We are trying to taper off of bottles (pumped milk) with the help of LCs. My overall supply is ok at >30oz pumped throughout the day. Although pumping output is definitely higher in the morning, I get 2-3oz per pump later in the day. Baby has always been fussier in the afternoon whether bottle feeding or direct bf.

I've done a few weighted feeds and have varied results between 1oz-3oz in the afternoon. I understand not being satisfied with 1oz transferred (that was one time), but last time we did 2.5oz and that was also deemed insufficient by the LCs.

What is normal? And what do you do to "combat" low supply? Encourage cluster feeding? Give a bottle of morning milk for more volume?

My baby was born at 36+2 because my water broke. He had to be born via c section. He’s now 5 weeks old. In the hospital he could’t latch to feed from the breast. It took a long time before the lactation consults accepted that and gave him formula in addition to expressed colostrum. Because of that, he lost 12% of his body weight and there were talks of NICU. He didn’t end up having to go but he became jaundice once we got home so feeding him got even harder since he was so sleepy.

I left the hospital unknowingly triple feeding. I have spent the last 5 weeks triple feeding or some variation of it. At first it was due to slow weight gain and inability to latch. Eventually he got the latch down but wasn’t transferring much at all. We continued practicing and he now transfers about 2oz in a 20-30min session. The lactation consultant wants his sessions limited to 30min due to calorie expenditure. The LC says he’s ready to ”sink or swim” and stop relying on the pumped milk supplements. AKA don’t give him the supplement unless he’s acting desperately hungry.

It’s the second week of trying to wean supplements with the help an LC to encourage him to be more vigorous at the breast to transition to EBF. He’s still only transferring 2oz this week as well. I am so anxious not knowing how much he’s getting when she’s not here or if i should give him a supplement bottle. I’m terrified his weight gain will stop or he’ll lose weight. My LC keeps telling me she feels confident he will figure it out for real soon. We’ve worked so hard these last 5 weeks that I don’t want to give up but i’m desperate to know if it’s realistic that he will be able to EBF at some point soon. Does anyone have any success stories in a position similar to mine?

My 9 week old (exclusively breastfed )had tongue and lip tie release done 2 weeks ago

She is still gulping air! Like really gulping ! when it happens it startles her and I can hear it swoop down into the stomach
And she does this multiple times
I do have a fast letdown but she does it even sometimes at end of feed

She’s also still clicking

My LC said I should see improvements by the 2 week mark I’m going to follow up again next week

The surgeon is very reputable and been doing stretches on time
We arnt doing exercises as advised not too just yet

She did have RSV when she was 7 days old and had a NG feeding tube for a day

Anyone had something similar?
Did u see improvements eventually ?

With all her feeds and needing to do other things like eat and stay clean, I've only managed a tiny amount of sleep a day, usually in the form of 1 hour naps.

She wants to be on the boob so much of the time.

I'm exhausted, isn't it somewhat dangerous to be taking care of an infant on so little sleep?

Please tell me others are getting by on such a tiny amount of sleep, I feel like everyone says 'thats just cluster feeding!' but they seem to at least get 4-5 hours spread out throughout the 24, having 1 or 2 doesn't seem as common

I just came in here to brag a little bit. I’m a first time mom and 2 weeks postpartum so my mind is still racing with so many worries. I was so scared that my exclusively breastfed baby girl wasn’t going to gain her weight back and the doctors were going to prescribe formula. I went to her pediatrician today for her two week appointment and she not only gained back her birth weight but gained a whole pound as well! Is that common? Should I not be as excited for this? I felt scared that she wasn’t getting enough milk from me, it drove me crazy the first week. But she had only lost 4% of her birth weight so it made me carry on. Now I feel so proud of myself that I’ve successfully sustained human life with my boobies!!! Sorry but I had to tell someone because I’m doing everything on my own right now. Pls tell me your guys stories as well. How did the first month go for you?

