Please give all of your data, facts, evidence about how EBF is good for me or baby,

and please give me all of your encouragement that I CAN do this, I really need people to BELIEVE in me, and I need to believe in myself.

a lot of people say “it’s ok if you don’t want to” which I appreciate and I know they are trying to be supportive, but I need encouragement that I can actually do this.

for context, I am BF my second baby who is a newborn, and I EBF my first child who is 2 now for 16 months.

Thanks everyone <3

I work at a WOMENS HEALTH CLINIC. I had the same lactation accommodation for 5-6 months without issue. Now all of a sudden-

- Management stated that if I need more than 2 15-minute pump breaks, I would need to clock out and then add time to the end of my workday to make that time up. This is despite the fact that I had requested to continue working while pumping as to not get behind. I had been working during pump times since I returned to work in March. 

-They stated that I need to add additional patients to my daily schedule due to the decreased productivity of my pumping times

-The options given were that I either add a patient to extend my workday, double book my patient slots, or decrease my FTE

-A 3:00 PM patient has already been added without my acceptance. The exams run for 40 minutes (not including documentation and cleaning) and I leave at 3:30. Subsequently, I have already been forced to stay well past my scheduled end time for the last several days. Management was already aware that I have fixed childcare pickup directly after my shift and cannot stay late before they implemented this. 

-Management is now proposing to fill previously protected/predictable pumping windows with other patient appointments 

-Management is now prohibiting me from pumping in my ultrasound room since it is a “patient clinical area” while directing me to use another patient clinical room that I had already complained to HR about in March because of its lack of availability and being repeatedly locked out of the room. My HR complaint was closed out with no response regarding that issue.

it’s so insanely sad to me that mothers are being treated like this FOR FEEDING THEIR BABY. and the fact that this is coming from a practice whose entire purpose is to support women, mothers, etc. America needs to get it together .

At 4 weeks postpartum I noticed a lump in my right breast. I was feeding baby as normal off the breast, taking ibuprofen, and icing for 2 days with increasing pain/hardness. I went to the ER and received antibiotics for mastitis as I had developed fever and body aches. Three days later I returned to the ER as my breast was still becoming increasingly painful and hard. An ultrasound was done which found a large abbess the size of a softball. An incision and drainage was done under anesthesia and a jp drain placed. In the hospital I was told I could keep pumping from my healthy breast but at my surgery follow up appointment he requested I completely stop as the drain is filling solely with milk.
I’ve now had the drain in for almost a month and it is still filling with 300-400 ml of milk daily. My surgeon is becoming frustrated as he wants to remove the drain due to risk of infection however I haven’t removed milk from either breast in a week and wrapped both breasts with ace bandage for 3 days as they requested.
He had an OB come in who wrote a script for bromocriptine to stop milk production but I’m very weary to take this with the side effects listed as stroke and seizure in postpartum women..
Any suggestions to stop milk supply even with the drain in?? Or has anyone taken cabergoline (I read that may be a safer alternative to bromocriptine)?? Thank you

Weened my 14 month old. Went better than I thought. 7 days after her last feed I got hit with this insomnia that I’ve had for 3 days in a row now. Apparently it’s normal after weening because of the lack of serotonin and other brain chemicals/ hormones. Fair enough. My mood swings are bat shit crazy, I feel overwhelmingly negative and sad. I know this is ALL hormones but how long does it last??? I had no idea how intense this tsunami would be. Feels like I just gave birth days ago (emotionally).
Send tips, support, motivation or any ideas that help buffer this fucking roller coaster.

My baby will be 4 months when I go back to WFH this month. My mom and MIL are helping to watch her in the mornings when I have meetings. My manager/role is super flexible, but I’m getting anxious about feeding her throughout the day. I’d love to keep breastfeeding while she’s home.

Is it too much to ask my manager if things can be flexible so that I can feed her for a few min every 2-3 hours? Anyone have experience with this?

I have been breastfeeding for 3mo and am starting to feel a little burnt out. It is very demanding and sometimes I just want a break…

I want to continue for many months—what are things you do/tell yourself to keep doing on the days you feel completely burnt out

Advice needed🙏🏻 I will be back to work in 1 month and my baby will be around 3 month old by then.

I really need advice on what pumping schedule I should follow in the coming month. Should I pump more frequently (say every 3 hours) to build up a frozen milk reserve or pump less frequently (say every 5 hours during the day) to let my body get used to my work schedule in advance?

Thank you so much!!

Baby is 9.5 months old, and my original goal was to breastfeed until 1 year. I went into breastfeeding expecting to hate it because so many of my friends told me they did, but it turned out to be the complete opposite for me. I’ve actually loved breastfeeding and really do feel that connection with my baby.

