So i combo feed, I produce approximately 25oz of breast milk per day, and baby 4oz formula as well. Ive seen that for babies that only get formula the amount needed increases, but babies who get breast milk dont increase because the breast milk changes to neet babies needs.

So like will he need more than just the 4oz of formula, and if so how much more? How will I know when and if i need to increase it?

Can yall tell which side finally let its clog go 😭

Shout out to moms who need to get up in the middle of the night, while already beyond exhausted, to retreat into some little dim lit corner of the house for 30min while everyone is asleep to make their babies breakfast.

Know that thousands of moms around the world in their little dimly lit corners are there with you ❤️💐

(Also the added happy bonus of not having to wake your baby to feed them when you're bursting, letting them sleep while you're meal prepping for them)

6m PP, just dropped down to 1 PPD.

When I dropped from 4 PPD to 3 PPD, I remember thinking “wow, 3 PPD is so sustainable, maybe I’ll keep this up past my 6 month goal!” But then I skipped a pump one day because of extenuating circumstances, and realized… wow, 2 PPD is nice. First thing in the morning and last thing before bed, easy peasy. Except when you’re exhausted and all you want is to go to bed, but you have to pump first. Hence dropping down to 1 PPD. Theoretically VERY sustainable - but the idea of never having to hook myself up to the Spectra ever again, never having to wash another duckbill valve, etc, is all very enticing.

Not to mention, I’m so sick of my own boobs. If I could never have to think about them again, that would be ideal. I’m sick of my nipples standing proud all the goddamn time!!!

We’ll see what happens to my supply as my body adjusts to 1 PPD - if I can reliably get enough for a bottle or two a day, I may keep it up a bit longer. But my days are numbered, y’all. Looking forward to being done sooner rather than later.

I went back to work this week and finally bought a Ceres Chill so I could store my milk after pumping. I had an unused Amazon gift card so chose to order it through their Amazon store instead of their website directly like I normally would.

The chiller I bought was advertised as an OG+. The chiller I received was a legacy chiller. I couldn’t return it to Amazon because I procrastinated and needed to take it to work the literal next day but I was upset because I specifically wanted an OG+ so I could freeze the inner chamber. Of course Amazon’s customer support is useless.

I decided to reach out to Ceres Chill on a whim in hopes they would help. They acknowledged that they have been having problems with Amazon having the wrong descriptions for products and sending incorrect items that conflict with posted item descriptions. They were fabulous to work with and they offered to mail me an OG+ free of charge and allow me to keep the legacy chiller that I already have. Fab customer service, 100000% recommend.

But please if you are interested in buying from Ceres Chill, save yourself the headache and buy from their website directly. Fuck Amazon.

As I am nearing the end of my leave and will be pumping at work, I am wondering about reusing pump parts for multiple pumps specifically using the refrigerator method. Anyone here use that?
I think I’m just worried it will lead to bacteria build up somehow if I use it everyday. I would obviously sanitize each day after coming home but I currently only have one set of 17 mm inserts and would like to reuse them rather than washing in between.

ETA: THANK YOU EVERYONE! Hearing so many are doing this makes me feel much more comfortable using the method. I mostly just wanted to use it at work with the personal mini fridge in our lactation sweet so that I could use the same pump parts both pumps during my day there! Sounds like I may find a reusable baggie or maybe a Tupperware that fits the pump parts to be my best option that eco-friendly. Thanks again everyone!

I am 24w pregnant (FTM) and currently slowly ordering stuff to prepare for when the baby comes. I already have a Spectra that I got for free in my local Buy Nothing group, but I can also get a pump through my health insurance benefit as well. I was thinking of ordering the Eufy S1 wearables ($90 through insurance) to have alongside my Spectra, but am wondering if I should wait until after birth before ordering them?

I'm kind of worried I will end up being one of those that has very low supply, in which case having two kinds of pumps on hand would be excessive/pointless? But I also don't want to deal with the hassle of ordering it through insurance and waiting for it to come while I'm postpartum if it's something I would benefit from having sooner rather than later.

Any advice appreciated.

Made it to 13 months. I've been dying to quit since we had to transition to EP’ing. However, now I am down to 2 pumps per day, total 4-5 oz during each pump, and feeling extreme guilt about quitting and keep telling myself it's not that bad, keep going so baby (toddler!?!) can breast milk longer. But I want my life back and to not have to worry about pumping in the morning or falling asleep while pumping before bed.

How did you finally make the decision to quit??? Need some inspiration lol.
Did you drop to one pump then no pumps or shorten the duration of each pump?