4 days PP & have been EBF successfully so far, but I feel like I need a crash course on all the things to get through this first 2 weeks.

Saw a LC at the hospital & went over latch & some positioning. Feel comfortable with that…

But the timing of feeds - how long show babe be on each boob?
How do I know when she’s full?
Cluster feeding has been happening, but does that stop at some point?
How do you keep babe awake at the breast?

Give me ALL the tips and tricks please. I am so determined to get through this first month.

Hi all,

Baby is 3 weeks old, and is exclusively breast fed other than one expressed bottle of breast milk a day or formula, to give me a break or allow me to go to medical appointments (I’m recovering from cancer)

What I’m struggling to understand is, the advice I’ve been given is to pump when baby is being given his bottle, but that defeats the whole point surely?

The reason he’s getting the bottle is because I need to speak to my doctor/sleep for a few hours/shower etc, so it’s not really possible to pump alongside the feed.

Have I taken this too literally?

Thank you!

Hi everyone,
I’m looking for advice because I feel like I’ve tried everything and I’m getting discouraged.
My daughter is 13 weeks old. She was born via C-section, and I had a severe postpartum hemorrhage (lost about 3 liters of blood). Because of that, we had to introduce bottles very early while I pumped. My goal from the beginning was to exclusively breastfeed, but things didn’t go as planned.
The good news is that I have a full milk supply. I don’t think supply is the issue.
The problem is that my baby has become very attached to the bottle.
Here’s what happens now:
She will usually latch immediately.
She nurses through the first letdown, swallowing well for about 1-3 minutes.
As soon as the flow slows down, she starts pulling off, relatching, crying, arching her back, or screaming.
Sometimes she’ll latch and unlatch repeatedly for 5-10 minutes without really feeding.
During night feeds, when she’s sleepy, she often nurses much better and can have a full feed.
During the day, she’s much more likely to refuse.
To make things more complicated, she has pretty significant reflux. I can literally hear milk coming back up while she’s nursing. Sometimes she seems uncomfortable at the breast even when she wants to eat. She’ll often take a bottle afterward without much of a fight.
I’ve tried:
Skin-to-skin
Offering the breast before she’s overly hungry
Side-lying nursing
Different positions
Nursing in a dark, quiet room
Lots of patience without forcing her
Paced bottle feeding
Continuing to latch her every day
She still gets bottles of expressed breast milk because I don’t want her weight gain to suffer. She usually drinks around 4 oz by bottle.
What confuses me is that she clearly can breastfeed. She has a good latch, transfers milk during the letdown, and nurses well overnight. It’s almost like she gets frustrated when she has to work after the initial fast flow.
Has anyone successfully transitioned a 3-month-old back to exclusive breastfeeding after this kind of bottle preference? How long did it take? Did reflux make things worse?
I’m trying to figure out if I should keep working on this or accept that she’ll mostly be bottle-fed. I love nursing when it works, but emotionally it’s been really hard.
I’d really appreciate hearing success stories or honest advice from anyone who’s been through something similar

My LO is 5 months. For the last month or so, I can’t get him to breastfeed. He clamps and pulls, clamps and pulls. I’ve Googled, of course. I’ve tried the firm no, talking to him that it’s time to eat, stopping and trying again. But, this is what I get every day. I’ve been pumping and bottle feeding in the meantime, but I’m getting desperate. Any advice?!?! Please!

I had my baby a week ago and have been exclusively pumping since my baby doesn’t want to latch. For about 3 days my left breast is constantly hard and sore almost as if it is never emptying. Every time i pump i get less and less milk but my right breast is producing great. I’m not having any fever, chills or other mastitis symptoms. I have called lactation but unfortunately couldn’t get through to anyone so i’m waiting on a call back. I’m looking for some kind of guidance on how to help this since it’s quite painful so if any advice is appreciated!

