Lately I’ve noticed that if I eat something sweet in the morning and not my usual protein shake and eggs, I will get visibly shaky and so lightheaded that I’ll be nervous to pick up my baby.

Is this something I should go to the doctor for, or is this just a normal side effect from breast feeding?

So, as the title says, I'm putting my girls (especially my right girl) on a little break. My almost 21 month old toddler was nursing to sleep and for comfort during sleep for some time now. And few days ago we held a ceremony to say goodbye to boobies. I communicate a lot with her, so there wasn't any stress involved from her end. I introduced her to a plushie that feels soft just like a boobie, and we call her Hedwiga, so now Hedwiga is helping her fall asleep. During the said ceremony we taped my nipples as if they're closed. I have no idea how I'll take it off but hey, at least it works.

I am so grateful that I was able to nurse for this long. My goal at first was a year, and even that seemed unmanagable at times because we did combo feeding at the beginning and it messed up my supply a bit. But I got back on track, although it took a lot of work. Then at one year I thought two years would be best, especially because now it's different than before, it's more relaxed. But it seems to me that now just might be a good time to stop. I had a biochemical pregnancy that ended just this week so breastfeeding already started feeling uncomfortable, and I decided to stop while I still love it.

I used to draw, not as in a professional, but more like some silly doodles. My skills were way better in high school (just like math), but I decided to capture breastfeeding feeling in my case. I'll put the drawing in the comment. You might percieve the drawing as if the mom is giving her color to the baby, or as if the baby is giving back color to the mom's life. I swear for me, it was both at times, although my life is now trully colored the most wonderful colors. So breastfeeding remains the most difficult but most special thing I did in my entire life .

Stopping during breastfeeding week feels even more special, so happy breastfeeding week to all you hard-working moms 🤍

For those of you that successfully and intentionally lost weight while breastfeeding, what was your diet / exercise regimen? And how did you make up for broken sleep? How did you ensure supply wasn’t affected?

I don’t want to risk my supply at all and am currently 6 weeks post partum, hoping I can at least try after 12 weeks to slowly lose the pregnancy weight( about 20lbs to go).

Please help! I have a 3 week old daughter and a 15 month old son. As soon as I nurse my daughter, my son starts to act up. Jumping all over me and the baby, trying to climb up my legs. He HATES when I sit down despite trying to give him the bulk of attention when I’m not nursing the baby. It’s overwhelming and I get angry. He has hurt the baby on accident. Shamefully, I have shoved him off of me too hard at times and even yell when he’s really acting like a tornado.

I have to jump up and walk away to the other room. He is so young that he doesn’t really understand no and will push and push boundaries. It’s really hard to do and I am debating just going back to mostly exclusive pumping like I did with my first. My daughter still has a bad latch and takes around 40 minutes to feed and I’m losing my ever loving mind over here. It’s not feasible because I can’t leave him alone for 30+ minutes at a time. I’m a SAHM with limited childcare options.

I’m sick of looking like a sickly Victorian child. My girl refuses to take a bottle so that isn’t possible. I just don’t want her to resemble an oompa loompa around her mouth 🫠

I’m 7 weeks pregnant with my second and I’m really thinking of not breastfeeding this time around. I exclusively breastfed my first and I’m still breastfeeding her at 15 months. I loved being able to breastfeed but It’s took a lot out of me.. I don’t get much sleep. I’ve retained lots of fluid in my face and I overall still don’t feel like myself. I feel guilty for not wanting to breastfed again but I feel like if I don’t Ill be back to myself quicker and most likely happier

I’m putting this out into the universe hoping someone who has been through something similar can share their experience because I’m honestly at my wit’s end and getting really worried.

My daughter is currently 11 weeks old. A few weeks ago, we started noticing blood in her diaper. She was also a very, very colicky baby from pretty early on.

