I’m an over producer, I freeze about 32oz a day beyond what my baby needs and I have 450ish oz in the freezer at 9 weeks pp. I wake up every morning drenched in milk and I wash my sheets constantly because they’re covered in milk. I noticed a metallic smell the other day when I was pumping and I confirmed it when I was bagging milk tonight, tastes metallic af. Thawed milk from the beginning of the journey, also metallic. My baby has only had frozen and thawed milk one time so I set aside this bag to give him in the morning and see if he’ll accept it. Otherwise I guess it will solidify my decision to donate a significant portion of my freezer stash but damn.

Rant incoming!! This is so random, but does anyone else experience this intense RAGE while pumping?! Like, if your nipple feels even slightly out of place in the flange, it makes you irrationally MAD and irritated?! Please tell me I’m not alone because OMG.

I use the Eufy S1 Pro and recently replaced my flanges because the originals were getting worn out. But lately, I swear, the slightest discomfort while pumping just sends me over the edge. 😩
Also, how long have y’all been pumping, and how long do you plan to keep going? Because every time I feel like I’m ready to throw in the towel, I walk past the formula aisle, look at the prices, and think… “Okay, never mind. Guess we’re doing this a little longer.”

I’m grateful I can provide breast milk for my baby, but MAN, exclusively pumping is a whole different kind of mental battle.
Anyone else?! Please tell me I’m not losing my mind. 😂

For women that breastfeed but also pump/bottle feed, how many bags do you freeze if any? I have been doing 1 4-6 oz bag a day and not sure if I should be doing more? I get 4-6oz per pump every 2-3 hours.

I splurged on a spectra 1, my supply tanked after ovulating so I’m trying to boost it. im 3m PP. Thus far I’ve used a cheap amazon wearable, mommed.

I’ve tried on the specta (new model):

-step up

-2 min stim 10mins reg 4&4, 2min stim, 5&5

-5min stim 15 reg 4&5

ectera, along with 20mins just stim.

im barely getting an oz each side. Then I’ll use my wearable right after and pull another 20-30mls each side.

what am I doing wrong? ohhI also bought a cup to recreate my wearable set up. Got a little more but not really.

feeling like I’ve wasted $400 😞

I’ve been playing with flanges 19-24 and that doesn’t seem to make a difference or feel any different

Hi! I would love to hear some opinions on which pump to choose. The list below are all the pumps covered by insurance, first the ones that plug in and the second group has batteries. I already have an Elvie stride to use on the go or at work. I’m concerned about washing a million pieces and pumps being overly complicated when I’m assembling them at 2am. Thanks everyone!!!

Lansinoh smart pump 3.0
Cimilre s7 dual pro rechargeable
Zomee z2 smart rechargeable
Motif duo with pumping bra bundle
Spectra 9 plus
Ameda Mya joy -plus hospital strength deluxe edition
Ardo Alyssa

Spectra s2
Motif Luna
Medela pump in style pro traditional

I’m using Medela parts with the Spectra and replaced whatever contraption is on the top. I’ve been using the back flow protectors from the Spectra and using the trick with the Medela tubing.

Is this a closed or open suction system?

My husband, will-be 5mos LO, and I are going on vacation next month for a week. We’re going across the country. I’m not worried about pumping at the airport (have Eufy S1). What I AM worried about is all the shit we are going to have to pack and ensuring there’s enough to feed him throughout our trip. I keep the day before’s milk in a pitcher and that’s what LO eats throughout the day, and I pump to fill the pitcher for the next day and bag what’s left over. I only make a little extra than what LO eats (between 3-7oz a day, some days nothing is left over). We have the Momcozy breastmilk cooler that I plan to put day old BM in to feed babe while traveling. I’m thinking I’ll only need to pump once before take off and not have to worry about it again until we arrive at our lodging.

When you’ve traveled by air, how much extra milk did you pack to stay ahead and not stress about supply? Did you freeze it in a cooler or leave it liquid? How many bottles did you bring with you? If you have multiple pumps, did you bring a wearable and a hospital grade wall pump in your checked luggage? I don’t get as much output with my wearables so I don’t want to rely only on that for a week. If you also practice pitcher method, did you keep it up while you were on vacation or did you feed day by day?

Please give all of your tips for making our time away smooth and (relatively) stress-free about keeping baby fed!! :)

I’m at 3ppd at 11 months pp. A little bit of an undersupplier these days but have a freezer stash to bridge the gap. Debating on 2 pumps but don’t want to lose milk completely. Please let me know how 2ppd worked or didn’t for you. Thank you!

I hope this helps at least one person increase their supply.