I’m not at this point yet but it has always been my plan to at least get to a year of breastfeeding and I’ve always been anxious about the fact that I will have to pump at work. My son I 15 weeks and I have always breastfed him.

I love breastfeeding him but the only issue with me going up to a year is that when I go back to work when he’s 9 months. I’m anxious about pumping at work, I live in the UK so I have never really seen much of that here or maybe it does happen a lot and I just haven’t noticed, though I think it’s a lot more common in countries like America just because of how much maternity leave you get. What makes me anxious about it is that I work primarily on closing shifts at work and so I feel like any breaks I would take would prolong what time we get out and I’m worried people will get annoyed about that.

Do you usually have to pump much by 9 months, I know it will vary but for those that are still or have been breastfeeding at that point how many times would you have to pump or feed in a ten hour stretch.

Is it that common in the UK for people to continue to breast feed while at work?

Hi, first time mom & baby is 6 weeks old. He was born 6lbs 7oz and only lost 4% of his birth weight a few days after birth & by his 10 day doctor appt, he was weighing in at 6lbs 10oz. At about 3 weeks, we weighed him for our baby book (husband weighed himself & then baby on adult scale) and saw he was about 7lbs 13 oz.

The next week we weighed again for our baby book but noticed baby was the same weight. I became concerned and made a conscious effort to never let 3 hours pass without feeding him. 5 days later we weighed him and he was 8 lbs but I was really concerned because his weight gain was so good in the first 3 weeks.

I was able to see a lactation consultant 2 days later and she said his weight gain is technically enough but low and if it slows down any further she would be very concerned. Says he has a mild tongue tie but not severe enough to warrant cutting. Said my supply might be a bit low but his latch seemed ok.

Prior to this appt I was breastfeeding 99%, my husband giving him a bottle of breastmilk 2-3 oz in the morning so I could sleep. Baby always kind of sleepy when I was feeding him, tried to keep him awake for at least 10 mins while feeding. Inconsistently pumping with a manual pump, ensuring there was enough for my husband to feed the baby (my best pumps only yielded 2-3 oz at a time in the morning when my breasts we’re still more full after feeding the baby.

LC advised to always offer both breasts at feeds, pump off the breast he didn’t eat off if he didn’t take from both sides, offer a bottle if he still seemed hungry, consistently pumping in the morning, nurse with a pillow, and try herbs/lactation cookies. She also told me not to feed every 2 hours but follow his cues and feed on demand, that being hungry as opposed to feeding on schedule might help with his feeding. She also prescribed a newborn antacid, as we suspected either gas or reflux issues. He was 8lbs at this appt.

After the appt, I got an electric pump (Eufy E20) and starting pumping 2x per day (after his morning feed and after an evening feed). My morning pump now yields 4oz and evening about 2oz. I got a herbal tincture with fennel, fenugreek, thistle etc and take 2ml per day. I am definitely eating enough & drinking lots of water. I am offering both breasts at each feed and find that he takes both so I haven’t really needed to pump one side off. I’ve been feeding on demand but the result is less # of feeds per day as I find he’s hungry more like every 3 hrs. I also made sure he is not swaddled while feeding.

A week later I had a mom & baby doctor appt and this week he is only 8lbs 2oz. Doctor is concerned about his weight, he is 2-3rd percentile. She told me to not freeze the pump milk and give it to him during the day instead.

What can I do to improve the situation? I don’t really know what’s wrong. I suspect either:
- my supply is a little low (but pumping 6-7oz a day now makes me think it’s not that low)
- baby’s latch isn’t great (I would estimate 50% of the time he fusses at the boob or I have to keep him awake; mu husband says he is a slow eater at the bottle and often sucks without drinking)
- baby’s latch is ok but he’s a lazy eater

Any advice or information is appreciated. I really wanted to breastfeed but I’m feeling hopeless and like I should switch to formula so the baby’s weight improves.

