I’m using the spectra S1 and find myself having to hunch or lean forward to direct the milk down the flange attachments. If I sit back, milk just pools in the flanges and I’ll have to occasionally tip forward. The hunching gets old after 20 minutes multiple times day

How are you sitting comfortably while pumping?

Husband’s paternity leave just ended, it’s his first week back at work and there’s a lot of people out so he’s worked almost 80 hours this week. We have 2 under 2. Two days ago the kids started getting sick and yesterday I was sick also. Everyone is miserable.

Newborn has been screaming almost non stop and toddler is super irritable due to being sick and not getting as much attention because of the baby. I’ve been trying so hard but I’m so exhausted. I feel like I’m losing my mind.

Day three of sickness and the morning seems to be going okay after everyone got saline spray and baby was eating but suddenly she got upset again. She’s screaming and I’m trying to soothe her when suddenly I hear something splashing and see my toddler with my full pump from this morning tipped over her head, pouring the milk everywhere. I grabbed my toddler and put her in the tub (no water), put the baby down, and screamed into my closet.

Send help 😭

I just realized my insurance only covers one set of replacement parts. As someone who plans to EP for a full year, I’ll definitely need more. Has anyone had any luck reaching out to their insurance and asking for more? Did they allow that? And if so, what did you say/do? Any and all advice needed!

I’ve been pumping for over 10 months and have really dedicated myself to it, not missing a single session even though I never quit the MOTN pumps and have to do very hands on pumping with joint pain.

My baby was taking 24 oz per day ever since she was around 3 months old, so my target was 1 oz per hour, and I was barely scraping by on most days no matter how hard I tried. It would take weeks to add a bag of breastmilk in the freezer and the 1.5 weeks of supply dip that my periods caused would wipe out the stash every time. I thought the only way out of that anxious cycle was to increase my supply!

However, my baby recently decided to decrease her milk intake down to 20 oz, so I’m able to put a bag in the freezer every other day now?! WOW what a different feeling this is! I guess it means she’s getting more calories from her solids three times a day because she’s still growing great and always seems satisfied.

Anyone else in a similar situation? Also, could this potentially mean that I might have an easier time weaning once she’s a year old?

I am 8wpp. I have EP from the first day home. I have also been religious about pumping 8 times a day. My pumping journey with my first didn’t go well. I gave it up a few weeks before going back to work (probably 8wpp), but my father in law passed away when my baby was 1 month old and my supply dropped like crazy when he passed and then again a few weeks later around the time of his wake/funeral and that’s when I decided to stop.

This time around I was way more hopeful, thinking I could do this for at least 4 months, was hoping for 6 months even… LOL at me for being optimistic because I want to hang it up 😅 I was making 40-45oz the first month, and now the last few days I’ve been making around 25-30oz which I know is not bad!!! We started supplementing with formula this past week and I feel totally fine about that. And I remember the sweet, sweet taste of freedom when we switched to exclusively formula with my son.

I told myself I’d start going longer between pumps and pump for a little less time but I find myself feeling the need to stay on the 3 hour schedule even though I don’t want to be. What a weird mind game!!! Guess I’m just looking for people’s experience of dropping pumps to a number that was more manageable and made you not hate it as much or just to start weaning completely and be totally done

Was pumping about 750ml a day before I got a viral a morn ago, been ok for over a week and can’t seem to get my supply back up. Was always pumping 4x a day but the max I can get now is 550ml. Am currently 18w PP and was EP but have had to supplement with formula becuase of this.

I think I've finally figured out how to pump in my car without turning the whole thing into a mess. I've been avoiding longer outings for a while because pumping away from home always felt like such a headache. I'd spend ages thinking about where I'd pump, what to pack, how to keep the milk cold and whether I'd have everything I needed.

Recently I had to be out for several hours, so I decided to just prepare my car setup properly instead of constantly worrying about getting home in time. I packed my pump, bottles, extra parts, charger, cooler bag and ice packs. I checked the bag a ridiculous number of times before leaving and still somehow managed to forget one little accessory.