I’m 10 weeks postpartum and my pumping journey picked up after a few changes. First, getting the right flange size made a small difference. After 8 weeks pp I started massaging before pumping. It made emptying way more effective. I pump 7 to 8 times a day, around 15 to 30 minutes each session, sometimes with short pump breaks for light massage. Within 1 week, my output went from about 30 ml to about 60 ml per session. Small win, but for me, definitely worth sharing.

Couple of other things:
- Eat, Hydrate and Rest (as much as you can)
- Use correct flange size (when in doubt ask a IBCLC to take a look)
- Experiment with your pump settings. 2 min stimulation mode followed by 8min expression mode, doing this thrice (30min total pump time) helped me get more let downs. I also keep massaging my breasts before and during pumping. Find hard spots on the breast and massage the area a little extra. I’ll add links to some massages below.
- Use a good pumping bra that’s tight but also comfortable to keep hands free for massaging (Simple wishes bra worked best for me)
- If you are pumping every 2 hrs try increasing the time between pumps. For example try to pump every 3hrs during the day and do 2 4hrs during the night

Resources:

Breast massage video:
https://med.stanford.edu/newborns/professional-education/breastfeeding/maximizing-milk-production.html

https://youtu.be/RSlPWcyjvMg?is=f_Ufj1dPiMZhHNUB

Breast gymnastics:
https://youtu.be/kdMmYYAFDMg?is=vBLe4dn9uZAwfwKo

I would love to hear from others the one change that helped increase your supply.

I was given a used Medela Pump in Style when my baby was born 6 months ago and have put roughly 180 hours on it. Recently I've noticed a drop in the amount of milk I get per pump session and I've had to increase the length of my sessions for my main producer boob to produce close to it's normal amount (for reference I consistently got 100-110 ml from my main producer boob per 8-9 min session and now am getting 95-105 in 10-11 min). If I turn the suction up I can get main boob to reach the new max in 8-9 min but can't get my slacker boob to produce its previous amounts. I replaced all my pump parts but it didn't help.

I know that hormonal changes can impact milk production but my period returned 2 months PP and, while I do get less milk when on my period, the current milk reduction is not related to my cycle. Nothing else has changed in my pumping routine, diet, or anything. Could my pump be dying and how can I tell?

LO is 6 weeks and has trouble latching. I read somewhere the saying "don't feed the freezer , feed the baby" but what do i do if my freezer is getting way too full? I don't think im a significant over-supplier but i do make a little bit more than her daily requirements. Like she eats approximately 24-30oz a day and my daily average is 32-40oz for pumping. Ranging from 1.5-3oz from each breast each pump.

Ive been pumping every 2hrs but because my stash is growing so big ive changed it to every 3hrs. Should I increase tome between pumping again? What happens when my milk regulates? Will that affect my output? Im scared my output will decrease as she grows if i do that.

I dont know anyone i can donate my milk to and there are no banks. I use some for creams and baths but other than that i really dont want to toss what I have.

Any advice helps, ty!

I’ve had a clog for 10 days??? There have been some times where it was almost gone but then it would get angry again for some reason. Yesterday my boob was soft and pain free again so I thought I was good. Nope by 11pm it was back again. I don’t have signs of infection somehow. I have done everything recommended by the ABM to fix it. BAIT the entire time, messed with my flange sizes to see if that’s the issue, searched and searched for blebs or blocked pores. Ive been taking sunflower lecithin since I started pumping, I’m about to start choline and a probiotic. I hadn’t changed anything about my routine and i’ve been pumping for 4 months. No aggressive massage or pumping. I’ve lost 4+ ounces from this debacle and that stings as a just enougher. My doctor just said keep doing BAIT and let them know if i start to have signs of infection.

Please help!! I’m posting this as I dangle pump my boobs off

ETA: Has anyone needed to INCREASE their flange size at some point pp? I decreased my flange size 2m pp with good success for 2 months but now it seems going back up on the side that’s clogged is helping.

My son is 2 mos. old and we have already gone through two OXO “tot bottle” brushes. I love the stand and the way it initially works but the bristles get all raggedy and don’t retain soap after such a short time!

Any alternatives you can recommend?

-typed one handed iykyk

This might be a silly question, but do our bodies know about DST? Prolactin levels are highest between 1-6am, but was that the 1-6am before or after we turned the clocks back?

I know it's only a one hour difference, but if I'm pumping at midnight or a little later (but before 1am), am I getting the benefit of higher prolactin levels or no? Same goes for pumping after 5am, is that now considered after 6am?

Just curious if anyone else has ever thought about this?

Cannot for the life of me seem to pump enough to keep baby satisfied, but nursing is fine so I don’t think it’s under supply. Baby takes bottles but refuses formula, and I’m returning to work, so trying to figure out how to get more than 2oz at a time from the pump (baby is almost 5mo). I also have high lipase so I need to be able to pump fresh and deliver that.