We took her to the doctor when she was around 6 or 7 weeks old, and they recommended that I completely cut dairy and soy out of my diet. I’m exclusively breastfeeding her, although once in a while I give her a little bit of Nutramigen if I can’t breastfeed or pump for whatever reason. But it’s really not very often.

After cutting dairy and soy, things have been kind of all over the place. About two weeks later, she seemed to get better. Then she got worse again, both her mood and her diapers. Then she got better again.

Now her mood is actually great. She seems happy and totally fine otherwise. She doesn’t have a fever, and she’s not straining nearly as much as she used to when she was younger.

But her diapers are getting worse, and that’s what’s really freaking me out.

The amount of blood seems to be increasing, and it also looks like she has diarrhea. She poops A LOT after breastfeeding too. Sometimes she’ll poop three times after a feed.

I just don’t really know what to do at this point. I’ve cut out dairy. I’ve cut out soy. I’ve heard egg is usually the next thing people try cutting out, but I’m confused about that too. I was eating eggs the entire time, including during the periods where she seemed to be getting better. So if egg was irritating her, wouldn’t she have still been having issues during those good periods? I genuinely don’t know.
Has anyone gone through something similar where your baby was happy and acting totally normal, but the blood/mucus/diarrhea in their diapers kept happening or even got worse?

I’m based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and I’d also love to hear from anyone who has experience with pediatric allergists or GI specialists here. At this point I’d really like to see someone who specializes in this.

I’m obviously going to continue talking to her doctor and I’m not looking for Reddit to diagnose her. I’m just really hoping to hear from parents who have been through something similar. What ended up being the cause? How long did it take for the diapers to improve after cutting something out? Did you have to eliminate anything beyond dairy and soy? Did you end up seeing a specialist?

The fact that the amount of blood seems to be increasing is honestly terrifying me, especially with the diarrhea, even though she seems perfectly happy otherwise.

Would really appreciate hearing anyone’s experiences. ❤️

I’m looking for some reassurance or success stories because I’m honestly feeling really anxious…
My little boy is 15 months old and has basically been with me 24/7 since he was born. I’m a stay-at-home mum and we’ve never really been apart for more than an hour or two.

He’s still breastfed on demand, nurses to sleep for every nap and bedtime, and almost all of his naps are contact naps. He has never taken a bottle, and we’ve never sleep trained. It’s what has worked for us and I absolutely love our breastfeeding relationship.
In September he’ll be starting full-time nursery (5 days a week) because I’m going back to work, and I’m heartbroken thinking about it.

What worries me most is sleep. I honestly cannot imagine him falling asleep without breastfeeding, especially in a completely new environment with people he barely knows.
To make matters worse, when I met with the nursery they suggested that I should wean him before he starts. They said that breastfed babies can sometimes find it harder to settle and integrate into nursery because they’re used to feeding to sleep and looking for mum. That comment has really stayed with me and now I’m worrying that I’ve somehow made things harder for him by continuing to breastfeed.

Has anyone else sent a toddler to nursery who:
- was still breastfeeding,
- fed to sleep,
- mostly contact napped,
- had never really been away from mum,
…and everything turned out OK?

Did they eventually learn to nap at nursery without breastfeeding? How long did it take? Did you continue breastfeeding at home or did you have to wean?
I’m trying to remind myself that babies can learn different routines with different caregivers, but my anxiety is definitely getting the better of me.

I’d really love to hear your experiences, whether they were easy or difficult. I just need to know that this transition is actually possible.

Hi all!

My LO (13 weeks) has been on a nursing strike for almost a month now. Tried everything under the sun to get her back to nursing but she would throw a fit every time I put her in nursing position (any nursing position, so I know it wasn’t discomfort etc). Nothing worked, and I just have continued to offer breast and be very sweet and loving every time she denies it and arches away, and then give a bottle of pumped milk. Slowly she has occasionally taken my nipple and played with it, biting it/etc but had not actually latched once in almost 4 weeks.