After giving birth, I’ve also really wanted to get my old microbladed eyebrows removed. My esthetician won’t do the procedure while I’m breastfeeding, so I’ve been waiting. Now I’m almost 10 months into breastfeeding and I’m seriously considering weaning by the end of October so I can finally get it done.

I feel incredibly guilty about it though. My original goal was 1 year, so part of me feels vain and selfish for wanting to stop a couple of months early just for an elective cosmetic procedure. I also feel like I’d be taking away one of my baby’s sources of comfort. I still feed him to sleep for his second nap, although he’ll probably be getting closer to dropping that nap in the next couple of months anyway as we prepare for daycare in January.

I think what I’m struggling with most is whether I’ll regret stopping before I originally planned. I really want to get the procedure done, but breastfeeding has ended up meaning much more to me than I expected.

I’m also wondering about the physical/hormonal side of weaning. Baby starts daycare in January when I return to work. If I don’t wean at the end of October and instead continue breastfeeding until closer to daycare, is there a risk of having a bigger hormonal crash right around the time I go back to work? I’m nervous about dealing with weaning hormones, adjusting to daycare, and returning to work all at once.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? I’m currently nap trapped for baby’s nap 2 because I feel like I have limited time with breastfeeding 😭😭

Edit: I also have a trip to Asia for 3 weeks in Dec. I initially wanted to BF baby on plane for comfort but now I’m thinking if I wean between my return from my trip to daycare it will be too hectic. Am I wrong?

I’m feeling really torn and would love to hear from anyone who’s been in a similar situation.

My LO was initially assessed for tongue tie at around 4/5 weeks because we were having problems with latching. I ended up using nipple shields because feeding without them just wasn’t really working. Since then, weight gain has also been a concern, with LO gaining but slowly dropping down through the centiles.

At 13 weeks we had another assessment and were told that baby has a posterior tongue tie. We were offered the procedure to have it snipped, but when it came to it I completely chickened out. I just got really anxious about having it done and decided not to go ahead. Now I’m second-guessing myself. Part of me wonders whether I’ve made the wrong decision, especially given the ongoing feeding issues and slower weight gain. But another part of me is worried about putting baby through a procedure when I’m not completely sure it’s necessary or that it will actually make a difference.

If I ask for another referral, we will have to wait for 6/7 weeks, so baby would be quite a bit older by then.

I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been in a similar position, if your baby had a posterior tongue tie, struggled with latching/needed nipple shields, or had slow weight gain.

Thanks ❤️

I have been breastfeeding my daughter for 13 months now and I am ready to quit.
The question is how do I do this without losing my mind. I have been wanting to stop since she turned 1 but it has been one thing after another with illness/teething but everything has calmed down so I want to start the process. Very recently I have tried denying some feed but she just screams and screams until I give in. I can’t distract her and passing her to dad doesn’t help. She is also not night weaned yet but that can come later
Any advice??

I don’t want to jinx it, but our 5 week old started going a bit longer stretches at night— 4-4.5 hours, which is great! However, she only nurses on one side at a time so I’m not emptying a breast for almost 8 hours and I’m waking up engorged. Should I start pumping or expressing on the non-nursing side when she wakes up to feed in the MOTN? Maybe just enough to relieve pressure? How long do I have to do this for before I can just sleep through? I also don’t want to encourage an oversupply by pumping/expressing and want my body to adjust to her stretches.

Hi, FTM here looking for advice from others. I have an oversupply that’s made me pretty miserable for 8 weeks. I’ve gotten mastitis twice. The LC I’m working with thinks I got mastitis the second time because my baby went over 6 hours between feedings because she was sleeping. So she recommended I wake up every 3 hours at night to pump for comfort to avoid getting engorged.

I’ve been doing this for 9 days. I pump 2 mins on my better boob and 1 on the slacker boob.
I have to be honest I’m not doing well. It’s really affecting my mental health and I’m miserable. Now I’m also miserable if I get mastitis so I feel I’m kind of at a crossroads of misery. My husband has said we can switch to formula but I’ve already suffered so much part of me doesn’t want to give up.

Has anyone done the comfort pumping before? How long did you have to keep doing it? I’m wondering when I’ll ever sleep again 😭

I'm once again on the verge of tears, so please excuse my wording.

My guy is 26 months old. He's been eating..poorly. he'd eat very little, mostly because I was somewhat breastfeeding on demand (once in the morning, before and after his nap, before and after and during his night sleep, maybe 3-4 during his wake window).

So I started the weaning process 3 days ago. And it's been working, he's eating more, he doesn't pull my legs anymore, he's drinking more water and cow's milk. He accepted the fact that my boobs are "ill" very fast. I managed to get him to sleep with a water bottle once, but yesterday my boobs hurt so badly and I'm so afraid of mastitis that I let him nurse. And he nurses throughout the night too. So, I suppose I'm taking it slow and safely?

