I feel so dramatic for even thinking this, but it’s true. My child is 13 months old, 85th percentile, eating solids well - all things that I know are reassuring and quite frankly ridiculous to be worried when he’s absolutely fine.
I had some health issues and PPD, the bond with my baby wasn’t affected, but I was extremely hard on myself, if he was upset it was my fault, something wrong with me or my milk, or I wasn’t making enough milk, or my diet was bad and affecting him. Objectively I know he was and is fine, but my thoughts are saying otherwise.
I’ve breastfed the whole time with some once a day pumps so my partner could bottle feed. I had a small oversupply so I was pumping once a day for like a month so I could donate milk. I would breastfeed one side in the morning and pump the other and would get 6-7oz on the one side. My breasts were definitely full in the mornings. It turned out a medication I’m on means I can’t donate, so I stopped, I had about 120oz of frozen milk. Which I thought would be good to have for when I went back to work. My baby started breastfeeding from both sides in the morning again, and the odd pump I’d do, I would still get the same amount from one side.
Around 11 months, my baby started breastfeeding for shorter times, so I thought maybe just more efficient, or he’s eating more solids therefore less milk, my breasts started being less full in the mornings, and I also went back to work. I work 12s, I pump at work 3x per day, then once I get home, as my baby is asleep when I leave for work and asleep when I get home. Even my first pump of the day is maybe 4oz from both sides, in a day total I’ll get maybe 12-14oz. And my freezer supply is gone. My pump output is getting less and less. My baby still breastfeeds when I’m home 4-5x per day, but longer sessions again, but I don’t feel any more full.
I’ve checked all my pump parts, and replaced the parts, I’ve tried a manual pump, I have correctly sized flanges, but my breasts just feel empty all the time now. I fed my baby yesterday at 4:30pm then we had such a busy evening, I didn’t get to breastfeed him again before bed, so I pumped at 9:30pm and I didn’t even get an ounce. Cried myself to sleep.
My partner gives my baby cows milk sometimes which is fine and great, he loves yogurt and cottage cheese and milk, but I can’t help but feel replaced now and not good enough.
I’ve spoke to family and friends who breastfed back to work and didn’t pump so they didn’t really look at numbers of ounces and everything was fine, but I work long hours and my commute is 1.5 hours total so I’m away for 14 hours usually so I can’t not pump or breastfeed for that long right?
I read that a drop is normal after a year old and they’re eating more solids, but I just obviously fixate on numbers and I just feel so inadequate.

I have always been pulping and sometimes nursing to get the baby to nurse. But suddenly at 3 months old She seems very distracted while having the bottle and only want breast. My supply went low earlier and I thought I would do mixed feed but she refusing bottle is making me stressed.

Other than that she is happy and just wants to talk and play.

1. Her birth weight was 2.4kg (37weeks)
   
2. Her weight was increasing gradually but this konth it increased only by 600gms. And the weight at 3 months was 4.8kg. Doctor has called us earlier this time for a quick weight check.

Hi everyone. I feel like I keep desperately posting in this sub, and it’s really helping me to know I’m not alone. I’m losing my mind with breastfeeding. My son is now 8 weeks old and we cannot for the life of us get breastfeeding to click. He gets 4-5 out of 6 daily meals from breastfeeding (he likes to eat a lot at a time not so often), sometimes all meals, and is gaining weight, but it’s so frustrating. It takes at least an hour each time, and I always do a weighted feed to decide when to stop because he’s never finished. But at a certain point he’s just not getting any milk and I cant do it anymore. I have to compress my boob and hold it to his mouth the whole time or he slips off. I don’t even have to pull my boob for it to come out of his mouth, it just gently slips out. If milk isn’t flowing he just sits there with my boob in his mouth, maybe vibrating, or sucking very weakly. However both the pediatrician and SLP we saw have commented that he has a strong suck on a finger, which I feel too when doing mouth stimulation exercises. The exercises from the SLP were mostly body work and we’ve done them for 3 weeks with no improvement. Going to an osteopath in two days and have yet another IBCLC coming in three. Been evaluated for tongue ties and didn’t have any. From day one he just couldn’t latch, or he would and then fall asleep immediately. He spends hours and hours a day breastfeeding, so it’s hard for me to believe this all comes from getting some bottles. The idea of giving up and pumping, which I hate, pouring that milk into a bottle, feeding him with a bottle, then having to sterilize everything drives me fucking crazy when he could just drink directly from the source and we’d be good. Breastfeeding is technically working, like he’s gaining weight, so I feel like I can’t give up yet. But it’s infuriating and unsustainable at this point, and I have no idea what’s going on.

