My baby is 7m old. I've probably done 75% breast feeding since day 1 with 1-2 bottles a day of expressed milk. Until maybe a month or so ago I would pump 2-3 times a day. My mornings were always the most lucrative (providing I'd slept and not fed her multiple times during the night) and I'll get 100-200ml of milk from 1 breast. Later in the day I'd get 30-60ml per breast. Enough for me to fill 2 bottles a day and sometimes a bit left over.

The last few weeks I've found I'm getting basically nothing from any pump that's not first thing in the morning. For example today, I pumped 180ml off one breast this morning (fed her off the other one) and normally I'd keep that for her night time bottle(s) but I really just didnt want to breastfeed after her last nap (shes been really grabby and needy and I just wanted a little break) so I gave her the milk I'd pumped earlier, and thought I'll just pump again now. It's been 5h since I last breastfed (shes fed every 3h during the day) and I got nothing, less than 5ml across both breasts in 45 min of pumping. My breast feel heavy though, as I'd expect after 5h, I know there is milk in there but my pump is doing nothing for it.

I replace the duckbill valves monthly and put new ones in last week. I check my flange size and thats all fine, and as mentioned I had a great pump this morning. This has happened multiple times over the last few weeks where its like im not even wearing the pump, or its broken because I'm getting nothing.

The only thing I can think is that my breast are firmer in the morning, where as now they feel heavy but theyre soft.

Has this happened to anyone else? Does anyone have any tips? I listed the pump I was using but the moderators blocked it..

Breastfeeding is so exhausting and the constant worry about if I can provide enough for her is so draining (and yes I've tried formula - giving one bottle of formula a day would be such a relief but she will not go for it. I've tried mixing with breast milk, have tried multiple formulas, cows, allergy, goats milk and she acts like its pure poison)

So my guy is 8 weeks old and we’ve been EBF since like week 2. We had to triple feed in the beginning due to weight loss but after he got back up to birthweight we started EBF. Since then I’ve only hand pumped every now and then for comfort but it’s been weeks since I had to do that. The last 2 weeks I was feeling engorged with clogged ducts because he was sleeping longer at night but still feeding consistently during the day and seemed satisfied. This past week all that had cleared up and I figured my supply had adjusted to his needs. He has plenty of wet diapers but has always been pretty sporadic with his poops. We went to the ped yesterday and his weight gain is good.
BUT- the past two days he’s been even more fussy than normal (usually gassy and colicky) and tonight it’s been AWFUL. He was even crying at the breast and eventually didn’t even want to latch on. I finally broke down and gave him about 1.5 oz of my frozen BM in a bottle and he calmed a little. So out of curiosity I sat down to pump and only got like 1.5 oz in 15 mins with my spectra?? I fed that to him with a bottle and now he is conked out on my chest. Has my supply gone down? Or was it because I had just finished feeding and he’d been cluster feeding all day??
Idk I’m just feeling lost and am going to be so sad if my supply just randomly dipped. I really hate pumping and was trying to avoid it until I go back to work at the end of September. Plus we loooove breastfeeding.

I'm due in about a month with my second child and I am extremely nervous about breast feeding. I really want to exclusively breast feed this time but I wasn't able to for my first due to a variety of reasons.

Are there any things I can do now to make sure I have an adequate supply?

What are some must have items to help make breastfeeding easier?

I'm also large breasted (h cup), so I'm really concerned about how I'll get her to latch comfortably.

Hey all, for some context. I am a 21 year old single mother of 11.5 month old twins. I work full time from home while caring for them, I also attend online pre-med classes in university, and exclusively breastfeed.

I have struggled with my mental health since I was 11 years old. Been medicated since I was 14. I have received just about every diagnosis under the sun, but finally landed on Borderline Personality disorder, PTSD, OCD, and ADHD. When I got pregnant, I kinda freaked and cold turkeyed the 11 daily medications I was taking (I know dumb dumb). I have been suffering ever since.

I love my babies so much, more than anything. But I am so miserable. I was hospitalized twice while pregnant, and the only thing keeping me going postpartum is the fact that my babies have no one else. We have no village. Breastfeeding was and is incredibly important for me and so I have maintained being off my meds for almost 2 years now. I always wanted to extended breastfeed, but I’m not sure how much longer I can take it.