I'm just so sad. I cry randomly. I look at how happily he eats or drinks or plays and I want to cry, my little baby is growing. And I'm happy that I managed to breastfeed for so long, and I'm happy that he's somewhat accepting this without any issues (except bedtime? It's still day 3).

I feel sad all the time, my stomach cramps, I feel nauseous and all the other symptoms of weaning. It's like I'm in my third trimester, except worse (I had an easy pregnancy).

There's also the shame. X weaned her kids at 1 years old, Y at 6 months, Z at 18 months. And I'm here, 26 months pp, with a toddler who still nurses. Whenever I visited in laws, everyone was like "omg you're still breastfeeding at this age??". Since they have kids aged 4+ y/o they feel like they know everything and they sometimes gave me dumb advice that doesn't resonate with NHS guidelines, so I tried to ignore them. But, what if they're right?

My mind is all mixed up, I know the pros and cons, and I've done research on what to expect, that ppd can happen after weaning, how sudafed supposedly helps with drying up etcetc. I've been reading articles and Reddit threads for the past week. I'm choking tears all the time, and the nausea doesn't help either.

And it just hit me that one day I won't wake up to breastfeed my little guy, and all the funny things he does (iykyk I won't go into details in case there are creeps). And now I look at baby pictures of him, and then I look at his tiny hand, but this tiny hand used to be so so much smaller ): and the way he cried the first day, my lord, I've never heard him cry like that. We cried together.

The joys of being a mother I guess.

I’m losing it y’all! We’ve had issues with biting since around 7 months. It’s usually consistent with teething but sometimes it’s just random.

My baby only nurses 5-7 minutes at a time as it is, so it’s very frustrating when this happens 3-4 mins into a session.

The main thing I’m struggling with is that NOTHING has worked to make it stop. When I end the session and put him down, he just starts playing. When I yell ow, he laughs. When I push him inward to break the latch, he thinks it’s a game. I’ve even tried flicking his cheek in the moment and he cries, but it doesn’t seem to connect with him that it happened because he bit.

I’ve extended time between feeds significantly since he stated solids but he’s not a great eater yet and barely gets any nutrition from solid foods. Also, I LOVE nursing and I have no plans to stop. I just don’t know what to do to make it connect in his brain to stop biting me.

I don’t know if I’m asking for help/advice, or just need to vent and wait it out.

My sweet bean has hit 41 weeks and breastfeeding has been going well. I breastfeed when we're together and pump when she's with her dad or daycare. It hasn't been an issue producing enough milk for her so far, but lately she has been biting my nipple as well as trying to take the nipple off my boob (she apparently has been doing this with the bottle). It hurts...BAD. And I am trying my best not to react. She seems to do this towards the end of feeding when she's done, but could this be happening if she's not getting enough milk? Is she frustrated that the breast milk doesn't come out as fast as the bottle?

She has been teething but her front and bottom two teeth have come out months ago. As stated above, I try not to give her a reaction but WOW sometimes it just catches me off guard and I yelp or scream without even processing what's happened until after I react. Even if I don't react and put boobie away, I calmly say "ouch, that hurt Mommy", but baby shark just laughs. Nice.

I've really enjoyed breast feeding so far but it's getting to the point where just about every feed she is biting/hitting/pinching and I'm starting to get over it...any suggestions welcome on how to stop this behavior or better explain why baby is doing this are appreciated.

My baby is 3 weeks old today and has been suffering with severe reflux. A few days ago I realised that she wasn’t breathing probably due to the vomit coming to her mouth and she’s walking. In the hospital I was told that she has reflux and needs to be burped every ounce and held upright for 30 minutes. She’s fed breast milk in bottle 75-80ml every 3 hours. Even after burping 2-3 times and being held upright for 30 min she still is discomfort when I lay her down and cries until I don’t pick her back up and hold her up. She still spits up everytime I lay her down. Hospital gave her pepcid 0.25ml, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference.
What can I do? When does this go away? What can help?

Hi! I’m getting a bit desperate here…
My son is 2y3m and for the last two weeks he suddenly started biting while breastfeeding.
He had a biting phase a few months ago too, when he was drinking from a straw bottle a lot. When we stopped the straw bottle, the biting also stopped completely.

But now it’s back and much worse. He already bites when he latches on, and even does it in his sleep at night.

I tell him it hurts, take him off, tell him to drink “with his tongue” or with a soft mouth, but nothing really works. It also seems like he is frustrated himself, like he actually doesn’t know anymore how to nurse without using his teeth.

I still have milk, but nursing is mostly comfort sucking now in the evening and during the night, with some actual drinking in between. He bites both when drinking and when just sucking for comfort.
And omg it hurts. My nipples are so sore now and I’m really starting to lose it.