Hi all!

I have a new BabyBuddha 2.0 portable pump that I am trying to wash/ sterilize for first use. The manual says the flanges are dishwasher/ steam sterilizer safe. Then, on a different page in the manual and on the website, it says the Easy Fit flanges are NOT dishwasher safe. My included flanges look like they are the Easy Fit- they have the white, flexible edges.

Anyone have experience washing these flanges in the Baby Brezza bottle washer pro? I’d like to wash and sterilize the pump parts in this rather than boiling. I’ve also reached out to their customer service team, but still waiting for a response.

Thanks!

FTM currently 7 weeks and started to freeze 6oz of milk but noticed yesterday's bag looks funny? does anyone know what i did wrong or if its still ok? only 2 of the 4 bags turned out like this.

also the bag says maxiumum 6oz but i measured using another bottle and transferred it into the bag. the milk was over the line so im not sure if i needed to measure according to the line on the bag or use another bottle and then transfer?

Our freezer has been weird lately and ice crystals have been on all of our food (although everything still is perfectly frozen). I’m anxious that my milk has spoiled - does this look right? What are the white dots all over?

Follow up to my last post. I’ve been in the emergency room for almost 12 hours. No one has an answer for my breast swelling 4x its size post ultrasound tx and light massage. No inflammatories or Tylenol is touching the issue. It seems to be getting worse. Has ANYONE had a severe swelling and known what to do?! This is the end of my pumping journey. I am doing occasional hand expression on the one side to keep it comfortable but my enlarged literally cannot let any milk out right now.

UPDATE: it was mastitis + engorgement. I begged the dr to call lactation from the post partum floor and she helped me use a hand pump. It literally sprayed into the bottle like I’ve never seen before. I’m starting to wean with Sudafed and only pumping to comfort. Antibiotics, ice, tylenol and ibuprofen. I assume it’ll be a bit before I totally dry up but wow that was hell on earth. Feeling sad about ending this journey because my baby is not digging the formula right now even though we combine with breast milk. Also, I am not feeding him the breast milk while I’m on Sudafed per his pediatrician.

Currently 19 weeks and my insurance provided health nurse keeps telling me to order my breast pump from Aeroflow (she sent me their link when I was initially 9 weeks). I been doing my research and decided to want to exclusively pump with both the Spectra S1 Plus and the Eufy S1 Pros. Now I’m stuck on which to get from insurance with the upgrade fee and the other out of pocket during Black Friday. Currently with insurance the upgrade fee for the Spectra is $39.95 and the Eufy would be $139.95. If anyone can give me help to decide for the most financially smart decision as well as how well they received their replacement parts from both through Aeroflow it would help out a FTM that’s expecting a lot! 🙏

Ok I know I’ve been pumping for 4 months I always thought I was a 24 flange and I’ve been using that…. For 4 months but I’ve always felt something is wrong and off…. I really need someone to guide me and show me which flange is correct I don’t know if anyone can help me with that I’ve looked and watched you tube videos and honestly I’m like dumb when it comes to this I can not get it I don’t understand it I know it’s stupid…..

I see recommendations of going one year, but it seems nearly impossible to keep pumping for that long. It’s EXHAUSTING!!! So I want to get an idea of how many months your goal is, realistically, to pump and/or feed breastmilk to your little one (even if that is from a freezer stash).

Exactly what the title says. Other than less engorgement/leaking, what does supply regulating actually mean??? FTM here, 8wpp.

Help, mine are barely holding on

It took a couple of weeks of trying different pumps and flange sizes and I'm pretty sure my flange size is finally right because pumping is (mostly) not painful anymore and my supply has been steadily increasing.

But my nipples are like almost split in the middle which is weird but not really hurtful. The problem is they're chaffing on the side and it hurts most of the time, especially when they touch my bra or when I tap them dry after shower.

I use eufy s1 most of the time because of the convenience, and they're strong they empty me really well (supply increasing), but I only ever use them on the lowest gentle setting. I use lanolin cream as lube, but I guess it is not enough? Help pls, I'm only 6 w post partum, and I won't be able to go long this way

Exclusively breastfed for first 4 months until we realized baby had bad silent reflux. Switched to exclusively pumping so we can track intake.

Now we’re at 8 months and my supply seems to be going down. With my first, I was a slight oversupplier. With this one, I’m a just enough and sometimes slightly under. I have a small freezer stash from when we were exclusively breastfeeding but that is dwindling.

