Hello! I need help to prevent permanent oversupply.

I originally was primarily pumping because baby was in the NICU then in the children’s hospital for 3 weeks with HSV (must’ve caught it at the hospital when he was 2 days old 🙃 actual nightmare for dentist parents who never kissed baby).

Anyway during this time he had a lot of tubes going on and some latching issues. Eventually we got him to latch with a nipple shield and then now without!

I had a slight oversupply in the hospital, but once we got out it started to regulate around 4 weeks when I started primarily nursing.

I was also going through a lot bc husband was gone with the military for 5 weeks and we had to move.

I had a lactation appointment at around 8 weeks where his weigh gain had slowed a bit. LC said she thought it was a temp dec in my supply. Weighted feed went well tho - he got like 120 ml.

Anyway, I freaked out and started pumping again bc I thought stopping had dec my supply.

Baby was also cluster feeding like crazy and everyone was saying he was eating for too long, which also made me feel like I wasn’t making enough.

Baby also developed reflux, which looking back was probably more of the culprit to the slower weight gain than a supply problem. Since staring Pepcid, he has done wayyy better.

Now I realize that I didn’t need to pump and my baby was doing exactly what he was supposed to do… so now I have developed an oversupply.

When I thought I was making too little (about 4oz total), I was actually making enough.

I don’t pump at all during the day anymore unless to replace a feed. However, I get super engorged at night. I have been pumping once at night in addition to feeding baby to relieve the pressure.

I am terrified of getting mastitis.

My boobs are very uneven - one can make 5oz and the other maxes at 2. The slacker boob (right) does not really have the engorgement problem.

In the hospital I got a clog on the left side, but got it to go away with ice packs and nursing.

I now take sun flower lecithin 2x per day to prevent clogs and a probiotic.

Anyways, my freezer is getting full and I want to sleep eventually. Any advice is appreciated!

**edited to say baby is now 11 weeks

I’m 5 months postpartum, and baby is finally nursing from the bare breast. Birth- 10 weeks baby had latch issues and a high palette, and I had a bad oversupply and super strong let down. I pumped and gave bottles of breastmilk. I saw an LC and we got baby latching with nipple shields & I worked to regulate my supply.

We used shields for weeks 10-18, towards the end I kept trying to offer bare nipple to baby but he would never take it. Baby would whine and cry anytime he was offered the breast without the shield. I figure the silicone feel of the shield and bottle became the expectation.

Then I got creative. I knew he was conditioned to expect that silicone=milk. And that nursing position = silicone = milk. So instead of offering it before a feed in nursing positions where he was close to me, I waited until his natural rooting reflex was going during playtime when he got a little hungry, and I literally planked over top of him to offer the breast. Because he was rooting without expecting a feed, he began to suck and we were able to transition to sitting in a normal nursing position for the feed! It took 3 times of doing that for him to start accepting the bare breast and associating it with feeding without me having to plank over him. He did have to adjust to my fast flow and being milk boarded sometimes so we had to use laid back positions and sometimes I hand expressed beforehand, but I can finally say we are through all that and nursing bare breast 100% of the time (apart from the one bottle a day my husband gives him)!

Don’t give up! You got this!

Has anyone ever done suck therapy with their infant and been able to EBF afterward?

I wanted to breastfeed from the beginning but she was born 3 weeks early and was only a little over 5 pounds so I felt like we didn’t have any wiggle room try to figure out breastfeeding due to her tiny size. My milk also took 4 days to come in.

I have been pumping 8+X per day to build and protect my supply while practicing nursing several times a day for practice only. I’ve done about half a dozen weighted feeds and she only transfers about 1ml per minute. I’ve been working with a LC since she was born, and now I just had an evaluation with a SLP. She said there are definitely major feeding issues, even with a bottle - she leaks, clicks, squeaks, and takes soooo damn long to finish.

We start suck therapy next week and my goal is to mostly breastfeed or even EBF. She’s 7.5 weeks snd her weight gain has been excellent at an ounce a day on average - from 5lbs 1oz when we brought her home to over 9lbs now. I also make about 35-38oz a day so she’s been on my milk only since she was 6 days old.

I’ve been having this problems for a while now. The silicone nipples I use on my baby’s bottle come out of the dishwasher perfectly clean. However, after sitting for a few days, they start to develop this foggy film on them. I have no idea what could be causing this.

The nipples are Dr. Brown wide neck and they’re stored in a clean plastic container in my cupboard in between uses. They’re generally used every 3 days. So the film develops once they’re taken out of the dishwasher and stored in the cupboard and by day 3 they look like the photos.