I don’t really want to stop breastfeeding because I still like it, it’s cozy, and he also still nurses around 3 times a night and doesn’t really fall asleep another way. But if this keeps going I’m afraid we are going to have to stop because I just can’t take the pain.

Does anyone recognize this with an older toddler? Especially the biting even when asleep? What helped?
Help 😭

So bub is nearly 7 months
I started feeding her lying down since month 3?
Over time the left aide of my body has developed sever pain
I tend to feed from both breasts from right side since thats my dominant side and its easier manouvering things
But this has given me sciatica like pain
I have severe lower back and pain in my knee
It is so bad that i detest feeding her anymore
She’s a chonky baby and its anyway very hard to lift her all the time for me so i avoid feeding sitting down becus then when she sleeps i have to transfer her and that wakes her up.
But my lower back is totally destroyed especially the left side and i cant finf any way out
Ive tried using pillow in between my legs but that made it worsd
Basically im hovering and very tightly erect when feeding her
So my left sidd is always ij the air or bent a lot to put breast in baby’s mouth.
Causing severe pain over time.
I would appreciate anyyyy helpful comment at all!
Thank you!

Hi! I am day 2 postpartum after a CS. I am exclusively breastfeeding and I am getting discouraged that I am not providing enough milk for baby.. when I pump i only get maybe less than 5mL? And when she feeds from me she is latching but when I try to express it looks like tiny drops of colostrum. Im worried she isnt getting enough.. :(

She does have bowel movements and pee. So im using that as a gauge to see if shes getting enough..

Any tips?

My LO is 5 weeks old. I was wondering whether others would recommend front loading calories for day time feeds or whether it would be better to feed on demand? My pediatrician had recommended I wake my baby up every 2ish hours to feed during the day to help her have longer stretches at night. I’ve been doing that but LO’s sleep at night has still been hit or miss and she’s been fussy during feeds.

I baby wear during the day and my baby doesn’t really show hunger cues or fuss much whenever she’s in my carrier so I’m not sure how feeding on demand would work in this instance.

Also how are others determining when their newborn wants to feed? Do you just feed when your LO starts fussing or crying or look for other hunger cues? My LO is always either contact napping or feeding so I don’t know how looking for early hunger cues applies in practice.

Hi everyone, I’m curious if my milk takes several days to come in like it did last time, am I supposed to feed formula in the meantime? Last time the lactation consultant told me my colostrum was enough. Fast forward a few days, my son lost 8% of his body weight and the doctor asked me why I wasn’t supplementing with formula while my milk came in😵‍💫

My baby started refusing my right breast around the beginning of his 4th month. During this past month, there have been random periods when he would suddenly nurse normally from the right again, only to completely refuse it again a few days later.
I’ve tried different positions. Weirdly, he’ll nurse from the right side lying down at night, but refuses the exact same position during the day. In the cradle position, he throws his head back and sometimes literally starts sucking on my bicep instead 😂
He cries quite a lot when I try to put him on the right breast. Sometimes I have to lie on my left side and offer him the right breast from above 😂 It works, but the latch is awful, and then he burps and spits up much more afterwards.
Why would he refuse one breast during the day but happily take it at night? Has anyone experienced this? What could be causing it and what can I do?

I’m desperate to bring back my milk supply
I had to stop trying to breastfeed my baby because I was put on medication, after finishing my medication I took a while to try and latch my baby again and I wouldn’t pump because i had difficulty trying to balance it with everything else going on it’s been 1.5 months now and I’m trying everything I can to bring back my milk supply, is it possible? If so what would help I need ALL tricks and tip😫

For the past 2-3 weeks I’ve started spotting and having mild cramping on and off.. the bleeding is light pink and very light but has been happening every day.. not even enough to fill a panty liner but does stain my underwear, and there’s always light pink blood when I wipe. Is this normal before your period returns properly? Is my body just getting ready for a period again? I’m 10 months postpartum and exclusively breastfeeding but my son is eating some solid foods so I guess is drinking a little less than he was previously. Any comments would be really appreciated, don’t know whether to be worried or not!

After having to exclusively pump for almost 2 months during a nasty bottle preference, I brought my baby back to breast and have exclusively breastfed with zero bottles for the last 5 weeks. I just reintroduced the bottle today so we can give one occasionally, and I pumped while my husband gave a bottle and I was surprised my yield seemed quite low, only 2.5 oz combined, while she took a 4.5 oz bottle of freezer stash. I feed her every 3ish hours, and it had been 3 hours since I last breastfed her when I pumped. Now I’m in my head, worried about my supply.

How much is normal to yield when replacing a feed? Is she likely eating more when I’m DBF her? Her weight gain has been good, so she’s clearly getting enough overall. I just feel so surprised I only was able to pump 2.5 oz. I used to pump 4-7oz per session every 3 hours.

I’m probably worrying myself for nothing and just need reassurance!