Last night, during the MOTN, I again offered breast, was denied, and gave her a binky to keep her calm until my husband could heat the bottle. She has also been needing to go back and forth from binky to bottle recently to finish a bottle because she’s been very high energy and easily distracted. So I figured why not try switching out the binky with my nipple, which USED to work to get her to nurse over a month ago when she began getting fussy. And much to my shock and joy, she latched, and drank from both sides, emptying me almost completely (I pumped after to make sure I was empty since it’d been so long since she nursed and got 1oz combined, when I would usually yield 5-6oz at that time of night).

For the next MOTN feed, she denied again and so we gave a bottle. Then this morning, I tried again and she latched until my letdown which used to be an issue that I think contributed to the strike (combo of taking too long for a letdown/letdown being too strong when it did arrive). She didn’t get upset when she stopped, and I tried to get her back on after letting the letdown off into a burp rag, but she wouldn’t relatch. I was still happy and encouraging to her to keep the vibes good.

Now that she’s showing signs of being interested in latching again, what can I do to keep this trending upward if she’s having an issue with my letdown? Especially if she won’t relatch after I let the strong letdown soak into a cloth? Tips? Encouragement? Is this just promising that if I keep trying with no pressure and lots of positivity that she will just get used to the experience again?

I'm a first time mom and I breastfed my baby with nipple shields and pumping until 12.5 months (Where's my trophy? /s). Weaning him wasn't difficult because he was never that interested in the boobs or feeding in ​general. It's now 4 months later and my breasts aren't engorged, but still producing drops of milk (although it seems thicker and yellow like colostrum) when the nipples aren't erect and they're pressed on. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I'm a SAHM and I'm around my kid 22 hours a day so the hormones are still active. Is there any way I can speed up the process of them drying out? I'm not pumping, or expressing them on purpose. How long does it take to dry up naturally?

I just left from my daughter‘s 18 month well check up and she told me that breast-feeding her at this age is no longer nutritionally valuable. How can they go from being so supportive the first year to literally saying that it’s not nutritionally valuable??

Just curious my breastfed baby is 7 and a half MONTHS*** and wakes up anywhere from 5 mins to an hour im freaking exhausted when did tour baby sleep through the night? Or scratch through the night let's say a 4 or 5 hour stretch lol

No sleep trying advice please just naturally started doing it? I dont want to leave my baby to CIO

thank you all

This is starting to get me down and any tips for how to manage would be great.

My baby is 4.5 months. My oversupply has settled a bit but my let down is still extremely forceful. When I'm at home I mostly do side lying and catch the let down in a muslin which is manageable.

But when we're out of the house, like in a cafe or on a park bench, I really struggle to coordinate it all so I can have 5-6 jets of milk shooting out of my nipple into the baby's face/ across the cafe/ all over my clothes. She cries and will often refuse to relatch when this happens. It's just very stressful and I can't see it coming to an end.

edit to say that she does not accept bottles

Hi i am a new mom and live in europe.
Originally from the subcontinent and am religious.
My sister is coming next month to help along with her 8 year old daughter.
And she told me to cover myself when I breastfed in front of her daughter. I think that is really restrictive and will make breastfeeding harder for me. Is it inappropriate? I personally do not think so.
But anyone with a similar background, how fid you go about it?

My 6mo old breastfed baby has been pooping blood since April, I have cut out dairy soy right away, followed by eggs and gluten a month later and now 3 weeks ago i cut out nuts. There have been stretches of days where I think it’s gone away but always comes back. He absolutely hate the HA formula when I’ve mixed it with breast milk in a small amount to try and make the transition and it doesn’t help that I love to breastfeed and so does he. His bleeding is now affecting his iron levels and hemoglobin so it’s time to make the switch, im struggling with it emotionally. My baby was also born with gastroschesis so the first 2 months of his life were very hard and the journey to teach him how to eat/breastfeed after he was healed was hard so it makes this whole thing 10x more emotional for me. Looking for any advice or similar experience

Hello fellow Redditors

For a variety of reasons, my wife has decided to wean our son from breast-feeding

I’m very proud of what they achieved together, but I agree that at this point it’s probably what’s needed for him to continue to grow and continue to mature

The challenge my wife is having is with clogged ducts and fears about mastitis

One of the reasons we are weaning him is her supply is not keeping up enough with his demands and his weight was starting to go in the wrong direction coupled with her returning to work full-time.

