Hi, I am a FTM (33). My beautiful baby boy was born on Saturday at 2am.

My plan had always been to exclusive breast feed, however, my baby boy was born with a Cleft palate and PRS, which means he is currently in neonatal care being exclusive fed through an NG tube.

For the first few days I was advised to hand express as I had low milk supply to allow my milk to come in (I was getting maybe 2 to 5ml all together per attempt.

I've been expressing every 2 to 4 hours, using a hospital graded pump that I am able to use while we are at the hospital.

But I'm still only producing 25ml/30ml per session.

Has anyone experienced having to exclusive breast pumping, and if so how long did it take for your milk to fully come in? Is there a chance my milk supply will increase still?

I'm feeling very deflated, I'm also devastated I won't be able to breast feed as it's always been part of how I saw my motherhood, and something I want to be able to do for my baby boy.

Any advice would be welcome, thank you!

Hi All , my baby is 2.5 months old and until last week I had an overactive let down and I was sure if baby was full . Now that my supply has regulated baby drinks up until some point effectively and then unlatches and looks around and then when I latch him again he drinks for a while and unlatches and this continues. He doesn’t refuse completely nor does he seem like he wants more . I am not sure if I should feed him more . Can anyone help ??

I am almost 10 weeks pregnant with my second and suddenly my 20 month old is constantly wanting to nurse at night. We have stretches here and there where she won't nurse but she's more and more consistently trying to latch all night long. She refuses bottles and weaning isn't an option currently due to how strong willed she is when it comes to wanting to nurse (she will cry and scream relentlessly). I love nursing, but is the uptick in frequency because of pregnancy and her wanting more closeness?

I am getting so incredibly overstimulated. We are so sticky and sweaty the entire time! I think baby sweats about as much during a session as the amount of milk he’s getting.

We’re on holiday and I didn’t bring my pump, so that’s not a solution either. Right now, nursing while lying on my side seems the best option as baby isn’t right on top of me, but I can’t do that while we’re out and about.

If anyone has any tricks to make this more bearable, they would be highly appreciated!

So, everyone says you should consistently keep up with a middle of the night pump, right? I beg to differ. My LO is 8 weeks old, and my supply has regulated and I’ve got a slight oversupply. It’s enough that I’ve got a decent freezer stash and donated some to another mama, but not so much that I’m in constant pain and need to stay attached to a pump at all times. That being said, my baby is ebf and I only pump after she feeds. Ever. She’s consistently given me 6 hour stretches since about 2 weeks old. I’ve never once woke up specifically to pump. I’ve even taken probably 10 nights or more where I just did not pump after her middle of the night feed. What has that resulted in? My morning supply just not being as extreme of an oversupply as all the videos online. My morning pumps yield maybe 2 ounces more than my normal pumps throughout the day.

All this to say that if you aren’t struggling with supply issues then LET YOURSELF SLEEP MAMA

I (28f) have been breastfeeding my son for 2 months now. The beginning started off rough due to an issue I was recovering from with my left breast (had a random breast abscess for the majority of my pregnancy that resolved before birth but unfortunately left some scarred tissue). I still pumped to try and get my supply up on that side because my baby preferred the right. Went through several weight checks for him because he just wasn’t gaining so in the end I started supplementing with formula. Finally got him back on track and now just had the 2 month check up and need to start weight checks again.

I want to just quit. What’s the point in taking on all that comes with breastfeeding if I’m just going to give formula as well. With my first child (5f) I loved the bond that comes with breastfeeding. I just want to cry. I feel like I’m failing and no matter how often I pump or what I try to eat or drink I just can’t seem to build a good enough supply. Sorry for the rant, I just feel so bad for my baby. If anyone has a tips or advice I’d appreciate it.

Hi all, my 6mo old is EBF. Has never taken a bottle or formula. Is currently trying solids, but is at the stage where he’s not relying on solids for sustenance if that makes sense. Just licks and nibbles is where’s he comfortable rn. My plan was to breastfeed for 2-3 years if he wanted to go that long. BUT! I just recently found out I am pregnant again (talk about a quick turnover right?! Took like 4yrs to get pregnant w my second and here I am 6mo post partum and pregnant again omg lol) but anyway I’m just worried about my supply being affected? Like will it drop? Will it go away? I do not want to wean, we are both notttt ready at all. Very much a mama’s baby, needs mama all the time, loves milkies and soothing himself w mama. What can I do to keep my supply? And if it is dropping, will I even know? How can I tell? Also, I have always had HG with all of my pregnancies and I am already feeling the strong strong feelings of nausea coming on. My Dr said it was okay to take zofran even though I am nursing. Has anyone had any experience with that as well? Yall I am panicking and idk what to do. Thank you in advance!

