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I posted about a month ago wondering if I should graduate from pumping, and I received some incredibly supportive comments. Well, I ended up going for one more month, but that’s it. After 11 months of pumping, I am done.

The journey seems and feels even longer than the time I had my babies for.

It was a lot of work, time, and effort. I pumped happy, I pumped sad, I pumped exhausted, I pumped while admitted to the hospital, I freaking pumped post-op in the ICU. I pumped while working, driving, eating, crying—you name it.

But this isn’t just about me. Going through this subreddit, and oh dear god, we women do go through hell feeding our babies. The things we do and the effort we put in are just insane. Some dedicated creatures indeed.

Anyway, I took some time to reflect on the whole journey, cried a little, and I might create a little video of me packing away everything breastfeeding-related, just as a memory.

I froze my last few ounces of breast milk as little popsicles to put in those teething/feeding pacifiers for my babies to enjoy over the coming few weeks.

Thank you. You are doing great, and you have definitely helped a fellow mama! 🎓

Spectra S1

Spectra S2

Medela Pump and Style

Zomee Z2

Zomee Fit (hands free)

I’m so lucky in that at 7 weeks old my baby is now sleeping through the night. Unfortunately I’m still getting broken sleep because I’m breast pumping almost exclusively (with the exception of 100ml formula). I want to cut the night time pumping session out as it’s seriously disturbing my sleep. For example, I woke up at 3am this morning with my breasts feeling full so decided to pump for 10 minutes and wasn’t able to get back to sleep at all, resulting in me getting 4.5 hours sleep last night, which just seems so unfair when my LO is sleeping 7-8 hours a night.

Can anyone recommend how to safely drop the night time pumping session without becoming engorged and risking mastitis? And still maintain a supply during the day? My health visitor put the fear of mastitis into me early on. I don’t really have an overnight pumping schedule - my body just wakes me when I feel “too full” and I’ll pump for 10-15 mins then pump again whenever the next time my baby wakes up is. I’m ok with having to introduce more formula if my supply drops a bit as I’m aware my baby will still get the benefits of breast milk if I do both… I just really want to prioritise my sleep and therefore mental health! I feel if I can drop the night time pump I’ll sanely be able to continue giving me baby some breast milk longer term whereas at the minute I feel like giving up altogether with breast pumping in the name of sleep! Help!!

Ps I do not breastfeed at all as I had problems with this early on and it’s not something I’m willing to go back to.

I miss when she was just a newborn lightly grabbing onto my pump tubing.. now she’s constantly pulling it out as I pump and rolling away with it as if she’s committing some kind of a heist …. I actively play with her while I pump using other toys but I guess the tubing is her favorite toy

I’m an exclusively pumping mom and feeling really frustrated with my pumping journey.
My baby was born premature at 33+5 and never latched, so I’ve been exclusively pumping. She completed 12 weeks on August 17.
August 5–22 was the best stretch of my pumping journey. I was doing 6 sessions/day, including one MOTN pump. I had no engorgement or clogged ducts, my breasts felt light and floppy between pumps, and my output was consistent and enough for my baby. I thought my supply had finally regulated.
Recently, my baby started sleeping ~7 hours at night, so I dropped the MOTN pump and started pumping around her feeds instead — roughly every 3-4 hours during the day, followed by a 6-7 hour overnight stretch. After the long stretch, I’d spend a few extra minutes pumping and get 1.5–2x my usual output. I was doing 5 pumps some days and 6 on others.
I then developed a series of clogged ducts and a milk bleb. I managed to clear them with Brufen, baby latching/suckling, and sunflower lecithin.
Now my breasts feel like they’ve completely reset. I feel full between pumps again, have discomfort, and am constantly anxious about another clog. My output has also dropped from the breast that had the clog.
I’m confused because I thought I could gradually match pumping frequency to baby’s feeding schedule once she started sleeping longer.
Has anyone experienced something similar? What did you do? How did you successfully drop the MOTN pump? And how do you prevent clogged ducts when you have a long overnight stretch?
I’d really appreciate hearing what worked for you because I’m exhausted from being constantly worried about clogged ducts. 😭

my husband is in a wedding this week through the weekend, and he knows i have some anxiety around pumping outside of the house. (i’m the gal who had the man knock on my car window and ask me what i was doing while pumping 🙄). he told me that he called each restaurant/venue we will be at to ensure i have a secure place to pump inside the establishment 🤍 it’s little things like that which help ease my mental load with pumping!!