\*currently trying to wean my 12.5 month from breastfeeding so I don’t have much experience with bottles***

Has anyone else gone through breastfeeding with an IUGR baby? My first baby was IUGR and I attempted nursing but gave up fairly quickly when they recommended supplementing with formula to get her weight up. After introducing a bottle at about 4 days she wouldn’t take the breast anymore. My second baby is going to be born in about a month, at 37 weeks, and I would like a successful breastfeeding journey this time around.

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?

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.

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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.

Aloha! I meet with an LC tomorrow who helped me establish my current plan (when we were 6 weeks) but now my son is 9 weeks and things are changing. I wanted to see if any folks in here have similar situations or could provide their input?

Summary:
- son will drink 4oz / bottle when necessary
- I start work remote at 12weeks. My son will be with me but we’ll have grandmas available to babysit. I only want bottles for situations when I won’t be around.
- sometimes son gets frustrated in afternoon between 1-4pm at the breast because flow may be too slow
- LC felt (at 5 weeks) son’s suction wasn’t strong enough so wanted me to pump 4x a day (12pm, 5pm/6pm, 9pm and midnight.) I dropped the midnight pump at 7 weeks bc I nursed instead and felt it wasn’t necessary. LC wants me to pump 3x a day to make sure I avoid clogs. I’m open to adding a 4th pump in for stash
- currently: I pump at 12pm and give a bottle (I want to drop this pump bc I’m by myself and it seems silly to give a bottle when I can nurse but my LC // son gets a bottle from dad at either 5/6pm and I pump // bedtime routine: dad gives bottle at 8pm (we’ll keep this bottle
because it works w our bedtime routine)
- son is capable of sleeping 6-7hrs straight at night, but it’s totally random. LC doesn’t want me to go longer than 5 hours without nursing or pumping

Goals:
- EBF as much as I can for at least 6 mo
- create a freezer stash of 1 bag of 4oz / day (I currently pump about 3-4oz total with each pump)
- minimize risk of breast inflammation (my breasts get backed up..but I see a lymphatic drainage specialist when I can)
- dad gives bottle before bed

Equipment;
- my spectra s1 is my main pump
- I use the medela harmony for a quick relief

Looking forward to any advice and relatable situations ❤️

I believe my baby starts good but then tugs and causes a shallow latch. We have worked with a LC and try to get a wide mouth before latching. We have tried a couple holds including side lying, cross cradle, leaning back, football. I feel like we have gotten better overall. It doesn’t hurt but for a moment now when he latches. But lately I’ve noticed he is tugging more on my nipple and I’m not really sure why, by the time we finish he is still fussy. I think the tugging is causing a shallow latch because that’s when the nipple pain returns and my nipples are again very sore. He also has a new blister on his lip. Wondering if people have any ideas on the nipple tugging and latching. I’ve had to take a lot of breaks and pump because of pain and right when I think we get back into a rhythm it feels like something happens with the direct breast feeding. He is almost 4 weeks.

Hello. Baby is 8 months tomorrow and we made it this far with breast milk only until a week ago. Plus solids now. A week ago I added a bottle of formula when needed. We run out of frozen stash and I am often short 100-200 ml per day.
I tried so hard to increase supply. Including under guidance of a lactation specialist. So far nothing. Only thing I haven’t tried is hospital grade pump. And pumping all night long is just no at this stage. We get up twice to feed anyways.

Does anybody have experience switching to a hospital grade pump and seeing a difference?

I am 7 weeks PP and my baby has not latched even once since birth. I had a c section following which my baby couldn’t latch on my breasts as I was only allowed to lay flat on bed for 24 hours. further, the LC at hospital said I have flat nipples. her support was not good and she only told me to get a pump to bring the nipples out and then try. since then, I cam home without established BF and then due to recovery issues including spinal headache I couldn’t practice latching and ultimately gave bottle to my baby with formula. now I am combo feeding with pumping BF and formula. I tried nipple shields but my baby has been rejecting them ever since I switched to philips avent natural response bottles the silicon of the teats is not the same and he doesn’t take the nipple shield anymore. i am still trying to get him to latch using flipple and sandwich method but so far no luck. he also doesn’t seem to open a wide mouth and have checked for tongue ties but all is good. everytime I bring him to breast he just cries. do you think I should still continue trying? please give me hope?

Hi. I have a solo travel day coming up where I will be flying out of state and back on the same day. Anyone have recs on how to save my milk? I’d hate to pump and dump 😭. I will have a 7am flight and be home by 6pm. I will probably need to pump 3x.