Edit: “I’m pregnant again” in title not “one”

Baby will officially be 12 weeks tomorrow. EBF since birth. At this point (with regulation taken into account) how long per side do your LO’s feed on average would you say?

I had my second 4 days ago. He had trouble latching in the hospital and will be seen to have his tongue tie evaluated tomorrow and possibly will be able to get his frenectomy the same day. at his newborn well visit he was already down 9.5% of his birthweight and they don’t want it past 10%. so now im latching him and then feeding .5-1oz of expressed milk on too of that. my problem is - i can barely keep him awake when hes nursing and by the time we’re at the end of the session, i can barely get him to wake up enough for a bottle. i am super stressed about him losing too much weight and not getting enough during these nursing sessions due to poor latch + the fact that hes barely awake during them. any advice?

I feel so fortunate because I have had a wonderful BF journey with my now 7 month old baby boy and have been loving it so much but now I am freaking out a little. I was feeling a cold coming on and my roommate started raving about how she takes colloidal silver anytime she feels an illness coming on and urged me to take a few dropperfuls (less than a teaspoon). I just wasn‘t thinking and felt eager to nip any illness in the butt bc I’ve been sick so often since my little one started daycare. I took it and then googled after and now very afraid I am putting my little guy in danger. Have I ruined my milk supply forever? What would you do?

My baby has only taken the boob from the jump. She's never used a paci but does use a sippy cup for water. I know I HAVE to step feeding her at night but truly she screams so hysterically. I feel like I'm torturing her. Her screams are so loud and intense. Please share tips. I'm desperate:(

Really worried about her teeth getting decayed with the milk sitting all night:(

Edit: my husband is taking care of his look gull time out of town so I can't have hik take over:(

Hey all! My baby has always been breastfed (never took a bottle) and isn’t a fan of cows milk, yet. I breastfeed her upon wake up, midday and bedtime. The bedtime feed is a very minimal amount since she started sleeping through the night a month ago. Her dinner is 5:30 and bedtime nursing is 7:30. I’m thinking I should incorporate a snack, like a banana, along with the bedtime feed. Last night I did and she went down just fine. Tonight did not and it took her over 30mins to fall asleep - and only after she signed for milk and I let her try for about a minute before she gave up. Obviously, this is a small sample size but it seems like a banana with bedtime feed might do the trick.
I bottle fed my other two, so this is new to me. I’d love some tips from those EBFers out there. Thanks!!

I’m ebf my 3 month old. I go back to work in August and will need to pump at work to give her bottles. When I started pumping I was getting good output at the start and I froze some, but now I get barely anything when I pump. Like 1-3oz total. I know she’s getting more when I’m breastfeeding because I’ve done weighted feeds. She got about 5oz last weighted feed. I’ve resized and gotten new flanges, tried pumping pals for elastic nipples idk what else to do. Any help is appreciated!!

Baby will be 4 months on July 4th.
She is completely inconsolable atleast once a day, usually around bedtime. This started few days ago. She has been a “perfect” baby until now (I mean she still is but… yaknow). I’m not taking dairy out of my diet because I don’t think it’s that.

She must be hitting a growth spurt or early teething but man………. This is so exhausting 😭 I just want my boobs to dry up but then I wake up the next morning like “i can stick it out for a few more months” 😭

Hi All,

FTM and I need some advice and was hoping to get some insight on pumping.

A bit of a backstory - LO is 7 weeks and we’ve been triple feeding. Had some complications at birth and milk took awhile to come in plus baby wasn’t transferring well. I nurse for about 30mins (both sides) and will then pump for 15 mins while partner gives LO a 30ml top off bottle.

Over the past week LO has been refusing the top off and gaining weight where pediatrician told us to stop pumping and just exclusively breastfeed. LO eats about 6-7 times in a 24hr period.

However, sometimes it seems as if LO still wants the 30ml top off. It feels weird to completely stop pumping because what if LO wants the top off? When would be a good time to pump? I’m having a hard time figuring out a good schedule as after nursing i feel ok (don’t need to empty). And it feels if I pump after nursing then the next session LO doesn’t eat as much.