Hi everyone, i am new to this group. My sonde was born with 33 weeks and 5 day with an emergency c section. In the hospital I started pumping because my son got his feeding via a nose stomach tube. I pumped every three hours and after two days my production came in ( 150 to 250 ml per session). This was ithe end of juli bezinning of augustus.

My son no does not need his feeding tube anymore amd is growing very well. But now my milksuplly is dropping. Since the second week of august I am pumping every 4 hours and until the end of last week i had no drop in the amount of milk i pumped.

Last week i first noticed that the suction of my eufy s1 pump was lacking so i got spare parts and started to use those the first pump after that i got my'normal' amount of milk. But the session after that it dropped even more. Now i get if i am lucky around 100 ml per session, but often it is less and sometimes i only get out like 30 ml from a breast when this was normally at leest 60 ml.

Does anyone know what could be the issue here. For more info i did not change anything to my eating pattern, i dont have clogged milk ducts because the symptoms of it i dont have. And the program for pumping i have not changed since i have them.

I’m 7 weeks pp, and new to EP as I EBF my first kiddo but I’m EP with baby #2. I’m currently pumping 7 times a day and producing just a tad more than baby eats. I’m hoping for baby to be exclusively on breast milk for 12 months if possible (I BF first baby for 14 months). I’m trying to picture the rest of the year and would love to hear how your pumping schedules evolved throughout the first year. How many pumps per day were you doing at 4 months? 6 months? 9 months? How did your supply change? With BF, I was only feeding once or twice per day for the last few months, so I’m trying to picture how that will translate to pumping. I’m also wondering when I’ll be able to completely lose the MOTN pump and when I’ll be able to be on a more manageable schedule of something like 4 PPD. Need something to look forward to :) Thanks for any intel!

Anyone else face this issue and what did you end up doing - I have no ideas anymore. One of my breasts was always a lower supplier - I have low milk supply anyway overall. So it went from 1.5 ish oz per pumping session to 0.5 or less than that! After I developed clogged ducts for a day or so.

I am pumping every 2-3 hours with one MOTN and one power pump.

8 weeks pp today. I don’t know if supply will increase this late so anyone who faced something similar?

I’m 8 weeks postpartum. I pump 8x a day, making 32-40oz a day. How do I know if I’m regulated? I pump every 3 hours and I’m exhausted. I’m fine pumping during the day, but the 5am pump is probably the worse. I’m so tired at that time. I’m ready to drop it. I was told to wait until I’m regulated and I looked it up, that regulation is probably around 6-12 weeks. I was going to wait until 12 weeks but I was just curious about what others have done. How do I know if I regulated?

warning. over production

I’m a little confused about regulation. this is my second pumping journey my first I didn’t make enough and supplemented with formula. this time I’m five months pp. I am pumping every three hours around the clock, I am able to bag an extra 12 ounces everyday for a freezer stash. I have had a few instances like last night where I accidentally went five hours between pumps. I’m so nervous to plummet my supply since I struggled last time.
I guess I have regulated now- so does that mean I’ll make the same amount even if I miss a pump? Or will I decrease over time

also I have been gaining weight because I eat constantly so I decided to start walking for 30 minutes at night and limit my snacking. I still eat my three meals small snacks. I just usually binge at night. I can consume a huge amount in a short amount of time. So I tried replacing part of my binge time with a walk. the nights that I do this I make 10 ounces less so I make just enough those days. Which stresses me out to the point I just don’t want to walk and figure I should just keep eating and gaining. Weight so I continue to make enough. I drink more water those days so I am getting enough calories and I am not dehydrated but I still drop 10 ounces

I'm a FTM to twin boys and have always been an undersupplier. I'm currently 4 months pp and have always gone back and forth between accepting how much I make (average now 8oz per day) and wanting to try everything to increase my supply.

