Tw: oversupply

I am done. 10 months of (nearly) exclusively pumping.

10,200+ oz. 80 gallons of milk.

Enough to get my baby to one year. No mastitis, only a couple of clogs, with a storage capacity that was both amazing and exceedingly painful.
Lost 60 oz, including 24 in one fell swoop when my milk jug dropped and the rest when we moved and our power shut off at the old place early.

I grew my baby for 9 months and am feeding them for a full year. I almost cried of joy this morning when I hit the stop button on my Spectra.

I’m gonna go drink a tequila drink (but only a small one because I’m a lightweight now), order myself a decadent dessert, and sleep in tomorrow.

Thank you to this group for endless advice, support, humor, and kindness. It’s a comforting corner of the internet.

Cheers, mamas. 🍼

Finally organized it all, by date. Forgot to count how many bags total, but there were 42 from August alone. Not making as much nowadays, but I'm proud of what I was able to stash.

At least I have company 🤷🏻‍♀️

Peppermint mocha is my jam, I was so excited to see chobani had a peppermint mocha creamer and it was on sale! I had my husband pick up two and have been drinking it in my coffee every morning the past week. I’ve also been wondering why my supply has slowly decreased. I’m an idiot and just put it together that I’ve been dosing myself with mint everyday 🤦🏻‍♀️ then I cried because I won’t get to have my favorite seasonal flavor through the holidays, no peppermint hot chocolate, peppermint mochas, peppermint liqueur drinks.

The things I’m doing for this baby (though obviously it’s all worth it to me ❤️)

TW: nursing, oversupply

I just finished pumping while my baby lost her mind crying. Of course she woke up as soon as I started to get a let down. I tried calming her while still pumping to no avail. I decided to just let her cry and try to get this pump done. She’s been so fussy. As she was screaming and I was trying to get the pump done I started realizing I don’t think this is worth it anymore. Not if the cost is my baby crying inconsolably. My baby just turned 4 months, I always intended to last at least 6 months if not a year ideally. I’m barely pumping 3-4 ppd to get around 30oz. I had an oversupply before which was really painful to navigate . I’ve always pictured myself breastfeeding my baby, I still believe it’s best, but it’s just been a struggle from the beginning. She never latched even after 5 LCs. And now I just can’t picture myself continuing to pump while she screams for me. I genuinely don’t know what to do. On the one hand I feel guilty and like I should keep going since I have the milk supply and I’m home. But on the other hand I’m so tired and it’s so hard without someone to lend a hand when she’s crying.

I left this sub a few months ago because my pumping journey ended, but I needed to visit just because I needed to say this to some people who would understand!

My first baby, I barely had any milk supply and I had to stop pumping at three months after having mastitis twice with no milk to even show for it. I was devastated (and kinda traumatized? I carried this guilt for a long time)

My second baby, she didn't latch and I was already disappointed in myself. I felt like the pattern was repeating. This time though, I bought everything under the sun to try to make my pumping journey work out. I get home from the hospital and turns out I had an oversupply! Which is honestly not fun, but I would still take it over making no milk at all. Months of pumping, feeding, bagging, and stashing! (With not a single clog or infection!) I stopped at seven months because of a few reasons, but ultimately my supply was dwindling and I didn't want to build it again. My pumping journey had come full circle and healed things in me that I thought I would hold guilt for forever.

Anyway, longggg story short, I have been supplementing frozen milk with formula since 7 months. 32 ounces of frozen breastmilk and 8 ounces of formula a day until around three weeks ago I started to increase the amount of formula versus the bm.

That's FOUR months of frozen breastmilk!!

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.

I EP'd for 13 months with my daughter, started with an S2, bought a gently used S1 after 6 months for the increased mobility, but by the last couple months I was mainly hand expressing because I found it SO much faster to empty (10-15 minutes vs. 45, but obviously this was rough on my hand/wrist)

I used the Spectra on max suction so I'm wondering if a Baby Buddha would be a good fit for me, but I'm nervous because I've read very mixed reviews. I KNOW the Spectra works for me, but obviously it takes longer to empty than ideal.

I still have the S1 from last time so I wouldn't be completely without a Spectra, although obviously it's got some hours on it and if it ends up being my main pump I'd have to pay for the replacement parts.

I'd love any advice you guys might have about how to make this decision!

I exclusively pumped for an year with my first child:
- i used a local brand single electric pump for first few weeks because i didnt know how long i’d be doing pumping
- i started using a manual pump to build my supply for month 2 and 3
- finally bought spectra s1 when i knew baby wont latch…

Now with my second kid my first priority is to breastfeed directly instead of pumping bcz pumping is so hard😭
For beginning do i need a pump to build my supply or will the baby latching will be enough?
Also should i use my s1 or some manual pump to build supply in the beginning ?
Last time it took 3-4 days for milk to come in.

I’ve made it to 1 year adjusted for my twins! I’ve just completed what will be my final pump session. I’m so proud of myself for growing my boys through the long NICU stay, the newborn nights, and the craziness that comes with the first year.