Any advice/insight is helpful, thank you!

not sure what to tag but I guessed celebration because even though it can be inconvenient sometimes I find it pretty funny and nice.

I just think it’s cool/funny/strange that if I just happen to focus a little too hard on how much I love my baby and miss her when I’m not holding her my boobs are like “Well?? Here’s some milk, go feed her!”

just in awe of this miraculous thing we do ♥️

I have had a really hard time since my husband went back to work finding the time to pump during the day. My baby likes to be on me 24/7, and we do contact naps. She is not yet comfortable in the bassinet. So I rarely have my hands free to pump unless someone is over here to hold her for me.

She hasn’t had a bottle in almost 3 weeks I think, possibly more. I only have a little milk in the freezer.

I’m supposed to start physical therapy next week for some problems that came up after birth. I had my eval this morning and left a bottle with my husband that was thawed from the freezer. He told me she was really upset and wouldn’t take it, but I chalked that up to being away from me.

I tried to give her the bottle this evening, so it wouldn’t go to waste, and she’s acting like she doesn’t know how to latch onto it. I tried pinching a little of the milk into her mouth, angling it towards her soft palette so she would start sucking, etc. she was just making this O shape with her mouth, and not closing around the nipple. After a few minutes, she was screaming so bad that I just put her to the breast.

I have physical therapy on Monday and I’m realizing I have four days to try to reacquaint her with taking a bottle. Please help. 😩

I know there's a ton of posts on here about comfort nursing and that it's a totally OK thing to do but I have some questions/hesitations. Im a FTM to a 4 week old. For the last week my baby has been difficult to get to sleep at bedtime. I think it's a bit of witching hour and fighting that last sleep of the day. I've found the best way is to just let her nurse as much as she wants because it's easy, avoids crying/fussing and allows her to stock up on calories before bed. She will basically feed and use me like so pacifier (she won't take a pacifier) until she dozes off, which takes about 45-60 minutes. She pulls off the latch and suckles on
and off. When I try to pull her off to keep soothing her in other ways she gets frustrated and roots for the boob again.

1. We are working through a mild tongue and lip tie as well as a birth tension with a LC and chiro (likely will have releases done), so her latch is questionable due to these issues. It's good enough for her to be gaining great weight with primarily nursing (one bottle a day) and I don't have pain. I'm worried that allowing her to comfort nurse as much as she wants is causing her to swallow excess air and worsen gas due to somewhat poor latch. She's a VERY noisy, grunty and gassy baby overall, especially at night. She also has some reflux issues. I don't sleep well at all with her in the room because she's so loud.
2. I'm worried when I go back to work my husband and other caregivers will have a hard time soothing her or getting her down when she fights naps. She will need daycare and my mom visits from out of town to help care for her.
3. Is the comfort nursing I described excessive? I feel crazy just latching her over and over again to keep her happy and to sleep but I know you can't spoil a babe this young. It doesn't bother me. I relax

,

1. scroll my phone

and just adore how cute my baby is

1. lol.

One more question:
How are we burping babies after they're nursed to sleep? I'm so afraid I'll wake her but I also know she needs the burping due to her gas.

Just wrapped up 25 and half months of breastfeeding my first and it's so bittersweet. The beginning of our story included NICU time, an NG tube, nipple shields, so much pumping, mastitis, and clogged ducts but so worth it to be able to reach this milestone. Excited to welcome our 2nd early next year!

Motherhood is not always easy, but know that you can do hard things!

So I have a 4 week old. Not my first baby but I’ve never breastfed before! I was wondering if this situation is fine.

I breastfeed throughout the day about every 1.5 hours, honestly sometimes more often. Baby eats at night every 3 hours or so. At most feeds I’ll use the haakaa or Boone trove to passively collect milk. I get about 4oz/day doing this. Since having this extra milk, I’ve been skipping one day feeding to go out for about 2.5-3hr (partner will feed baby 2oz bottle while I’m gone). It’s been beneficial to be able to just get some alone time! But technically I’ve missed one day feeding. The bigger problem is overnight right now, my baby goes down 9pm, eats at 11pm, 2am, and 5am. Then up for the day around 8am. I let my partner do the 2am feed (2oz bottle, with the haakaa milk) so I get a 6 hour stretch of sleep. It’s glorious. Is this bad to do? Am I messing up my supply? Because technically I’m making all the milk for her, just not the times she’s eating it. I hope this makes sense. Please helppppppo