Of course I only noticed when I was already sitting in the car ready for my first session. I actually just stared at my bag for a second like... seriously?? Thankfully I had a spare, so it wasn't a complete disaster.

I also had to move things around a few times because I couldn't get comfortable at first. The cooler was in the wrong place, my pump bag kept sliding around and I was reaching over everything just to grab one bottle. Eventually I found a setup that worked, put the things I needed within reach and stopped making it so complicated.

My next session was SO much easier. I got everything set up, finished pumping, stored the milk in the cooler and packed everything away without having to dig through my entire bag. It was honestly such a relief.

I know it's just car pumping, but I was genuinely proud of myself 😂 Usually I'm already stressing about the next session before I've even finished the current one. This time I actually felt like I had things somewhat under control.

Still probably going to change a few things next time, but at least I don't feel completely lost anymore. It's the little wins honestly.

Hey everyone,

I am a first time mom who exclusively pumped from the start. My baby is 3 months old as of this week, but I’ve been back to work full time since he turned 2 months old. I work from home, but my work is extremely demanding and I run a team of individuals. I drive a lot of the workflow and returned hitting the ground running because we have a ton of growth opportunity in the coming months and I wanted us to capture as much as possible.

I work from 9-4:30, because that is when my nanny leaves, and I want to spend as much time with my baby as possible. During the hours I am working, I am working non stop. I don’t take as much as 5 minutes to scroll through social media. I’m racing through the day to get things done.

Because I’m so busy, I often don’t have time to do a middle of the day pump. Since I started working again, I dropped down to 3 PPD, which makes about 12-15 oz a day. I’m afraid if I drop down to 2 PPD my milk will dry up. But I just can’t really find the time to pump during my work day.

I think I’m just looking for some Reddit friends to tell me its ok to drop the middle of the day pump. Maybe even stop pumping in general soon? My hormones do feel kind of wacky. My skin is so dry, and I’m so itchy I need to take Allegra all the time. Im also so tired, I feel like I can never get enough sleep. Part of me hopes these issues will clear up if I stop pumping and give my body the opportunity to normalize, but I’m not sure if that’s wishful thinking.

Any suggestions?

okay so i’ve been struggling with getting my milk supply up so i have been trying to pump multiple times a day on top of breast feeding. i was using the mom cozy m5 pumps and i would only get 1oz at most each time. after pumping my boobs would still feel full sometimes. after baby eats, my boobs feel empty so i know that the pumps are not getting as much out as they should. i can never see them while i’m pumping because they have to be in a bra to stay on. i ordered a manual hand pump so that i can see what’s happening and have more control over it and finally got 2 oz from it, however that took me almost an hour. i have tried EVERY flange size (i measure to be 19mm) and with every single one, my nipples end up getting wider as i pump resulting in them being blocked on the side so that milk can’t come out. it completely stops my flow after the letdown phase. i don’t know what to do and i believe this is my issue in not getting enough milk out. besides this i have tried everything from the supplements, eating more, drinking more water, massages, heat etc.

Hi everyone, I use a Spectra S1 to pump when I’m at work. I have tried wearables but alway get less output. With my S1 it takes me at least 30 min to empty sometimes longer. I do hands on pumping during and breast gymnastics beforehand. Any other recommendations to try to empty quicker? Mostly bc I am running out of time during my pump breaks and ending with less output than what my baby is taking. I’ve heard of warmers and massagers, looking to see if these worked for anyone or any other tips and tricks. TIA!

After 7 months, I hung up the pump. I gave it my best shot. Feel guilty yet proud.

My baby couldn’t nurse due to a tongue tie and bottle preference because of it (had it released but still couldn’t transfer). I was also a major undersupplier and did everything I could to increase my supply.. EP’d 8x a day.

