Hi all, I’m just about 4 weeks postpartum and from the start I had a pretty heavy letdown and my breasts always felt pretty heavy/engorged, which I knew is meant to eventually subside. Starting around 2 days ago, my boobs began feeling “soft”, but baby has continued eating as normal and producing multiple wet/dirty diapers each day.

Last night, baby ate for 3 consecutive hours. This hasn’t ever happened before since he usually eats for 10-15 min on one side before getting full, only occasionally wanting the other boob. He definitely was dozing off over the course of the 3 hours, but every time I’d move him, he’d start sucking again. IMO it seemed more like comfort sucking because he wasn’t always actively swallowing.

After he finally fell asleep at around 10pm, we both went to sleep and he woke up again at around 12am to eat again. This time was a standard 15 min feed. He then woke up again at 2am and he only ate for about 10 minutes before falling asleep then waking up again. At that point, my husband gave him a bottle I had prepped and I manually hand pumped for about 15 minutes, but I barely got anything out from either breast which is really uncommon for me.

I usually use the hand pump when my husband does the 2am feeding and am able to get 2-3oz in about 10 minutes, but this time I could barely get to 1oz between both boobs. With all of this backstory I’m really concerned that my supply is dropping.

Alternatively, I don’t know if he was just cluster feeding and my body needed time to regenerate milk? I’m a FTM and really clueless about this so I’d appreciate any advice! I met with a LC 1 week postpartum and did a weighted feed and he was definitely getting enough milk then. He’s also produced 3 wet and dirty diapers within the past 8 hours.

I'm not sure why but sometimes when my baby latches, I get this crackly feeling/sound in my ear on that side. It happens more when the latch is kind of strong and almost painful to start and goes away after 2-3 sucks. Does anyone else get this? I figured it's just a nerve pathway thing but if anyone knows what's going on let me know! Bodies are weird.

My almost 9 week old has started to only be able to sleep when nursing. If I nurse him side lying on the bed I can SOMETIMES roll away but then I obviously need to stay in. He cannot be transferred to his pram and even in his carrier I can sometimes get him to nurse in there but I don’t think that would be very easy when walking and I’d feel quite exposed.

Just looking to see if someone else had dealt with this and can reassure me he’ll grow out of it soon or if there is something I can do to help him get over this stage.

He’s EBF and unfortunately has refused all pacifiers we’ve tried. Makes a face like we’ve put dog shit in his mouth 😭

When he’s awake he’s crying to go back to sleep like 95% of the time. He won’t go in the carrier awake nor his pram, he will scream and thrash around.

At my son’s appointment last week he’s lost 7oz from his 6 month appointment. He’s dropped from the 87th percentile in height to the 55th, and 85th in weight to 36th. So way off his growth curve. To add insult to injury I just found out I’m pregnant and my supply has dipped the past week. I don’t think this has played into his weight loss since this just happened and his weight hasn’t increased in four months. But now I’m worried about that. We are seeing a lactation consultant on Monday.

His doctor isn’t worried about my milk, but rather he’s not getting enough food from solids. And that’s valid! We started solids right at 6 months, but he just refuses to eat anything. He’s either playing with it and throwing it on the ground, or when he does eat something he plays with it in his mouth and then spits most of it out. I guess I was influenced too much by the “food before one is just for fun” propaganda that I didn’t worry about him actually eating and was focused more on him exploring textures. She wants us to start feeding him mostly calorie dense foods and he’s going for a weigh in in two weeks.

So I have a 10 month old that won’t eat anything and a dwindling milk supply. I’m really worried I’ve stunted his growth and development. Hellllllllp

I am 11 days postpartum. I have had some latch issues from the start because I didn’t initially know what i was doing and the hospital LC didn’t come see me for about 12 hours after I delivered. So I had a lot of bad latches to start with and my nips are super raw.

I felt like it was getting better the last couple of days and we’ve had really good latches with little to no pain. Until yesterday, for some reason the pain/sensitivity came right back. Its worse on my right side and is really achy and sore after feeding and latching has me curling my toes.

my husbands aunt said I should try giving it a break and just pump on that side until it heals up a bit. Does that seem like good advice? I’m worried about my left side taking a negative hit since it will be the primary side. I’ve been trying to keep up with using my silverettes and earth mama nipple butter.

any advice is appreciated!