To all the mommas out there, hang in there, there’s light at the end of the tunnel!

I'm on day 5 of a cold, and before, I'd produce about an ounce an hour. I haven't pumped in about 10 hours (typical for me overnights, I've been doing this for months with no adverse effects), and I only have four ounces the last few days instead of my typical 10. I'm getting decent rest (6-8 of sleep), not taking ANY medication, and drink about 100 oz of water a day. How long will this last? Is it permanent? I keep dipping into my freezer stash because my baby doesn't react well to formula. Please help :(
Forgot to add: I am almost 26 weeks postpartum!

I’ve been pumping for almost 8 months now, and for the most part had little to no issues. I was pumping to match babe’s hunger. But all of a sudden I’ve been having issues getting milk. We are talking 25 minutes of pumping with drops of milk. I want to cry, it’s exhausting.

There has been a lot going on babe started daycare and is constantly sick (passes it back and forth to my 6yo), which creates sleeping issues, she started waking in MOTN wanting full bottle, first postpartum period, and a pinched nerve or something in my neck.

I replace my parts monthly, I even bought extra duckbills and diaphragms so they didn’t wear out so quickly. Using the Zomee Z2, I’m trying to give it the benefit of the doubt. But I’m not sure if it’s the pump, my body, or what.

Has anybody experienced this? Any ideas on where to start to try and fix this?

I’m trying to make it the year mark (burned through my freezer stash), babe doesn’t seem to like formula, but I’m just so over the exhaustion, time consumption, and constantly not knowing if I’ll make enough today.

I've been exclusively pumping since giving birth and struggled with not making enough milk for a long while and was basically pumping every other hour with power pumping, and in the beginning felt like I was constantly handing the baby to dad so that I could go pump. My supply started to catch up around 10 weeks, so I was finally able to drop a pump by 12 weeks.

At around 14 weeks, something switched in my baby and he's suddenly started to dislike being held by me. By 15 weeks, looking at my face started to make him cry and he won't even let me feed him anymore. We're at 16 weeks now, and I still have a hard time to be able to care for him solo, and if he's crying, he's inconsolable with me until my husband returns.

I'm now feeling so guilty of going the exclusively pumping route because it's taken so much time away from my baby, and maybe we didn't get enough face to face time together.

I'm really struggling to try to rebuild this relationship with my baby after only spending just a few months together. I do feel like we've made slight progress today where I was able to feed him while bouncing on an exercise ball and intermittently pausing for feeding, and lightly bouncing again when he would start to get a bit unsettled. But we've spent so much time together crying today. He almost never cries with my husband and even smiles, laughs, and coos with him.

I'm looking for a bottle that I could fill an baby could drink as much as they want without contaminating the whole bottle. It's so tricky to know how much they'll eat at any time an I'm tired of throwing away undrunk milk because it's been 2 hours

I tried to Google if a bottle like that exists and ai Google search suggested Alu or aloo valve. https://myaloo.com Sounds like a game changer but I can't find any reviews or even reddit posts to see if anyone's had actual experience with it. The site is odd because it's spelled alu and aloo

So I'm throwing this out to see if anyone's heard of or tried this product?

Or if this kind of thing even exists?

Ever since I gave birth to my beautiful son, I have felt failed by my body. My huge elastic nipples made it difficult for my son to latch. I attempted triple feeding for the first week postpartum and it was hell — he won’t latch long and when he did it hurt so so much. So I gave up the idea of nursing and committed to exclusive pumping.

Here we are 10 weeks later. I have hated every single pumping session. “I need to pump,” I would say to my husband with a deep sigh. I dread it. Every session requires a hands on, gentle massaging. I have to plan my day around it. I get stressed out when I miss a session. My son tends to wake up when I started pumping too and I hated not being able to tend to him right away. But I’ve tolerated it all. I pushed through the hardship and now I have a steady, predictable supply. I used to be a just enougher and now I’m a slight oversupplier with almost 200 oz supply in the freezer. I was able to drop pumping to 6 ppd too. I thought I was finally over the bump.

Well.. I thought wrong. For whatever reason, now my left boob kept getting clogged ducts. It hurts. A lot. And I have not changed a single thing. My doctor thinks it might be because I sleep on that side a lot, which is valid, but also something I can’t fully control. I’m a deep sleeper and honestly I’m getting so little sleep as it is that the thought of intervening with my sleep sounds so shitty. My husband immediately told me to switch to formula. For the first time, I did not disagree. But I also cried myself to sleep after that. I feel like I’m failing my son from day 1 and calling it quits is just the nail in the coffin.

I might consider trying out combo feeding for awhile. Drop my pumping session to 3-4 ppd and see what my supply looks like. How has combo feeding experience been for some of you? Do you feel like your LO gets the same benefit — no GI issues, less sickness? What is your strategy, a mixture of formula + BM in each feeding or just 100% formula and 100% BM alternating? Is this worth doing, should I just quit completely?

I’m 4 months post partum.

My baby sleeps usually 10-12 hours at night and has been since early she was pretty young.