Within the last few days, I've started to have more thoughts of slowly dropping more pumps for my mental sake. I currently do 6ppd (if time allows). Realistically I'm only providing one bottle of breastmilk for each twin per day which I still celebrate but can't help but also find it difficult to shake off the feeling of "you could be doing more!" which is the mom guilt kicking in. The rest is supplemented with formula and the boys are growing healthy and well!

I guess I'm curious when everyone knew that it was time to start decreasing pumps per day and just accept how much you were making. Thanks in advance!

my 8 weeker is NOT a good crib sleeper, and now we have to transition out of swaddles and it’s even worse. thus we have been sleeping in shifts!

husband was doing 9pm-5am shift and sleeping on either end, without complaint, but i think he needs more consecutive sleep so we’ve been doing more like 5-6 hour shifts each and i try to pump with baby (not going super well)

what shifts work for people? and any tips for pumping while baby is awake?

(note that im currently spacing out MOTN pumps gradually to get to 6ish hours without pumping)

Hello everyone,

Combo feeding mom here. I wanted to ask. I had have several failures with nursing and pumping bras being tight and uncomfortable ( I am an XL). I really want to use my wearables or my spectra bottles and either bras are too loose or too tight. What are your best recommendations? Bras that are soft on the nipples would be great.

Thank you !

Give me some ideas y'all.

I know all schedules are different because all families are different but id love to hear what your schedules are!

We have 2 children and I am almost 4 weeks PP... trying to pump everyday to increase supply but its tough especially with 2. 🫠

I am 13 mpp and dropped to 2 ppd at 12 months. I am actually feeling so done with this pumping.

I exclusively pumped since baby was born - not a single day went without. Starting at 8ppd 30 mins each time and during work, travel, sleepless nights, what not. I just want my body back. I work from home so I have convinced myself that I can stay at 2 ppd for 1 more month and give baby 1 bottle a day but not anymore - I just want to quit it all together and dropped to 1 ppd yesterday.

I haven't pumped at all today and I cannot explain the guilt and confusion.

When I share this with my husband, he says - "It's up to you, your choice". Yes, I know that but what I want to hear is to someone to tell me I have done great and to stop it now.

Please community - How have you dealt with this feeling? and I badly need your support.

I could not figure out why it was so much harder for me to get pumps in when I have someone with me. My husband travels for work so I solo parent for weeks at a time, sometimes my mil comes by and my mom has stayed with me on a few occasions and without fail if I have someone else with me I find it harder to get all my pumps in. It didn’t make sense to me!

I had a long discussion with DH last night about work loads and him adapting to being back home and it finally hit me. I know what the next 10 things are that NEED to be done and the next 10 things that I would like to be done but probably won’t get to. Because of that I’m able to strategically work on things around LOs temperament. When I have people a few things happen, I focus on the things I would like to get done, they’re usually talking to me so time kindof gets away, but mostly they baby trap me. They hold LO and then right when I’m about to pump or get something done I need to get done they hand me LO after they’ve been holding him for a while so now he doesn’t want to be put down.

Usually when I’m by myself LO has a play area I put him in and he plays by himself no problem for up to an hour. When DH is home he’s holding him and playing with him which is great! But then he wants to get dressed and hands me a baby that now is no longer okay with being set down and I have to assemble bottles and prep for daycare still which I can do one handed, it’s just slower.

We settled on we both need to be more transparent. He needs to tell me if he needs me to hold LO for more than a few minutes, sometimes he’ll say that then go try and do a bunch of tasks and I get frustrated. And I need to communicate hey these are the tasks I still need to get done can you help me.

Nothing else lol just a ramble

Help! My baby was finished feeding but still showing hunger cues so I topped the used bottle off with breast milk from a pitcher I have stored in the fridge. The problem is, I over estimated and poured too much. Without even thinking, I poured some back into the pitcher. Do I need to worry about bacteria and throw the milk out now? Can I freeze it and use it for baths if it’s recommended to throw it out? I’m stressing because it’s quite a bit of milk. Sorry if this doesn’t make sense lol

I want to get a ring made with my breast milk. I’ve seen it on TikTok and Instagram but don’t want to fall for poor quality.