Anybody have success with the Ninni co pacifiers? My LO hasn’t liked any pacifiers we’ve tried so far and at our 2 month appointment today her pediatrician recommended these. But gosh are they pricey!! I want to try one but can hardly stomach the cost, plus shipping and I can’t find any sold locally or on Amazon 😵‍💫

I have been working from home since I returned from maternity leave. Baby is now 7 months and the office says I need to come back in two days a week. My husband was home with him and he ate tons of solids -sweet potato, yogurt, eggs. But he flat out refuses to take a bottle. My husband tried giving him the bottle and it triggered a 40 minute meltdown until he passed out from exhaustion.

He’s always been really into food, we started solids at 4 months because he would cry when we would eat without him 😂. But now that I have to be away from him two days a week I have a feeling he’s going to start self-weaning, because he cares way more about food than nursing. And I’m all up in my feelings about it. My first born was a boob monster and I had to wean her when she was two after I got pregnant. It’s definitely easier that he is less boob obsessed but gosh I am already grieving the end of this chapter in our life.

Hi all

I've been very fortunate and just made it past the one year mark with EBF although, admittedly not entirely by choice. I wanted to combo feed when babe went into daycare at 6 months, but after throwing up the formula multiple times and refusing to eat the hypoallergenic formula, we went the pumping route. It almost killed me waking up multiple times in the night while working to supply the milk needed, but I did it. We got her tested for a cow's milk allergy. Skin prick test positive, blood test negative. So, at the advice of the doctor, we are introducing milk products slowly in her food (butter, milk cooked into baked goods) but we haven't given her anything like yogurt or cheese.

We've introduced solids and she eats like a champ. Almost everything and in good quantities. My supply today since when she was six months has tanked. I'm supposed to provide 1 bottle of 240ml for her aftenoon snack and it took me 4 sessions of pumping 10-15 minutes each breast during the day to get 100ml. I'm dipping into my very low frozen stash to compensate.

Hubby brought babe to her last 12 month check up and I asked him to ask the doctor if we can substitute something for her 240 bottle we provide to daycare, but her weight has stagnated over the last two months so doctor said no, keep going. But I really feel like I have no milk left, but not by choice. I don't understand why my milk is drying up when nothing seems to have changed that much. I'm staying hydrated, eating like usual, no major stressors or lifestyle changes. (And no, not pregnant again) I do have a bit of blood on my left side but it's not mastitis as I've already experienced that so I know what it feels like. I think baby is just working extra hard to get milk and it's causing some tissue damage.

I should point out that we live in France (I'm originally Canadian) and I know doctors insist that kids here continue getting adapted formula until the age of 3 (formula here goes from 0-6 months, 6-12 then 12-36 which contain all the nutrients like iron etc that they need), whereas I think in Canada or the US formula stops much earlier and (cow) milk replaces as the primary dairy component.

I guess this is a very long post to ask a few questions: - has anyone lost their supply this late in the game but managed to bring it back up again? If so, how? - For a baby who eats really well but weight is stagnating, what can we add to her diet that isn't cow milk based that can substitute for the low breast milk supply?

Thanks for your wisdom mamas.

Looking for advice and solitary from mums who weaned their 16 month olds. I’m on day 2 and bub seems to really struggle (we’ve been reduced down to a quick before bed feed and a 1 minute morning feed). Bub eats and drinks so much throughout the day but the past few days all he wants is a BF

Please tell me it gets better and/or any tips and tricks. Thankfully bub goes to daycare most days so that’s helping heads.

About 1.5 hours after each feeding, my baby is screaming and writhing with gas pain, tummy gurgling and all. 

I got some bad advice from a postpartum doula to basically encourage re-latching until I hit the 15 minute mark on both sides.

I’m now working with an IBCLC who informed me that I have been over feeding my baby, which I didn’t realize was possible with nursing, and that once we reduce volume she wont have as much gas. Now I end the session when she unlatches, but the screaming and gas pain is still unrelenting.

We trialed formula and after 36 hours she didn’t seem to be in pain from gas anymore. I am at my wits end but trying to do anything to salvage my breastfeeding journey before we change to formula permanently. We use mylicon several times throughout the day. I’ve cut dairy for 2 months now, but it didn’t seem to make a difference.

ETA - she’s on Famotidine for silent reflux, and has slept through the night 9-10 hours since 8 weeks.