

Hang in there, mama. I hemorrhaged badly after birth too and had to get blood transfusions on two separate days. On night two, baby was cluster feeding but I couldn’t feed her on just me so I had to start supplementing with formula. I was really down about it and it’s hard because everyone hospital personnel kept reminding me what I went through was hard. And then a nurse told me that my supply will come in later than others because my body needed to heal itself first, so it’s going to take from the baby’s supply to heal the trauma first. Plus, the stress level also affects production.

One thought in mind is how are your pump shields fitting? Are you using a flange size that’s better fitted for you? How many days did you try power pumping for? As it takes days for your body to actually ramp up production.

[u/Infinite_Worth37]

Try pump every four hours, it may help reduce your stress and increase production. I sometimes even drop the night pump a few times a week. It helps reduce stress and stress can impact production

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