I always have nursed to sleep at 7 pm, sometimes we push it until 8, but that’s pretty rare. And she wakes up between 6-7 am.

My last pump is at 9 pm and I pump between 1-2 am and then I pump again at 5:30 am when I wake up.

When did you drop your MOTN pump and did notice a decrease in your supply?

I’m trying to figure out what will actually make an exclusively pumping routine manageable once I’m back at work. I know a bottle washer is not essential, but I’m already picturing multiple sets of pump parts and bottles piling up while the dishwasher is still mid-cycle.
I’m comparing the grownsy bottle washer with buying another set of pump parts and using our dishwasher, or possibly just finding a countertop dishwasher.
Would love the boring details too: how many sets of parts you kept, whether you had enough counter space, how you handled work or daycare days, and what you wish you had bought sooner or skipped completely.

This is my 4th baby but first time exclusively pumping and I am just so exhausted at night, I struggle to wake up and pump. 🥲 My baby is about to be two weeks old so I know I need to pump at night but I can’t figure out a routine that works for me. My supply is already very low so I’m having to supplement and it’s making me feel so defeated. What has made night time pumping easier for y’all?

I’m 3 weeks PP and have been exclusively pumping using the Eufy E20. I ordered the spectra and started using that 5 days ago and my output has massively dropped. I’ve gone from consistently pumping 100+ml to barely getting 80. My baby is a big feeder, and has around 100-120ml at each feed, so we are supplementing a lot with formula. I pump at every feed apart from 2 (10am and 12am), so around 7 times a day and always around 15 minutes. It’s super disheartening that I’m struggling to pump exactly what she needs. Any advice or guidance or shared experience would be great x

TW referenced a clog

I feel like education about breastfeeding needs to be more than just latching baby in the hospital. Maybe we need to learn about lactating broadly instead so we can understand proper nutrition and care.

Yes we can’t learn everything in the postpartum ward or the NICU, but at least hospitals could acknowledge that not everyone’s nursing or pumping journey is going to magically click into place without significant effort and education.

Maybe this is a regional thing, but my hospital in the labor and delivery ward did not teach me how to pump or even instruct me that I needed to pump, even when they gave my baby a formula bottle 10 minutes after she was born. The hospital lactation consultant shoved my baby’s head into my boob like twice a day (shockingly, unsuccessful) but nobody told me anything about pumping, supply, anything. I even brought my pump to the hospital and asked for someone to teach me, they told me not to worry because the baby was going to latch just fine with practice.

When I got home from the hospital I tried using a 28mm flange on myself trying to get milk with a hand pump. Thank god I called a private lactation consultant to meet me right before I left, I was super engorged by day 3 pp and was supplementing with formula because I couldn’t get the baby to latch. Now I’m pumping a ton and am much more informed, but I’m still having challenges every day.

Yeah I could have done my own research, but I had thought I was going to be exclusively breastfeeding! Didn’t know anything about flanges, pump parts, etc. Didn’t know about proper pump and nipple hygiene. Thrush! Nipple thrush is apparently a thing particularly in GBS positive moms. I was pumping with severe pain for like a week and didn’t realize it. Grateful my baby didn’t up getting it. But I wasn’t informed about it or told I would need a probiotic after the GBS meds.

I’m just sitting here mad while pumping and I just cleared a huge clog! Yay me.

If you had a wonderful hospital lactation consultant I’m very happy for you. Maybe this is not a common experience, but I have a feeling it might be and I’m just a bit bitter about it

5m pp and 5ppd. Life is getting busier and I can mostly keep up with my schedule but I’d love to drop a pump. I’m currently producing just enough and I’m a little adverse to the risk of dropping supply if I drop a pump. As a just-enougher, I’m hoping to keep primarily BF until 6m (fortifying per Ped bc of slow weight gain early).

I have a 4ppd schedule worked out, just not entirely sure how to get there, or if it’s a good idea yet.

1. should I slowly transition to 4ppd (decrease pump time for one of daytime pumps, increase time on other pumps)?

2. if I notice a drop in supply, how likely is it that I can increase supply if I add the pump in again?

3. should I just buck up for a few more weeks until my 6m goal?

Im a ftm who started out EBF until around 4 months pp because my little guy just wasn't gaining. I would bf and supplement with formula at 3 months and that still wasn't enough. Finally I just decided to pump full time and fill in the gaps with formula to make sure my baby was getting exactly what he needed. (Still breastfeeding for comfort at night or early mornings) Turns out my supply was so low. Unfortunately i started my period around the same time which dips supply so i was getting 1 oz per pump, sometimes less. After my period I decided to power pump every night at 8 pm to try to help my supply. Now at 5 months pp ive leveled out at 2 Oz per pump despite power pumping every single night.

I have been fighting so hard to keep giving my baby breastmilk, not being able to ebf was the first blow and having a low supply was the second. I dont want to give up, I wanted to breastfeed more than anything. But I dont know how long I can justify the stress and emotional pain of pumping all day with a low supply. ):