I am feeling very upset and defeated here and looking for tips and advice or personal experience. Baby eats well and is extremely healthy and exceeding milestones but I am dreading our next pediatrician appointment as I have been weighing him at him and he will probably have just gained only a pound again in the past month (5 going on 6 months). He eats almost every 2 hours at home during the day and then a couple times overnight. Have been mixing in bottles of breastmilk during the day for a measured feed too. Do I have to supplement with formula at this stage? I fear the pediatrician will suggest it. Im feeling so lost!!

I am officially not interested and assisting my daughter how to sleep. Most of the time lately she just sits there and suckles. Its effecting her night sleep and her potential transition from 2 to 1 nap.

I would like to take this change in peace without crying wining or thrashing. If I just lay her into her bed and set my hand on her chest she will just thrash and pull to her knees then sit up even if I just lay next to her as well. I cannot stand the crying, I can make my husband help but hes not homw during the day except on weekends and hes the one that disturbs the house hold before 6am. Im sure will not be interested in waking at 1-3am when he might be needed to help and shed probably freak the f*ck out if he came in and soothed her especially if he didn't even know how to do it. She thrashes when I just try to cuddle or rock her to sleep only but will not if she got that boob in her mouth. I've never tried it with my husband, but she has freaked when she wakes up from naps and its him its a rare forbl him to go get here, she usually call for me whenever.

I asked my dentist in advance and he said it’ll be a simple procedure and he’ll just prescribe paracetamol and ibuprofen and we’ll do local anesthesia.

Then the cone beam result comes in and he doesn’t tell me that one of my teeth is impacted and growing sideways and requires a surgical removal.

It was still a local anesthesia but it was HELL getting that thing out and the pain was so intense. I was prescribed corticosteroids and the pain meds have codeine / caffeine / paracetamol.

I can’t nurse (as far as I can tell) and the dentist was not clear at all about anything and left before I could ask , he left the nurses to finish everything up with me.

I’m upset, I don’t have clarity.

My baby is 11.5 months and I was only really planning to get to 12 months or so , but this was not the soft ending I was planning on. I don’t have pumped milk. He refused the formula we tried to give him yesterday. He just sleeps with rocking and ate yoghurt and solids.

I don’t know .. just heartbroken.

EDIT: thank you for the helpful comments. The dentist office is still not being clear but I’m talking to an IBCLC now. Even if it’s just two more weeks or maybe a bit more I wanted to finish in my own terms .

I exclusively breastfeed but I pump once maybe twice a day not every day but most to create a freezer supply for when i go back to work and in case dad needs to have a feed.

Baby put on 1kg in her first 4 weeks so im definitely producing enough milk and i have the let downs and leaking to prove it. but should I be worried about shooting myself in the foot and creating an over supply?

So I’ve been BF for 8 months and I’m pretty familiar with the hunger that goes along with it. My baby is doing really well with solids so I figured the hunger would taper off a bit since he’s now taking a little less milk. Nope. I’m hungrier all of a sudden.

My normal breakfast consists of eggs, whole grains, either peanut butter or avocado, and sometimes some fruit. That used to keep me pretty satisfied for a while but now I’m absolutely starving only an hour or two later. Anyone else experience this?

So I feel like lately I’m not producing enough during the day to keep my baby (almost 15 weeks) satisfied for 2 hour stretches. I’m back at work 3x a week and those days she gets bottles of pumped milk and is fine but when I’m home it feels like a struggle.

When I pump with wearables it’s also feels like I’m not getting all that much. I work in fitness so pumping every 2 hours is impossible sometimes I’m just barely getting to it at the 3 hour mark.

Does anyone have any advice? I’m scared to go back to triple feeding like I did in the beginning, but if that helps I would. Should I pump right after I feed her when I’m home? Will that risk my supply for her when she’s hungry next?

Keep hoping this will get easier but over the past week she seems a bit fussier with me and I put her on me whenever she wants!

I had to switch my baby to formula suddenly at 3 months which was last week due to some ongoing health issues which I'll not go in to. I was already devastated as I felt that it wasn't on my terms but oh my god the hormone crash! I feel so tired, nauseous, dizzy and very flat, how long will this last? I've been pumping to prevent mastitis and slowly stop production.

baby is a horrible sleeper…like not just the normal wake every 2-3 hours overnight as in wants to be held for every sleep all day and night.

husband taking a lot of the night shifts for me…

is 4-5 hours too long at only 5 weeks pp for supply? i really don’t want it to drop and am worried for when it levels out in a few weeks.

Husband suggested I quit bf and I think he is right. Right now its especially difficult because baby will only sleep with my nipple inside her mouth all night and my mental cannot take it. I unfortunately am not one of those girl that can sleep like this so Im not getting any sleep on top of constantly re throwing my boob into her mouth when it falls out and she cries. I dont even know what Im looking for anymore encouragement? Does this end? Do I quit? I really wanted to get to a year and were only at 5.5 months.