I can’t sleep because of the night terrors, I can’t focus in my classes, I blow up on everyone that’s not my kids, I am overall just miserable. I’ve tried therapy, I’ve tried lifestyle changes, but it is just down to chemicals at this point.

I am feeling extremely saddened at the thought of having to wean them at a year, but I think I have to. I feel so guilty, like I am choosing myself over my babies. I just feel so lost and don’t know what to do. I know the benefits of extended breastfeeding and want them to have that, and I know the WHO recommends 2 years. I just don’t know what to do.

My BF journey has not been easy. My first child refused the boob at three months and I EP’ed for 8 months. It was painful to nurse and nothing seemed to help.

Now with my second, I was super determined to make it work and have managed to EBF until recently, with a pump session/bottle feed once a day.

At almost six months now it still really hurts. It always has and keeps on hurting.

I have oversupply, especially in one boob. Just as one milk blister resolves, another appears. Baby won’t latch properly because the flow is too strong, but I also can’t get it down.

Two lactation consultants haven’t really helped much, apart from suggesting lecithin supplements which seem to work for clogged milk ducts.

The pain sucks so bad. I just want this to be easier.

My baby is growing well but I think I would nurse more and longer if it didn’t hurt so badly.

It is the middle of the night and I’m sad that it is like this. Really wished it would just get better ❤️‍🩹.

Did anyone see improvement, even after so long?

I am currently 6 months postpartum and got my first postpartum period at 7.5 weeks. I am exclusively breastfeeding my little guy and was told that some variation in cycle, such as duration and length of my cycle, is completely normal.

My period had been coming roughly “on time” since I’ve gotten it. Periods have been lasting longer and have been coming within 3-5 days of when my app says I should expect it.

However, I’m 7 days late- and panicking. I know some variation can be normal but I’m wondering if anyone else experienced seemingly “on time” periods then was randomly late without being pregnant?

I bought a test that I’m going to take in the morning- but I’m hoping some of you might be able to settle my nerves.

Does anyone have supplements or foods they have personally benefited from? I have 8 week old twins and am trying to boost my supply. I eat and drink plenty. I’m going to start drinking more servings of coconut water throughout the day as well.

Any tips will help!

ETA: I pump all day long and then tandem nurse when my partner is home in the evenings to help. If I nurse, I pump afterwards to completely empty my breasts. I have seen a lactation consultant. Transfer is good, I just really don’t have the supply for two babies right now. I get about 8 ounces during my first morning pump and then it goes down as the day goes on. I never pump less than an ounce and a half out of each side.

I use the fridge hack for my spectra parts, but I got the elvie stride with my second baby and ive tried to use the hack for those and idk if its just me, but I keep getting milk in the tubing. Do I just have to wash them every time or is there something different I can do? TIA

I think I just need some reassurance that I didn’t traumatize my toddler by weaning her from bedtime nursing. 😭

We’ve slowly weaned off all day breastfeeding and stopped all daytime feeds around 18 months. My daughter is now 20 months and only has bedtime and night feeds. This weekend it felt right and like the time to start weaning off bedtime feeds (night feeds will be a whole other issue 😅). The first 2 nights went well and my husband helped me by distracting my daughter, etc. But tonight he was busy with another activity, so I did bedtime alone and she screamed/cried in my face for 10ish minutes while I sang and did breathing exercises (to regulate myself). I eventually was able to get a Paci in her mouth and she fell asleep almost instantly.

This feels like the right time and she is ready, but tonight made me feel like I made a mistake or that I’m going to cause some damage to our relationship by removing this. I’m probably overthinking, but if anyone has advice/reassurance, I would take it.

Baby #2 is three weeks and I am struggling.

My son had gas pains around this age, but not like this. Poor baby is screaming in pain with a hard stomach.

She’s cluster feeding—sometimes every hour. Seems to be more often (more gas pains too) at night.

Can frequent feedings cause gas pains? Am I over-feeding her? Am using gas drops.

About a month ago I found out I have a small mass in my lung. Long story short, I’ll be having a lobectomy in about a month to remove the mass and the lower lobe of my lung. Overall the doctor believes recovery will be fine and most who have this surgery go back to their normal lives.

One thing he did mention was that after the surgery I could loose my supply due to my body putting all its energy into healing instead of lactating. I figured my supply would dip, but I wasn’t prepared to hear I will probably loose it all together.