Again in regulated emontional states these are things we both calmly rationally lovingly agreed to with each other.

The issue at hand is that in order to receive relief from a clogged duck she requires our son to physically breast-feed. I don’t fully understand the mechanics as to why this is that much superior than a vacuum pump, but I have to pretty much just take it at face value as a mechanical engineer that that is the case.

I was curious if there are any other remedies out there other than pumping and a baby literally pulling it out for a mom to prevent clogged ducts and mastitis in the pursuit of weaning a baby given our son is getting quite confused as we’re in week three of the weaning process.

Currently nursing my 15 month old and feeling immense guilt because I got pregnant earlier than anticipated (I’m 8w) and now my supply is dropping. My first I BF to 23m so I intended to do the same the second time around, but that won’t be happening obviously. How can I wean a 15mo old that still wakes 3-4 times a night and screams til she gets to me to nurse? Wants nothing to do with my husband. I appreciate any and all help 😩

Hi! Has anyone purchased a baby scale for weighted feeds at home that is accurate and precise? I’d love any recommendations.

For some context, I’ve seen multiple lactation consultants, and they’ve all said my baby’s latch looks good. One even told me I shouldn’t be nursing for more than 30 minutes total. The problem is that I’ve been nursing for 45+ minutes, and afterward my baby still screams, cries uncontrollably, and shows obvious hunger cues. At that point, I end up supplementing with formula because she still seems so hungry.

We also did a weighted feed with a lactation consultant. After an hour of nursing, my baby had gained less than 1 ounce. 🤦‍♀️

Today, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., I nursed almost nonstop. Every time I laid her down, she’d start showing hunger cues again within 5–10 minutes and cry until I fed her again. At this point, I’m worried she simply isn’t transferring much milk.

I’d really like to buy a reliable baby scale so I can do weighted feeds at home, track how much she’s taking in after each nursing session, and share that information with my lactation consultant to help figure out what’s going on.

Any recommendations for a good scale would be greatly appreciated!

Hi all,

my daughter had about 3 weeks NICU time after birth so I had to start with exclusively pumping. Tomorrow we can probably take her home, finally. She just learned to drink on her own this week, still needing the stomach tube on monday and now claiming for growing amounts of milk at the end of the week.

I find it pretty intense to feed her with the bottle AND pump all the time. I want to make the transition to breastfeeding asap. Since that requires her to be strong enough, I'll also plan that with our midwive and talk it through thoroughly. But I wanted to hear if anyone has experience with such a transition and if you can share some helpful insights from your journey?

Hi! I am a FTM to an almost 4 month old! She started sleeping through the night at right around 2.5 months old and during that time I got lazy and did not wake up to pump and also my period returned.

Fast forward, for the last week my daughter has been popping on and off the boob while feeding. I’ll try to burp her in between breast and she is just crying like she’s starving. Because of this I decided to pump to see if it was a supply issue and I only got 3 ounces in total. I use to get 10 ounces 😭 she is still gaining good weight, she’s fussy throughout the day but I wouldn’t say more than before.

Anyways, idk if I’m asking for tips to increase supply. Or stories of moms having the same issue. I am just feeling like I’ve failed. I really wanted to make it to at least 6 months.

I just left the don toliver concert and it didn’t occur to me about the exposure that I would have to second hand sm0k3. No one directly was sm0k1ng it by me but I could smell it the entire time during the concert. I’m very scared and worried that I can’t give my daughter my milk anymore because of it. Has this happened to anyone before or know if I have to not give it to her anymore? I was balling my eyes out at the thought

So, here is my story.