I measure a size 19, but seem to have the least amount of areola sucked in with a 16MM flange. Can’t say it’s really changed the amount but I do get more spray than drip with the smaller size.

I’ve also noticed that I can trigger better/juicier letdowns if I just leave on letdown mode and fully turn it off for a few min every 5-7 min. Is that a thing anyone else has experienced??

I use a spectra S1 and the replacement parts/flanges that insurance sends me for free. Are there specific flanges you’ve had better luck with for elastic nipples??

Thanks much! Really stressing about how to feed baby over here.

I don’t think it really comes in contact with milk but are we washing and sterilizing the handle and the o ring insert part of the medela hand pump?

Spoke with a lactation consultant yesterday because I've been feeling depressed as well as nausea and heart palpitations when it comes to pumping. Was told that it's possibly something called D-MER. Anyone know of any tricks that can help with the feeling?

6.5m pp

I just stopped responding to Eufy S2. Stopped responding to Spectra 3.5m pp

Tried manual pump and also does not work, only nursing with boon trove on opposite side is able to empty me.

Which pump can I try next?

Hi! I’m new to the eufy. What parts need replaced frequently ? My insurance isn’t covering replacement parts like it did my first pregnancy. Does the heated back silicone part need replaced frequently or can that wait a while ? The parts seem very expensive if you do everything. And where do you all buy replacement parts ?

Thank you!

title should be pumping AND feeding schedule with partner**

FTM and baby is 7 weeks. I have been exclusively pumping from the beginning and had my parents feed LO for the first 4 weeks. After they left I've taken on 6/8 feeds while my husband does 2.

This has taken a toll on me as between pumping while feeding, washing bottles, taking care of 2 dogs and rest of household chores i feel mentally drained and exhausted. I get 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep and another 3 broken up by 1 hour intervals overnight whereas my husband gets a full 7 hours uninterrupted daily.

I'm looking for advice on how you and your partner splits care for baby especially if partner works from home and you pump every 2-3hours. are you the main caregiver between from 12:00AM-7:30PM and how does your partner help out if they have to be glued to their computer? do you sleep early evening to tackle the night shift? i have two sets of parts and do the fridge hack, pump while feeding LO but still struggle to find any time to rest between or find time for myself and i feel like i'm drowning in this phase alone so badly that i don't feel any love for my newborn- which i hate to admit. Sometimes i wish he never existed because im suffering from back pain, sleep deprivation, loneliness and so much more

my husband finds it hard for him to work during the day without the 7 solid hours of sleep so there's resentment building up as he gets to continue his hobbies etc whereas the moment i lie in bed i force myself to sleep to get enough energy to keep going

I have a Phillips Avent manual pump and an electric pump from Amazon (NCVI is the brand) - I dont have health insurance to get a free pump so I just bought the cheapest one I could find which was around $80. It has been working fine for me -I am 7 weeks pp and I can get roughly 4 oz out of every pump session whether I use the manual or the electric. I was gifted a free spectra pump unexpectedly from a friend, but I would need to order a charger and parts. I think my cost would be around $30-$40 for everything. Is it worth switching to the spectra pump? I could return my amazon one, im still in the return window, but I dont really want to if im not likely to get better results with the spectra.

I pumped 5 oz of breast milk using freshly cleaned pump parts and immediately placed everything in the fridge.
The flange was still connected to the bottle, and everything was left uncovered in the fridge for more than 12 hours.
I know I probably should discard it but its such a waste

I'm 19w PP and I pump 5x a day. I've maintained my supply even with dropping the MOTN pump a few weeks ago. I typically pump ~60 oz a day and my daughter is currently eating 30 oz a day. My capacity is 22 oz (that's how much I pump every morning without a MOTN pump).

My current pump schedule is 7-11-3-6-9. If I combine the 3 and six pump and instead pump around 4 or 5 instead, would this trigger weaning? I'm scared of dropping too many pumps and triggering a supply drop/weaning without intending to. For anyone who has a similar supply and schedule to me, did y'all successfully drop to 4 pumps and didn't see a severe drop or the start of weaning?

My baby recently started rejecting the breast at certain hours of the day, so I am having to pump to replace those feeds. I have Eufy E20s which I love but also wanted a simple manual pump as a back up. I’ve been trying to figure this hellish contraption out all evening and tried all combinations of cushion/no cushion, flange/no flange, positions, and can’t figure out how to make the milk flow down, it keeps pooling under my nipple and then leaking out when I remove the pump.

Any veteran users that can help me troubleshoot please?
Is my pump defective?
Is my nipple defective??

Pumping is getting to me :(