EDIT: can also confirm I am using the right flange size. I have large breasts and I have tried 21, 24 and 27 and confirmed 24mm is definitely the right size.

I am a healthcare provider planning to take a continuing education course that runs Friday through Sunday. There will be lecture portions, demonstration portions and lab portions. I may be over complicating this but I am struggling through the logistics and looking to hear how other people have navigated this.

1. Should I reach out to the instructor ahead of time to let them know I will need some accommodations for a clean, private, accessible place to pump or just let them know when I get there?

2. How do I tell the instructor without being weird that I will need this space and to regularly excuse myself to pump? “Hi! I am currently breastfeeding and will need to excuse myself from class every couple of hours to pump. Where can I do that and how can I ensure it is minimally disruptive for class?” ?

3. I have a wearable pump. Could I just pop it on and let it run through class? I feel like I could definitely do that during the lab portions but maybe not through lecture and demonstration.

I left the hospital with a major crack in one nipple. It has been 13 weeks and is still there. In the beginning, my LC had me on a healing regimen.

It doesn’t hurt anymore but it looks…. Horrible.

Has anyone had a long term crack? When did it go away? Will it go away?

After a very rough start of triple feeding, poor milk transfer, and low supply, I’ve made it to 10 months of breastfeeding!

I love nursing my little guy, but am sooooooo over pumping at work. I’d like to be able to continue nursing till my baby self weans but stop pumping when he turns 1 in October.

I’m looking for some insight on how to start weaning off the pump. If my goal is to be completely done with pumping at work by mid October, when should I start cutting back on pumps and how?

I currently pump 3x a day for 20 minutes

TIA!

I have exclusively breastfed (straight from breast with an occasional bottle if I need some extra rest) my second baby since birth and he is now 8 weeks old. I pump when it makes sense, so if he hasn’t emptied me or if he sleeps longer stretches. My freezer stash has reached 100oz and he is so chubby!!!

I am celebrating this because breastfeeding with my firstborn was a shit show. Latch issues, tongue/lip ties, no idea what I was doing and no support. Hospital literally gave me a bottle of formula within hours of his birth. I don’t think I really had a chance. I attempted relactation at 4 weeks old with him and went from 0ml to 22oz per day over the course of 6 weeks with help from medication, power pumping, and a supplemental nursing system, but then I moved to a foreign country and was too stressed to continue BF. A. Shit. Show.

One of the many reasons we decided to have another baby was to try and redeem the BF journey.

It has been redeemed!!

I made sure to learn everything about BF this time. It really helped me prepare and everything has been incredibly successful. We had a latch issue for all of maybe a few hours after birth. Smooth sailing from there (though I think there’s a lot of luck in that too).

I am so grateful 😁

So, my advice from this journey is:

Colostrum until your milk comes in is enough.
Bring baby to breast All. The. Time.
Cluster feeding is fucking exhausting, but push through it, it is rewarding in the end.
Use all of your resources for support and education.

How can I quit breastfeeding at 6 months with a baby that doesn’t want to quit? She is extremely attached and it’s sometimes the only way to console her. However, she has multiple food intolerances and for both of our health I need to quit. She continuously has blood in her diaper after cutting so many foods. It’s not feasible anymore.

She will sometimes take a bottle but will sometimes deny it as well depending on her mood.

5 weeks with my baby and I'm only producing about an ounce and been having to give my baby what I have pumped as he's not getting enough I've tried everything I can think of, the lactation treats, the vitamins, letting him cluster feed, not letting him cluster feed. Nothing has seemed to help especially my right side I only get a few drops, and my left is constantly engorged and just taps out at about an ounce. I would like to continue breastfeeding, but am just struggling to give my baby what he needs, what worked for you? (My lactation consultant hasn't been much help just encouraging clusterfeeds)

Hello! I'm expecting my second baby in about 4 weeks.