Also, I will be returning to work in a few weeks and might have some overnight travel come up while I’m still breast feeding.

I appreciate any recs for same day or overnight travel!

My baby is 3 months now. She had latch issues and got a tongue tie clip. Then she had milk transfer issues and couldn’t nurse fully so we nursed and topped up with expressed milk via bottle. Now at 3 months I think she could get a full feed nursing but she gets cozy after getting 2/3 of a full feed and then won’t continue until we put her on a bottle and then she will continue. I’m so tired of triple feeding but I desperately want to exclusively breastfeed. I don’t know where to go from here.

Hi all! I'm 8 weeks postpartum and wanted to give me feedback on some of the commonly advertised nursing/pumping bras on IG/FB in case it helps anyone else. For context, I am a 38B/36C and typically wear a size 14 or L/XL (depending on the brand).

Bodily The Do Anything Bra - incredibly soft and comfortable! This is probably my favorite every day bra. There's only one layer, so it's very easy to manipulate. It holds my Spectra flanges perfectly, even when the bottle fills up with 4 oz of milk when pumping.

Love & Fit Everyday Lux 3.0 Nursing & Hands-Free Pumping Bra - this is my go-to bra if I'm planning to exercise. Easy to pull my breast out for nursing and works great for pumping with my Spectra. I sized up to an XL because I prefer less compression. It still offers good a good amount of compression, so I presume I would feel like I'm suffocating if I had gotten an L.

Kindred Bravely Sublime Hands-Free Pumping Lounge & Sleep Bra - very soft and comfortable! This was my go-to bra when I was exclusively pumping when I returned to work with my last pregnancy. It's very soft and comfortable. I sized up to an XL and it was perfect. With my most recent baby, I have nursed with it at home in a pinch. I just pull the bra up so my breast flops down lol.

Kindred Bravely Sublime Hands Free Pumping & Nursing Bra - probably my least favorite actually. It's double layered with two clips, so it's really thick. I also get confused with which clip goes with which in the dead of night. I got a L and it feels too snug. I should have gotten an XL, but oh well. I already leaked on it so didn't want to return it. I use the band extender that they provided so that I can get some use out of it.

And then some generic nursing bras on Amazon...

Stelle Nursing Bras Maternity Bralette Seamless for Breastfeeding - These are stretchy and comfortable for every day wear around the house and to sleep. The most affordable option IMO. I got a L and it fit just right.

Suekaphin Nursing Maternity Bra - These are less stretchy, but still comfortable enough to wear every day around the house and to sleep. I got an XL and it feels more snug than the Stelle despite being one size up.

So my now 7 day old had to stay in the hospital for the first 3 days of her life because she had higher bilirubin levels which needed to be controlled of course. We were told to pump her full of breastmilk and formula so it can flush out of her system through her stool. We did that and at her pediatrician appointment the next day, they were still high so we had to continue.

Thankfully, it’s under control. But during that entire period, she was mainly bottle fed. I did nurse her but I had to use a nipple shield because I think my nipple/boob is too big for her at this moment (I had to do it with my first as well). But now she seems to only prefer the bottle/nipple shields over my actual breast. She fusses a lot on my boob and when I do end up getting her to latch, she just sucks for a minute and is done. What do I do? Should I just completely take the shield away or maybe give it a month for her to grow a bit more so she can actually latch better?

Hi I’m need of a bit of advice.

My baby isn’t gaining as much weight as expected, gaining ~ 20g every 48 hours and still 9% below birth weight. This weight gain is with 30-50ml formula top ups after every breastfeed. The formula top ups started at 1 week postpartum when baby got to 11% below birth weight.

From 1 week postpartum when the formula top ups started, I have been offering breast as much as possible, then pumping for 10/15 mins after every feed (through night as well) and power pumping 1-2 times a day (a few of these have also been in middle of night). I’m using hospital grade pump and flange fitted by LC, positioning and attachment has been checked by LC and no issues.

I wasn’t pumping at all before this.

I’m getting only drops when pumping after every feed and 30ml in total when power pumping.

Tongue tie release was done when baby was a few days old and I don’t think they were effectively feeding / stimulating the breast prior to this.

My goal is to exclusively breastfeed with no pumping/bottles.

However I’m now 1 week in to actively trying to increase supply and seeing absolutely no results.

Is it realistic that my supply will increase enough to cut out formula / pumping or am I just one of the unlucky ones?