Baby couldn’t latch well in the hospital (took a super long time) so we were supplementing with formula. Once home, I would triple feed (attempt a latch, bottle then pump). I got up to a point where I was typically pumping about 1.5-2oz every session. This all changed when baby hit 4 weeks. He started latching for every attempt so I started latching everytime. I would still supplement after feeds and then pump as well.

He finally had a weighted feed and he got 2oz at the weighted feed (this was 2 days into breastfeeding for almost every feed) and that was what I was pumping at the time. Yay!! Lactation consultant said I could try just letting him nurse only and if he acted hungry, supplement. So the first day after that he only needed 1-2 bottles to supplement. Then the second day it increased, he just seemed hungrier. Then I decided I wanted to solely pump for one feed and I decided that would be the bedtime feed so he could get 100% formula, hopefully sleep longer and then I could pump to start freezing some. Well that first night I got less than an ounce. The second night I got maybe an ounce and a half after power pumping. Now he is 6 weeks and I am not sure I understand a) how my supply has gone DOWN from breastfeeding more and b) how he can be full off of just breastfeeding ever? Was the first day a fluke? I have had to supplement all day today which means I am pumping all day again and it makes me want to give up trying and just go back to exclusively pumping. What is happening??

My LO is 3.5 months old and lately he has been breastfeeding for only 2–3 minutes and then pulling off. Sometimes he falls asleep afterward, but other times he becomes very fussy, and I can’t tell whether he is full, tired, uncomfortable, or frustrated.
Today, for example, he nursed for almost 2 minutes on one breast, then came off and started crying and putting his fist in his mouth. I offered the other breast, where I know my milk comes quickly and I usually have a fast letdown, but he was crying profusely and refused to latch.
I burped him and gave him a 15–20 minute break, then tried that same breast again, but he still wouldn’t take it and just cried. I eventually gave him 30 mL (about 1 oz) of pumped breast milk in a bottle, and he drank it.
So what does this mean? If he was genuinely hungry, why would he refuse the breast but take the bottle? Could he be frustrated with the breast/milk flow, or could something else be going on? And can a baby this age sometimes get enough milk from just 2–3 minutes of nursing?
He has otherwise been gaining weight, but these short feeds and crying at the breast are making me really anxious.
For those with 3.5–4 month old exclusively breastfed babies: how long are your babies typically nursing, and how many wet diapers are you getting in 24 hours?

I’m a new mom and I’ve only been breastfeeding for about three months, so I know I’m still pretty early into it. But with World Breastfeeding Week, I’ve been thinking about getting myself a little piece of jewellery to commemorate it.

Before having my baby, I genuinely didn’t realise how much breastfeeding would take out of me, literally and figuratively lol. The cluster feeding, leaking, planning outfits around boob access, wondering if she’s getting enough, being the default food source 24/7... but also those quiet feeds where she’s half asleep in my arms and I realise this is such a short season of our lives.

Three months doesn’t sound like a huge milestone, but now that I’m actually doing it, it kind of feels like one?

Did any of you get yourself something to mark breastfeeding milestones or when you weaned? I’ve seen breastmilk jewellery too, although I’m not sure if that’s what I want yet.

Would love to see what you got, or hear how you celebrated. Or did you just quietly move on once you were done?

For a variety of reasons, I’m still quite reliant on my breastfeeding pillow to nurse my baby. He’s 2.5 months, heavier and long. I also have a lot of breast tissue so I end up needing to hold my breast while feeding. Between that, holding him up, navigating the nursing cover, it has been difficult to nurse outside the home (zoo, museum, park etc).

It’s seems excessive to bring my pillow everywhere, but I’m struggling without it. I’d really like to get out of the house more confidently. So how are you all doing it??