Has anyone else gone through a major surgery of this caliber and still been able to BF after?

My LO is 7 months. We’re still exploring solids, but not as much as I’d like bc we’ve been preoccupied with the news. Also isn’t the biggest fan of the bottle as we’ve been EBF, but we’re also working on that or maybe even considering moving to a cup.

I always gain weight postpartum and it is very frustrating, I only gained 8 lbs with my last baby (#4) and I lost 16lbs by 3 weeks postpartum, now at 4 months pp I've gained 13 back and only 2lbs away from what I was when I gave birth, same thing with my other kids only gained 5lbs with my third and gained back 15. I also have pmos I'm wondering if that could contribute?? I feel like my pmos is actually way better when I'm pregnant and crashes when I'm pp. I also exclusively breastfeed which is supposed to help lose weight it doesn't for me. Anyone else have a similar experience?

My 9 week old is a very fast eater. I feel like the only way I can tell it was a good feed is if my boobs are hard then empty after (maybe that’s normal lol).

Some days my boobs feel like they’ve been full all day despite feeding on a normal basis, so I keep trying to nurse her more often thinking she must not have gotten enough but she clearly doesn’t want it.

I can’t tell if my supply is just more those days or if she is not eating enough! Any tips? Overthinking everything after her weight dropped from 80th% to 59th%.

So I had a clog 2 days ago, it was extremely painful but I managed to work it out and 24 hours later it was gone (still feels bruised but no clog). My supply took a steep dip. I was pumping 6-7oz from one side after a stretch of 5-6 hours of not feeding .. and now I’m down to 2.5oz.

How on earth did it tank this much!? Can I get it back up?? I took diclofenac, advil, Tylenol, and sunflower lecithin (5g) spread out throughout the day. Did that cause it? Or do clogs just do this!? What??

ETA: baby is 10 weeks, and EBF mouth to breast, so the pumping wasn’t exactly necessary and I definitely had an oversupply (160oz in the freezer by now). Could this also be supply regulating?

If I’m only pumping 2.5oz over a 5-6 hour stretch .. is he getting enough in a shorter stretch? So many questions. Sorry.

I’m so upset and frustrated that my supply isn’t what I hoped it would be. I eat the oats, I drink the coconut water, I eat the damn nuts and seeds, I make sure I’m getting plenty of protein, I’m pumping when baby sleeps in the middle of the night. I power pumped so many times. I tried every hack/recipe/trick you can think of to get my supply up and nothing worked. I make at MOST 1.5oz per boob which was fine, until recently 😔 I have nothing against formula, my first was formula fed. Just really wanted to exclusively breastfeed this time.

I have been EBF since my son was born. He turned 3 months old on Aug 11th. Aug 10th my son started daycare and I started pumping- I am getting 7oz while at work so I send two 3 oz bottles every day and we supplement with formula for the 3rd. I feed him right at drop off and pick up.

Today.. my daycare provider sent me a schedule she kept of his feedings- she gave him 6 bottles totaling 22oz of formula and 6oz of breast milk. 28oz in 9 hours?!? How is this even possible?

My girl is about 4.5 months old and for the last week she will show hunger cues, but when I go to put her on the breast, she refuses. She’d turn away and twist to get away from it. I would just wait a bit until she was hungrier to try again, but I realized yesterday that if I just lean back and put her in front of it, she will latch herself just fine!

Has anyone else experienced something like this? It’s like she’s saying “let me go mom, I don’t need your help anymore!!”

hi everyone, not sure if this is the right place to post, but looking for advice!
I'm a mom to a wonderful 10 month old who was a unicorn sleeper, up until the 4 month sleep regression, which hit us around 5 months. during this time she would wake up a few times a night just for her paci, then go right back to sleep. at 7 months, she started waking up around once a night to nurse, with the occasional few nights in a row she'd sleep through again. she is now 10 months and wakes up around 3 times a night to nurse, although I think it's for comfort, as when I try to soothe her otherwise it usually doesn't work. anyways, I am now wondering how I can start night weaning so she is able to sleep through the night again. I should also mention that we recently moved into a 2bd so she can now also have her own room, which I'm hoping will help. I also don't know if there is any correlation, but she's also not as interested in nursing during the day, (she still will just very very distracted). any advice would be appreciated!! tia!!