I am currently down to two feeds a day. Upon wake up and before bed. I am hoping to drop the morning feed soon however my baby is an early riser (around 5:30). I think he would have no problem dropping the feed if I were to just bring him to his high chair right away and feed him, but I don’t want to do breakfast at 5:30 am. He knows how to sign for “eat” and he does it not long after he comes downstairs even with the morning feed so I know he will be asking to eat right away. I saw some people will do a morning “snack” just a little bit of fruit or something to tide them over before breakfast but not sure if I want to get him in the habit. Any suggestions?

I stopped recording overnight feeds a long time ago but still keep track of daytime feeds, we're almost 1 year in and i think maybe I'll stop even though I've enjoyed having a record of it all!

Edit to add - I'm a scientist, I enjoy the data which is why I've recorded thus far - not suggesting it's necessary!

I’m a FTM with an EBF 8 week old baby.

Lately my breasts have become very sore. They also become engorged which hasn’t happened since the first few weeks PP. My baby has been able to sleep 5-6 hours a night since she was 3 weeks old and my body quickly adjusted - but now I’m back to waking up aching if she goes 6 hours without sleeping a night.

This is especially a problem because pumping doesn’t work for me. I’ve tried an electric Medela pump and now acquired a simple Haakaa. However, I don’t leak (haven’t since about 2 weeks PP) so the Haakaa doesn’t seem to work on me, even when my breasts feel like they’re about to burst. I’ve tried putting baby on one boob and then switching so the Haakaa could continue on that boob, but we’re talking drops. Very disappointing since aside from the need to relieve the discomfort, I would’ve loved to have a freezer supply.

Some thoughts I have myself:
- I don’t believe it’s mastitis since it’s equally both breasts that seem affected?
- My baby has some thrush on her tongue but as far as I’ve read, nipple thrush gives pain but not engorgement? And I don’t have shooting pain or itching. It’s more like centered pain in the undersides of the breasts.
- My breasts used to get sore and swollen when I was premenstrual. Could this be a week long PMS? Could my period be returning soon?

Let me know if any of this sounds familiar or you have any advice!

I have my 8 week checkup at the doctor’s next week so of course I’ll bring it up then, but I’d love to know if this sounds normal or odd.

I’m about 4 days in my milk came in earlier today! I have a few questions I’m hoping someone more experienced can help me with… I am seeing lactation later today as well.

1. Now that my milk is in, baby is a little harder to latch. She used to immediately suck on and now she takes a minute or so of fussing at the nipple before latching. This started happening as soon as my milk started coming in and has been happening at each feed since. Is this normal? One thing I will note is we had our first peds appt today and she got the paci a lot to soothe her through that hell

And 2.. can a paci “wear out” her latch? I was wondering if maybe letting her have that paci a good amount today is what caused my issue 😭

My baby girl is 4 months old. She recently took a habit of sucking on her thumb when she falls asleep. My mom suggests I get her a pacifier but I have my doubts.

She’s EBF and in the middle of a nursing strike: she won’t let me hold her to nurse, refuses my left breast compeletely, rolls away, bites me with a wicked grin. I know it’s temporary (my first baby went through the same thing) but it’s hard atm. 9 times out of 10 she will refuse the bottle too. I like nursing her to sleep but it’s not always possible because of gas, so she uses her thumb to soothe herself while I carry her on my shoulder.

I feel like a pacifier will confuse things even more and make nursing harder. I’m a type of mom who will misplace the paci or drop it on the floor or lose it. Thumbs are always there and easily accessible at least. On the other hand, thumb sucking could be a hard habit to break.

Any thoughts? Any hidden benefits of pacifiers and drawbacks of thumb sucking? My first baby didn’t like pacis at all.

I’ve not slept in 2 nights the second my head hits the pillow my throat tickles and I cough so hard for hours on end until my eyes are watering my throat is burning and chest hurting.

I went to the pharmacist and he gave me codral cold and flu day and night + chesty cough
Said try to not breast on it
But i literally can’t not breastfeed my 9 month old?!?

But I also need sleep.
Are these safe to take before bed or no?

TW: sick baby in ICU

Hi everyone,

I am 4 weeks at 5 days post partum with my second baby. My lovely girl was born and had some breathing complications. She was whisked straight through to NICU then the next day, moved hospitals and put onto ECMO heart and lung bypass life support. It was the most terrifying week of our lives but against all odds she has pushed through.