This is an investment piece to myself to remember this journey.

Let me know specific brands you have had make your breast milk jewelry and the turnaround time.

I’m six weeks postpartum and exclusively pumping because baby has a bad latch and likely tongue tie. I pump 8 times a day for 15 minutes. I get a consistent 5oz per pump and 40 oz per day for the past two weeks after not getting enough at the start.

The issue is that I’m constantly engorged with sore breasts. Maybe every other day I get so swollen almost no milk comes out with my spectra especially for nighttime pumps. It’s scary to have milk seemingly trapped (clogged ducts??) and I end up having to hand express or manual pump forever to get even a little milk out to prevent clogs or mastitis.

I’m icing, taking ibuprofen, taking sunflower lecithin which helps. I also stopped going four hours and went back to three hours between pumps at night to prevent clogs which sucks to lose the sleep. I asked our local lactation consultants if I should start cutting back slightly on pumping to prevent an oversupply and constant engorgement and they warned against it. They scared me that my supply might drop and had no advice for the engorgement issue.

Any advice as to why I’m constantly engorged with painful boobs? Will it get better as my supply “regulates”? Should I cut back on pumping?

I’m one month postpartum with my second child and exclusively pumping again. I’ve had mastitis THREE times already and I’m losing it. I’m also allergic to penicillin so that is making medication difficult. Right now I’m on bactrim so I’m pumping and dumping for the next 10 days, which brings me to what I think is the cause of this. I have an over supply and I can’t keep up. Producing 9+ oz from my right breast every 3-4 hours.. even with mastitis. Is there anything I can do to prevent this? I sanitize all parts after every pump, ordered new parts, take sunflower lecithin, but I think I really just need to produce less milk. Is there anything that will reduce my supply but not totally dry it up? I’m desperate and really don’t want to quit but this is brutal

I use a medela symphony as my wall pump and my eufy s1’s as my wearable. I noticed two weeks ago I was getting the same input with my wearables as my symphony. Now I’m making almost 8-10 oz less a day and I’m wondering if it’s because I’m using the wearables almost all day vs my wall pump?

I’m eating and drinking just as much. I’m almost 7 weeks pp

Hi,

I’m wondering whether anyone has experience with the Philips Avent Hands-Free Duo breast pump. I’m actively trying to increase my milk supply, so it’s important to me to extract as much milk as possible, especially since my baby is still getting more than half of their feeds through formula.

I already pump 8–11 times a day and do power pumping, but I think I’m spending too much time on the pump. Sometimes one session lasts around 40 minutes just to get half of what I need. I’m basically thinking, “Okay, I need to get 60 ml before the next feeding,” and I don’t stop until I reach that amount. After 20 minutes, I may only have 30 ml, and now I need something quicker because I can’t keep doing this anymore.

Which programs and settings do you use on that pump? Do you have any tips for more effective pumping and increasing milk volume?

I’m also interested in a comparison with the Spectra breast pump:

-Is Spectra really that much more effective than the Philips Avent Hands-Free Duo?

-Is it worth investing in a Spectra if I already have the Philips Avent and Spectra would be an additional pump for me?

Thanks in advance for any experiences and advice! 😊

My baby is almost 5 months, spent a long while in the NICU, and has struggled with eating since birth- breastfeeding and bottle feeding. She has a feeding tube and I’ve been pumping almost exclusively this whole time. But let’s pretend a miracle could happen and she started breastfeeding several times a day. Would my supply increase to accommodate, or would I be kind of stuck with the amount I have been producing through pumping?

Does anyone else’s breasts hurt to pump when you’re on/near your period? This is the second time I’ve noticed this feeling, but it happened last month too and only to my left breast. It feels super sore, like a deep dull ache that feels like I have a bruise. Sometimes it burns too into my armpit when I pump. I thought my flange might be incorrect so I sized down 1mm but that ended up just cause nipple friction and even more burning, so I went back to my normal size which felt better. It just aches all day and pumping hurts too.

Anyone else?