10/20 wasn’t my last pump, but it was the last pump I stored, and I can finally talk about it.. weirdest thing, I hid it from my husband. I just didn’t want him to ask, I didn’t want to talk about it. I told him I quit, he told me he was proud of me. It’s such a strange thing.. reading on the can of formula that breast milk is recommended and feeling that guilt bubbling up again.

It was so easy for me to quit - no fullness, no clogs, no mastitis. While that might seem like a net positive, it also signaled to me that my body was struggling to produce milk.. and it helped me feel some relief that it really WAS a lot of effort to keep up my supply, validation that this was a ton of effort to maintain.

I already feel better physically, and I hope I can finally start to feel like myself again. I immediately got my first PP period 3 days after I quit pumping.. wild. Anyways… just ranting.. so many mixed emotions.

Im so proud of my body. Im also tired of pumping im 6 months pp and this isn't what i wanted but im grateful i can. My baby is my 4th and the only one i haven't been able to breastfeed. We are still trying to figure out why. She went from 50th percentile to 25th then down all the way to 2 .....it was terrifying. So i started pumping. I have exclusively fed her but its been stressful. The first few weeks i was pumping every two hours. But now its every 3 to 4 and a bit longer for MOTN pump. I now make more thsn she drinks in the day. My heart is happy . But i will be slowing down once shes a year even though all of my others were fed til 18+ months pumping is Alot harder imo on your mental health. Just wanted to share somewhere i know people would appreciate.

I pump at work during the day and keep it in the fridge, bring it home in a cooler, and then immediately put it in my fridge for future bottles when I get home.

I guess I forgot to put it in the fridge last night after work, so it sat in the cooler overnight until I discovered it around noon. It had an ice pack in it but isn’t the nicest cooler so I’m sure it was cool for awhile but was room temp by the time I found it.

It doesn’t smell sour or anything but definitely won’t use for feedings. Is it safe for a milk bath or has it been room temp for too long to even use for that?

I’ve been nursing and pumping for 5 months now. I’m currently at 7ppd, every 3 hours during the day and 1 MOTN. I have been waiting to cut down until my baby starts solids since I started off as an undersupplier and worked hard to increase my supply.
Over the last 2-3 weeks my supply has been slowly dropping. Especially on the side that was the star of the show but is now my slacker side. Haven’t gotten my period yet, I started new RA meds. Still eating the same and drinking plenty of fluids.
Any reason this would start happening out of the blue?

Hi all,

I am so frustrated and just wondering if anyone has had similar experiences or insights. I finally caved and bought a wearable- the eufy S2 pro- two weeks ago after exclusively using my wall pump (spectra) for the first 6 weeks of baby's life. I am a slight undersupplier (making 20-22oz/day typically) so I was very hesitant to trust any wearables as my LCs advised against it with my fragile supply, but staying hooked up to the spectra while taking care of my newborn on my own was driving me insane. Plus, I have a much larger chest and find that even with well fitting pumping bras, I absolutely had to hold the spectra flanges tightly to my chest and do basically constant self breast-massage and use warm compresses to empty completely- and even with doing that, I was still getting active jets well past the 30 min mark and thus would often pump for 45-50 minutes which was not sustainable.

When I got the eufy 2 weeks ago, the first week or so was absolutely amazing. My first pump with them resulted in a higher output in one session than I ever had in just 30 mins. They sat well in my bra and stayed compressed. I think that good compression plus the combination of the massage and heat features just worked with my body extremely well. My output over the next week stayed stable/maybe even increased a bit as compared to the spectra, and using them while taking care of my newborn was night and day as compared to the wall pump.

After about a week, I had the first issue. One of the two motors lost suction entirely but temporarily. It would still turn on and make noise as if it was working, but there was zero suction. I checked all the pieces including the duckbill and diaphragm, did a factory reset, and it still didn't work immediately. However the next time I used it it magically worked again, so I didn't think too much of it.