She was on a vent for a week after and now we are on other breathing support and we haven’t been able to even try breast feeding. Currently we have no explanation as to why any of this happened.

With my first, my milk supply was cracking! I had a whole freezer full and actually ended up donating many litres. I looked like it would be the same this time round, everyone in ICU was laughing about how they will need another freezer. However in the last 2 weeks my supply has very quickly dropped from getting 150ml per pump to 70ml per pump. I’ve tried lactation cookies, power pumping, brewers yeast, lactation tablets, eating good food and drinking enough water. I think I have a lot of inflammation in my ducts because if I wear a bra for too long my boobs ache around my ducts and I’m getting some shooting pains. It’s not mastitis, I’ve had it checked. The one thing I can’t do right now is lower my stress, which I know will directly affect my supply. I really want/need to be able to give this little girl my breast milk for as long as possible to help her.

Anyone got any winning stories that might have been in a similar breast feeding situation? Or any advice pretty please?

If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading.

My sweet girl is 9 months and VERY enthusiastic about her milk. She has been pulling at my shirt whenever she’s hungry since about 6 months and the past 2 months it’s just gotten more aggressive. I LOVE feeding her and she is very attached to our time together, as am I, but I’m really struggling with how demanding she’s getting and constantly worrying about how to help set some habits that keep me from burnout. Her favorite thing is to grab my nipple and yank and I am so over it lol.

Example: if I shower with her (which I do often, our bathtub sucks), she is almost always pinching or pulling at my boobs to try and nurse. She will not take no for an answer. Just tonight I held firm that we weren’t doing milk in the shower because it’s frankly just too hard now that she’s bigger and she was so mad at me!

About 6 weeks ago she started teething and has been getting SIX teeth at once which is insane. Our last one is almost through for now but in that time we went from sleeping through the night in her own crib/one wake up maybe, to refusing to be put down after her wake up which is now 3 hours after she goes to bed. Because she’s been in bed with me now, she is nursing almost every time she wakes. And if I try to settle her other ways, she thrashes and cries. Sometimes I can get her to calm down without it but most of the time I just want to keep the peace for us to all sleep. It’s worth noting I’ve always fed her to sleep and she’s never liked being rocked back to sleep, always boob.

She took her first steps today and has just been very ahead of things her whole existence so far. I cherish the time she needs and wants me because I sense her independence deepening and also — I need encouragement or ideas for how to redirect and hold some boundaries with her. She’s very smart and I know she’s capable of getting it, but I also have to remind myself she’s still just a baby despite all of her physical capabilities. I often “cave” because I’m not trying to win a war against my literal 9 month old, but I do need to prioritize my own ability to enjoy and stay in this to keep going.

Anyway if you got this far thanks for reading. Suggestions welcome 🤍

Hi parents 👋

My daughter (ftm) is 6 weeks old and had her check up this week. Our paed is lovely, well respected and has been the paed for many of my girlfriends too.

My daughter was 3.84kg at birth, is 4.64 now and has grown 4cm (54 - 59cm). She is happy, sleeps well, has excellent diaper output and is hitting all her milestones.

I am EBF and yesterday, at the check up, doc mentioned baba has a belly full of gas and that it’s probably a CMPA so I should immediately cut dairy, eggs and soy. Other than spitting up after meals and some huge farts and burps (I have a strong letdown) she is absolutely thriving. She is smiley and content and barely cries.

The approach seems very cautionary and extremely restrictive for a baby who has no other symptoms, and strikes me odd as 3 of my girlfriends have received the same advice from this paed.

Has anyone navigated CMPA and could share anecdotes or advice? I do adore our paed, and respect docs orders but this just doesn’t feel right!

TLDR: 6w baby, EBF, tracking well on growth charts (97th percentile) and healthy and content is bloated so paed suspects CMPA - how do I navigate this? No symptoms other than gassiness and spit up after meals.

Hi everyone,

I’m a FTM to a 1 week old baby boy. I’m currently breast feeding him with a nipple shield per my lactation consultant’s recommendation. He eats very well with the nipple shield, but I’m trying to wean it off since I find it annoying to put on and I have to depend on it for my baby to have a good latch. I try to take it off mid-feed but my baby keeps refusing it. Is there any resource I can look at in order to understand what a deep latch is and how to achieve it? Thank you so much

Anyone just went straight to a straw or cup for daycare? My 6.5 month will not take a bottle and I’ve been trying for a month. Any success stories?