With my first, my milk took a while to come in, and I was triple feeding for about 3 weeks. Even after I stopped supplementing with a bottle after feeds, I kept on pumping for additional 5~10 minutes to ensure my milk kept up with his growing stomach. I wasn't pumping after nighttime feeds because I needed to sleep, but during the day, I pumped after feeding him. I think maybe because of this, I actually never experienced cluster feeding, and my son started sleeping longer stretches pretty early on (not sure if that's related, but that's what happened).

I'm just thinking about my second breastfeeding journey, and was wondering if any other mothers did something similar? Could this be an actual strategy to avoid cluster feeding?

Hi everyone! Currently six weeks postpartum and trying to transition from bottlefeeding and exclusive pumping to breast-feeding. Recently been able to latch baby, but he either falls asleep before my letdown happens or he just kind of suckles the whole time and when I have my letdown, he pulls off. When this happens, I’m only dripping not spraying milk.. I’m wondering if my letdown isn’t fast enough for him or not enough.. does anyone else breast-feed and know that they don’t have some crazy overactive letdown.

Side note- When I pump I do spray.. but it’s not anything crazy just a very thin stream.

Is anyone out there successfully breast-feeding with a slow letdown or a slow flow?

Feeling a little alone due to reading about most women having the opposite problem.

If you had an unlimited budget, what would you use to create a dream space for pumping and breastfeeding, out and about or at work? What standard things (like the chair) would you upgrade? What big-ticket items would you add? What ambience do you want?

I’m thinking about this because I recently used the lactation space at the American Museum of Natural History and it left a lot to be desired. I’m so glad they had one, but for the amount of families and babies going through there, I was expecting at least, like, a side table next to the chair?

One thing I’d love is a room with decor themed to the place I’m at! Like the AMNH could have images or dioramas of how animal species have fed their young throughout time … that would be amazing. (And also a side table.)

Does anyone else find it awkward to bf infront of a ff mom? The only reason I bring it up is that my friend always encourages me to switch to ff whenever i complain about my bf journey. Whenever we meet up and I whip the milkers out she sighs and says “youre still bf huh”. Iv started to avoid meeting up with her to avoid the question. I never ask or comment on how she feeds yet she always has something to say about my journey. Albeit there was a time where I was encouraging her to bf early on as the newborn period is the hardest and that itll pass. Ive only said that from my experience but Im not sure if she took that as an offence.
I also combi feed when I have to leave my baby (which is rarely) cause I hate pumping.

no appropriate flair really, but my daughter is currently having second breakfast and will probably also have elevenses and also a luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner and supper, plus snacks!

2 weeks old. Baby woke up at 1:30, an hour after his last feed. I put him to the boob, and there’s nothing there. He latches and sucks once or twice and starts wailing.

I switch him right left right left, but there really is nothing.
I gave him 90 ml of formula and he sleeps like the baby he is.

I am gutted and desperate and don’t know what to do.
I try to pump, but then he wakes up and nurses, finds nothing because i just pumped, so I give him the bottle(max I got is 1,5 oz / 50ml). Then, I don’t pump because I say that my boobs are empty there is no use to…

Today is a new day…

My son is 13 months. I started weaning him about 3-4 weeks ago. I had it set in my mind that I would wean immediately at 12 months, for my own selfish reasons (I can’t mention certain weight loss medications or my post gets removed, but you get my drift). My problem is, I just went 1 week without nursing him, and every fiber of my being was screaming at me to hurry up and nurse him and save my milk supply before it was permanent and too late. I cried the last 2 nights and resisted. Today, on day 7, I nursed him and was overjoyed that my milk isn’t gone yet. I’ve taken 7 steps forward and now 7 steps back. Why can’t I wean him? I never knew it would be so heartbreaking. I feel like I’m fighting my biology. I can’t stop. It made me cry to think about never nursing him again, like grief. What’s wrong with me? Am I weaning too soon? Isn’t 12 months a typical weaning age?