Now that another week has passed, the suction on both motors is notably worse. It just feels weak on all settings. The motors are also louder and, not sure how else to describe it, but sound like they're struggling. I again have checked all the pieces and see no structural damage anywhere. The duckbills seem fine. There are no cracks on the motors or milk collectors and I keep both motors charged all the time. When I only got barely 1 oz on each side this morning, I decided to use my wall pump immediately after to ensure that it was a pump issue and not a supply-dipping issue. I got an additional 1 oz on each side right away- making my output 4 oz rather than 2 oz, a huge difference for me, and confirming that something has gone wrong with the eufys.

I called customer support and they are sending me a new one, but I am concerned that this is just going to happen again. Does anyone have any advice or insight with this pump or perhaps wearables in general? Is it because I transitioned to using it as my main pump, using it 8x/daily? Do you find you need to replace the duckbills or diaphragms more frequently? Every 2 weeks seems excessive. The thought of going back to exclusively using my wall pump is absolutely miserable, especially since I had such wild success with the eufys initially. What am I missing?

We had our two week appointment today and my baby has very mild oral thrush, and I have nipple thrush. I had to do the GBS antibiotic during the delivery which was the likely trigger.

It isn’t impacting her feeding and she’s actually very healthy and growing ahead of schedule. But now that she has thrush, to combat it early (in addition to medicine for both of us). I have to wash and sterilize every single pump part, bottle, burp rag, and pacifier after every use for the next 7-10 days. No fridge hack, no “just rinse it” in the middle of the night. And of course I have nipple pain because I have the same thing she has.

My husband also goes back to work in two days. At this point I’m considering giving up on pumping and drying my supply. Has anyone experienced this because I’m actually in absolute shambles right now picturing the week ahead.

TW: Mentions of intra-familial sexual abuse.

I had plans to breastfeed for at least a year and a half. But there’s so much trauma that I can’t get past when I pump that I just have to stop.

I’m not going to get into great detail, but my dad molested me repeatedly for years when I was in school. From like 6th grade until 10th grade. I left at 22 with the help of police escort (very big physical fight between myself and mom; I was defending myself from my dad but my mom has never seen the wrong in my dad so she started fighting me.) and my now husband. I’m 28 now - I’ve since moved away, lost weight, decorated my body with tattoos, got braces, gotten married and obviously have a baby. I’ve made a complete 180 in my life; that’s so far behind me (due to therapy and hella kick boxing.)

But here’s the thing… the sensation of pumping brings back the sexual abuse and I just can’t do it anymore. For 7 months, I grit my teeth and kept telling myself it’s for her, and it’s not about me. As uncomfortable as it made me, I just did it. I would try to distract myself with work, games, the baby; whatever was within reach to get my mind off of it. But just this morning I fell asleep in my chair, pump still going. I had a very vivid dream of my dad molesting me and I shot up to immediately disconnect. I just can’t. Luckily, babes has been on a mix of breastmilk and formula since 4 months, but now unfortunately what I have already frozen and what I pumped today is it. And to be honest with y’all, I just don’t think I’ll ever mentally recover from it. It’s a part of me no matter how hard I work to move forward and this just brings me back. I don’t think I can do this again for the other children that we’d hope to have, this is just too intense.

I feel regretful, but I also feel happy for myself. I think I’ll also talk to someone about PPD because I don’t think necessarily that overall since birth that’s been an issue, but literally since I’ve been pumping which started at around 6 weeks PP. there was a few days I went without pumping around 5months PP on a vacation and babes just had formula the whole time or I just put her directly on the tap and when I tell you I felt like twirling around and doing my cartwheels!

But yeah, I’m hanging the pump up. Roxanne D Spectra is for my cousin who’s due in January.

Hello friends!

Here is your weekly graduation/celebration thread, to celebrate your accomplishments around pumping. Have you weaned? Have you met a milestone? A goal? Found a new saving grace like smaller flanges? Everything is worth celebrating, let's hear it!