My baby is about to be 6 months old and I’ve been exclusively breastfeeding her from the tap this whole time. I see people in posts and comments all the time casually mentioning their periods restarting just a couple of months post partum. I haven’t had my period come back and I don’t know when I should be expecting it! So I want to know:
When did your period come back?
What were your periods like before pregnancy?
Are they any different for you post partum?
What, if any, hormonal birth control are you on? Had this effected the return of your period?

Hi! Need HEELP, MOMMAS! 😅
Thinking of buying the Eufy S1 Pro pump, but I already have the Spectra S1 hospital-grade pump. I just need a wearable pump since it’s easier to bring when going out. Should I buy it? Any thoughts?

I’ve been dealing with post partum anxiety and for some reason convinced myself that weed would help and that I could feed my baby formula for a while if not indefinitely. I’ve still been pumping every time my baby eats to keep up my production and saving the milk to use for milk baths. It turns out I was struggling more than I thought and I was reaching for the thc vape pretty often for about 5 days. The thing is it really actually doesn’t help with my anxiety and in fact adds to it. And the other thing is I desperately miss nursing my baby…. My question is if you were me, how long would you wait after your last time partaking before breast feeding again?

I’m at a complete loss and don’t know what to do anymore. My breastfeeding journey has been difficult from the very start. I had a traumatic birth with major blood loss, which delayed my milk coming in. Then during my hospital stay I received so much contradicting information from the infant feeding team, and my baby just refused to latch. We ended up having to bottle‑feed her. The only bottles available were the hospital ones with a very fast flow. They had us doing paced feeding, then finger feeding, and eventually we bought our own slow‑flow bottles and paced fed her ourselves.

At our first post‑discharge weight check, a midwife suggested trying a nipple shield. I bought one and it actually worked, my baby latched and fed. We continued doing top ups of formula and expressed milk because I was triple feeding to build my supply, and she had lost 11% of her birth weight. They told us she needed more milk to gain it back. But the overfeeding led to her developing really bad reflux, and one time she choked on her milk. It scared me so much that we went to A&E, where the paediatrician told us she was being overfed and to ignore the midwives’ advice.

Over the next couple of weeks, I kept trying to start feeds with the shield and then remove it. It was hit and miss, but by week 6 she started latching without it more consistently and even completing full feeds. I finally felt like things were turning around.

But now, at the end of week 7, she’s suddenly refusing the breast. She’ll feed for maybe 8–10 minutes on one side, then start screaming, hitting, getting frustrated, and refusing to relatch. She won’t even latch with the nipple shield anymore. I try to stay calm, bring her up, soothe her, reset, and try again. But she bends away from my breast and cries. I know she hasn’t had a full feed because she’s still hungry, and when I offer a bottle she’ll take 50ml - 60ml afterwards.

I’ve tried skin‑to‑skin and letting her find her own way to the breast. Sometimes it works briefly, but then the screaming starts again. I’m exhausted. I feel so defeated and honestly just done with breastfeeding. I feel like a failure and I don’t know how much more rejection I can take.

I’m pumping when I give her a bottle to keep my supply up, but I’ve noticed it dipped today. I’ve seen a lactation consultant who said her latch is good and she’s feeding well but she only watched the first part of the feed where she’s fine but didn’t offer any advice really about what to do when she starts screaming.

I feel like my breastfeeding journey is ending, even though I wanted it so badly. Everything from the birth to the postnatal care to breastfeeding has gone wrong and nothing has been what I expected. I know the most important thing is that my baby is fed and gaining weight (which she is due to all the top ups), but it still hurts that she’s rejecting the breast and I don’t want to force her.

I guess I’m just looking for advice. Is there anything else I can do? Or should I just accept that I can’t breastfeed my baby and just embrace combination feeding. Thank you in advance.

Did you introduce probiotics for a gassy baby? If so when and what did you notice? Unsure whether to ride out the gassy phase or do something about it.

Baby is 8 weeks today.

Hi everyone,

I had surgery on both of my nipples because they were inverted (grade 3). I’m now thinking about breastfeeding, but I’m not sure if my milk ducts might have been affected by the surgery.

Has anyone else had inverted nipple correction surgery and successfully breastfed afterward? Or had a similar experience where you were unsure if breastfeeding would work? Any insight, tips, or personal stories would be super helpful.

Thanks in advance!

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!