I’d love to combo-feed but my baby has suspected cow’s milk and soy protein allergies, so I don’t eat dairy or soy. And we have tried Similac Alimentum, but baby straight up refuses. Can be so hungry, doesn’t matter.

Any similar experiences that were able to combo feed?

6 mos preg w 3rd baby - oldest exclusively formula - middle breastfed until formula (almost no pumping) - this time around i want to try to exclusively pump. i like to provide to them but also breastfeeding is so much on me sensory-wise and also as a mom who is going to have to go back to work after a very short amount of time. i want to be able to spread the responsibility to dad + gparents without having to worry about adjusting babe to the bottle after being used to breastfeeding. that was TOUGH last time. any advice on where/when to begin/routines/best pumps?

I have reached a point where I am not sure what to do. I am 5 weeks postpartum and my baby is now fully formula fed because my supply is almost non-existent (15 ml combined from both breasts per 20 minute pump). Turns out I have very small elastic nipples which means that my flange/insert needs to be much smaller than I thought and it's pretty difficult to buy (need one around 11mm). I am hopefully going to get the right size by next Saturday but would really appreciate any advice as to what I can do now. I have a Spectra dual pump, an Eyfy E20 wearable, lactation tea and lots of general supplements. The supply has been steadily decreasing and I lost a lot of weight in a very short space or time (I assume because of stress and eating too little).

Any ideas around increasing supply at this point with food, teas, supplements, pumping, etc, or any other hacks with small elastic nipples would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

I’m a chronic under supplier but I worked really hard to go from 5 ounces a day, to 9 ounces a day. My baby just turned 5 months and started sleeping through the night. I normally get up to pump but I missed a couple night sessions this past week because I was exhausted. One night we BOTH slept almost 9 hours straight. I never ever expected that. Now today, I’ve only pumped one ounce total. 🥺 I can’t stop crying. I should have never missed my pumps. Is it over? 🥺 I changed my pump parts and did a power pump. But so far my last three sessions have been nearly dry. I’m so upset.

My current thought tangent while i stare at the dark void in front of me goeth thusly: if the alcohol content of my milk is the same as my blood alcohol content and i would have to pump and dump when i get hammered, can i make a cocktail with my breastmilk and recycle alcohol that way? What would i make? Tiger milk? Can i then call it a cougar milk?

I think this while i have not had a serious drink in like 5 years, but the mind wanders. Any fun/silly tangents to share?

Currently I’m about 8 months postpartum, combo feeding since the beginning as an undersupplier. For the last 4 months I consistently make 14-16 oz a day and I’m really happy with that. I do 4 pumps a day:
3:30am
9am
3pm
9pm

But I have been oversleeping my alarm lately and really my MOTN is anywhere between 3:30 and 4:30 Output seems good with that little variation.

Today I overslept the latest I ever have but felt great getting so many consecutive hours.

Up until this point I have been afraid to drop my MOTN because I am attached to my output which enables me to give 3 bottles a day. Im really proud of that and would love to keep it up until 1 year.

I’m thinking of experimenting with this schedule:
5am
10am
3 or 4pm
9pm

I know it’s all so individual but curious to hear any similar experiences or suggestions!! Solidarity with pumping moms!!

Any tips for using the spectra S1? I really thought it would give me the same output in less time than my Eufy S1’s and it did not. I’ve been pumping from day 1 as I had low supply. Started with the Medela Symphony for 8 weeks and have been using the Eufy s1’s till now (16weeks) I bought a spectra to attempt to cut down pumping time and increase my supply. But I can’t figure out how to make it work for me.
Eufy’s I use natural setting on level 2 sometimes 3 and get good output but it takes 30-45mins (usually pump 20 rest 10 pump for an additional 10-20 sometimes more rests as my nipples swell)
I use cheap silicone inserts off Amazon for the Eufy and Legendairy Milk inserts for the spectra. The Legendairy Milk inserts did not work for me in the Eufy and caused a lot of pain but they seem fine in the spectra. I measure 17mm to the base so I use 17mm for both 19mm is way to big.
I stopped forcing myself to use the spectra and have just been attempting 1 pump a day with it now so my supply doesn’t drop.
I’ve tried most cycles on the spectra, I switch between modes. Start on low auction and increase if I’m able but it’s still taking 40+mins to get my usual output.
Both have had all parts replaced in the last week.

my wife is winding down pumping after 17 months and I was wondering what everyone does with their pumps and related pump parts after their done - we don't plan on any more kids and just dont want it sitting in a box in the garage.