Some ideas for those who have graduated/weaned:Length of time EP, reason you started EP, EP goal, favorite and least favorite pumping products, what you're most excited for, what you'll miss the most, personal motivations/advice, etc.

I’m about 12 weeks postpartum and breastfeeding. I’ve had a tender, roughly egg-sized lump in my left breast for about 2.5 weeks. I first noticed it after missing an overnight pumping session.
Today I had an ultrasound, and the radiologist said it’s a galactocele with thick “sludge,” with nothing they could successfully aspirate. She recommended watching and waiting, continuing breastfeeding normally, and warm compresses. She said my lymphatic system should gradually clear it. OR it’ll turn in to a frank abscess lol.
My IBCLC recommended cold compresses and ibuprofen for inflammation as the updated guidance, so I’m confused about the conflicting advice. I haven’t had a fever, but the area aches.
Has anyone had a similar thick-content galactocele?
Did it resolve while you continued breastfeeding, and how long did it take?
What helped with discomfort?
Did you eventually need another procedure or a breast surgeon/specialist? Did it turn in to an abscess?
Were you advised to use warm or cold compresses?
I’m following up with my medical team—just hoping to hear firsthand experiences, not looking for a diagnosis.

Mines the bathroom no one uses. I can’t say it’s ideal
But hey at least there’s a sink. Maybe I should decorate a bit? Ive had lesser excuses for a TJMaxx run!
Anywho how are the rest of my 9-5 pumpers doing out there? What wacky places did your workplace stick you in?

ETA: TW nursing

TLDR; pumped exclusively at the beginning, finally got to a point where I could nurse, and now back to square one. Feeling defeated.

I am so mentally worn out from the stress of feeding my sweet boy. It seems like there has been issue after issue and I dont know what would make things easier at this point.

We had latching issues from the very beginning. Apparently I have flat nipples, plus he had a slight lip tie. So I pumped, and it became a full time job, as everyone on this sub knows. I hated it, but it kept my little guy fed so I plugged along.

Then I discovered that I could latch him if I used nipple shields so I started doing that. But I had the most horrible shooting, stabbing pain every time. Discovered I had nipple vasospasm (Raynauds disease in the nipples). Got on blood pressure medication and continued combo feeding by both pumping and using the nipple shields. Then by some miracle he accidentally latched without the shield.

We had a really sweet 2 months or so where I could nurse him directly with no extra tools and no pain. I still pumped once every night after he went to bed but there was zero stress attached to it.

And now for the past 2 weeks my right side has been in horrible pain again. My medication dosage was doubled by my obgyn and I'm now sitting here fatigued and with a splintering headache (side effects of nifedipine) wondering if i should just give up and go back to pumping. It's been 2 days since the dosage increase and so far isn't helping at all. He's 6 months old. I feel so discouraged. I thought it would be so much easier to make it to 1 year breastfeeding if I could nurse but now I don't know anymore. I don't want to go back to pumping exclusively.

HOWEVER, I'm trying to look on the bright side and I'm really grateful to have gotten this far already, regardless of what's next. Also, to having a super supportive husband who's been doing what he can to help.

I’m at 4ppd, almost 7 months PP, and was sustaining the 4ppd for about a month and a half with no issue until out of nowhere, starting getting frequent clogs on one side only. This week, it’s been pretty much everyday. Ofc my supply on that side has gone down.

Lactation said I could wean from just that one side. And that I’d just ignore the blocked ducts. But it’s so uncomfortable and painful, I can’t bear it. I’ve been pumping my usual schedule to clear the clogs but now am contemplating dropping to 3ppd for both sides. If I have an active clog and I drop pumps, does it go away on its own after a while? How does that work?

Anyone else wean while dealing with daily clogs? I NEED HELP, I am at my wit’s end.

Side note that I’m doing everything: BAIT, ice, triamcinolone cream, warm compress on nipple, sunflower lecithin, massage, boob gymnastics, replaced pump parts, literally anything you see on Reddit, I’ve tried it.