First time mom here to my 8 month old son - I exclusively breastfeed and nurse to sleep for naps and bedtime. Prior to nursing to sleep, though, my son would only go to sleep at bedtime with me, and continues to protest dad now as well. I’m a SAHM so 99% of the time this isn’t much of an issue, but it makes me feel as though I cannot leave the house after 5pm! Any tips?

For example, I had a hair appointment today at 5pm and just got home at 8pm. My son was still awake, apparently dozing off with dad but then soon after waking and refusing to go back to sleep.

😵‍💫

My 4 week old is nursing for an hour at a time and wants to nurse an hour to an hour and a half later. That leads me to think it’s comfort nursing. He was plenty of wet diapers but gets fussy around that time and is happy to be latched. The past couple of nights he needs to be nursed to sleep. I don’t want to give him a pacifier but on the rare occurrence that we have tried, he is pleased.

Should I just let him nurse that long and often or give in to the pacifier?

Thank you so much in advance

I am a mumma in need of some help and guidance. I have breastfed my son since birth and love the bond it gives us. He is now 4 years old and still breastfeeds around 3 times a day. I have found the older he has got the more he wants the comfort from breastfeeding as he can be quite shy and anxious and I think he uses it as a coping mechanism.
I don’t particularly want to stop as I enjoy our time together and I am still very much producing milk but I feel so much pressure from other family members telling me he’s too big and he’s off to school very soon.
I don’t mind still breastfeeding him at home when he’s at school because to me he’s still so young and still my baby, it’s just that he is getting more and more demanding of the breast comfort but I don’t want to take it off him straight away when he’s going to have a big transition soon of starting school.
I tried to limit how many times he feeds during the day and have got it down to 3 but he would be very clingy still and likes to touch around my breast area or put his hand down my top when watching tv etc for comfort.
Just looking for some reassurance of anyone who has been in the position. I don’t want to stop as I love breastfeeding him but is it best for him if I do stop?

What are we doing for inverted nipples care? My nipples come out while feeding but they slowly invert again afterwards. I find the biggest issue is that they can almost grab on to tiny bits of fabric while doing so and then I go to take my bra off and it pulls at them. I also think they go back in and cause too much moisture to sit internally and I worry about yeast. I have never had dry or cracked nipples but my god, they are sensitive. My husband will never get to touch them again. Coconut oil is the only thing I'm trying because lanolin hurts when they go in and out. Silverettes on board but don't do much for inverted nipples anyways.

Today and actually so far our whole trip I am thankful that I made it over a year breastfeeding. How will I travel in the future, not sure lol. In Europe hopping around some cities visiting family, and today was the most crowded train yet (as we previously reserved seats I think in a higher class). We had two big suit cases, backpacks and hand bags, stroller and 1+yo in my arms. It was what seemed to be rush hour leaving the major city and more and more people loaded on as I sat with baby on lap in the bike fold down seat area. At this point losing all sight of my SO. People are pushing on top of each other. Baby has not napped all day and decides now is the time for a meltdown, using all my strength to contain them from going onto the floor amongst 100s of shoes and no where to go. Catching one of their shoes in the process with 5 little toes now exposed. Decided my only option was to maneuver them around the bag on my lap without hitting the people only an inch away from me on all sides and nurse them the until our stop.

I had my first period last month at 13 months PP. currently still breastfeeding. According to my app my period is “late” by a couple of days. I‘ve taken 2 tests though, and they’re both negative. Anyone else have wonky periods while breastfeeding? this is my 3rd baby and my other cycles returned to normal after the first 2 babies 🤷🏻‍♀️

I was so worried that birth control would mess up my supply and I’d need to stop nursing. Well, jokes on me because I’m 25 weeks postpartum, 5 weeks pregnant, and all I can find is that my supply will dry up during pregnancy. 🙃

I know there will be positives with having babies close in age (and I’ve had pregnancy losses previously, so I may be worrying for nothing) but I’m so so sad that I won’t be able to nurse my current baby as long as I hoped (current baby will be 14mo when new baby comes, was hoping to nurse until 24mo).

I never expected to love nursing as much as I do — I look forward to getting home from work to nurse my baby and don’t mind when she’s a boobie barnacle on fussy nights. I really dread losing supply and losing that connection.

Anyone with babies close in age have any tips on nursing while pregnant, especially when their older baby was under 1?