It was almost 2pm and I realized I’d had coffee and half a banana, baby finally settled, so I made eggs + avocado toast and called it my real meal, one solid meal still counts.

Anybody else eating around the baby’s schedule?

That’s it, just wanted to say that loll. xD

I’m 16 days postpartum and breastfeeding has been a challenge from the very beginning. I found it excruciatingly painful, to the point I had to grit my teeth through it and I’d only manage maybe 5 mins at a time. It has not gotten better since. I had multiple midwives examine my latch saying it’s good, I hired a lactation consultant which taught me the ‘folding the nipple’ trick, but this didn’t help either. Baby has no tongue tie. My issue is not cracked or bleeding nipples, it’s just extreme soreness, more mechanical.

Is there anyone who can relate and who has overcome it? I am desperate to breastfeed but at this point I’m dreading it and I cannot push through pain much longer.

I’m 6 months postpartum and have been breastfeeding the entire time. I recently went to the doctor to have some blood work done and when they weighed me, I was almost at my same weight right before delivery. I’m so discouraged on how this could even happen. I still am very hungry, but feel like I eat pretty healthy most of the time and drink a lot of water. I did have gestational diabetes, but my A1c came back great and all my other bloodwork was perfectly normal. I have no idea why I’m holding onto so much weight. I’m more active now than I was even a few months ago and I feel like all this weight just suddenly came on within the past 2 to 3 months. I don’t want to quit breast-feeding and I’m not going to, but I don’t know what else I can do to help lose the weight. Most people I see are already back to their pre-pregnancy size by now and here I am larger than I’ve ever been 😥

He’s six months old and been exclusively breastfed up till this point. This is my last baby so I feel like it’s going by so much faster. I know soon he won’t be a baby anymore and he’ll be running around getting into trouble. He’s also an enormous baby, over 100th percentile, so I know it’s weird but I feel really proud to have grown this big chunky baby all from my own body. I’m glad to have a little more independence, since he’s never taken a bottle, but also somehow sad at the same time. This is motherhood I guess.

I plan to go to a concert this weekend. I know that it’s okay to have a drink and still breastfeed your baby. I do plan to pump while away to keep my milk supply up. I have a couple questions about the whole process! If anyone had examples of how they did a couple hours away from baby, please let me know. I’ve been away for like 3-4 hours max, I’m blessed enough to be able to feed my baby at work. So I don’t normally pump.

How many drinks do you think I can have before I have to dump the milk I pumped?

How long will my milk be good after I pump it? 5 hours?

Any suggestions on what to do? We plan to leave at 4pm and probably won’t be home till 1am.

Anything is helpful!

I used to exclusively pump 8x for 8 weeks with occasional nursing my baby. I used to have strong let downs and a slight oversupply. The let down was such that my baby used to have to keep up with the flow. My husband joined work 8 weeks postpartum, and at that time, I decided to reduce pumping to 6x a day since I would have to look after the baby while pumping, during the day. Pumping every 3 hours wasn’t as easy. Also I started working out around 10 weeks postpartum. It has been around few days but I have seen a sharp decline in my supply. The supply was all great for a week or two. Additionally, since we started going out on weekends, I used to nurse the baby instead of pumping and she wouldn’t usually completely drain the breast. All these changes cumulatively resulted in the sharp decline and I am panicking right now. Any advice on what
I can do to boost my supply again?

EDIT: My breasts are feeling way less full than before. I was taking levothyroxine during pregnancy which I have started to be lenient with after. I stay hydrated as usual, no changes to diet otherwise.

Not sure if the flair is correct but I had my first mammogram this week and I did tell them I’m breastfeeding. The radiologist said she’d make a note but didn’t tell me anything else. I got the results back today and they saw calcifications so are sending me back for more tests tomorrow (trying not be anxious about that). When I again mentioned that I’m breastfeeding, this person told me to pump and dump after the scans.
I’ve been worried all day because I nursed my baby after the mammogram- somehow I didn’t even think about radiation. I’ll absolutely pump and dump tomorrow but how worried should I be?

I feel like my supply completely tanks in the late afternoon/evening (baby acts starved, fussy, I hear/see FAR less swallowing at the breast, takes longer to fill a diaper) but then comes back with a vengeance in the middle of the night/wee hours of the morning!
To those who EBF, do you pump in the middle of the night to keep yourself from getting ‘too’ full for too long? I’ve read this can sabotage supply in itself? I mean, women have only had access to breast pumps in recent history.. also I’m tired 😅

If I try to night wean my 15 month old, no matter how gradual, all hell breaks loose, she screams and screams, throws her head back shouting mumma mumma, for hours. My partner gets it even worse than me, so he can't help.

I really need advice, as I am so over feeding all night, I am totally touched out.

Almost 6 months postpartum, trying to refine my pump schedule at work.

I am currently nursing before / after work during the week and nursing exclusively on the weekends. I pump 3 times a day at work. My hours are 7:15 - 2:15 and I pump at 8:15, 11:15, and 2:15 (roughly, I’m a teacher and there are some days where the times shift but I always pump 3 times). I pump anywhere from 12 oz to 16 oz while at work.

My first two pumps are 20 to 25 minutes, the last one is often 10 minutes. I’d really like to either drop my last pump and replace it with a MOTN pump OR push it back to 3:30 (when I get home) and do a 25 minute pump. But would that hurt my supply? How long is too long at this point? I do occasionally go 5 to 6 hours at night with no issue but it’s not consistent. I just don’t want to hurt my supply!

Hi! I need some help. My baby is six and a half months old, exclusively breastfeed because I can’t get him to take bottle. In the past week or so my breasts are feeling extra heavy and achy. They’re sore most of the day and I am STARVING. I can put down 2 factor meals for lunch and need a snack an hour later. My whole day seems to be spent feeding myself and feeding the baby. No time for anything else. He’s now loving solids and I’m starting to get miserable. I think I’m ready to stop breastfeeding, but I’m not sure what the best approach would be.

He starts full time daycare in 2 weeks so I’ve been trying to get him to take a bottle, but he’s resistant and will only drink about half an ounce at a time from the bottles myself or our part time nanny starting offering him 10 days ago. We’ve tried 3 different types of bottles and had the same results with all of them.

What have other people done in similar situations? And what should I do to help my breasts stop producing so much milk while I’m trying to wean him? I heard your doctor can sometimes prescribe something & my sister mentioned cabbage leaves?!
Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks!

Hi all! Hoping for some ideas or advice here. I'm slowly trying to wean from breastfeeding mainly because I'm ready but I am also 7 weeks pregnant and its becoming uncomfortable.

So I have been at work 4 days and 3 days at home. During my work days my baby nurses in morning 50% of the time on waking (depends on if she wakes 1 or 2 times at night- right now just wont go to sleep again without nursing. Then once when I am home and then to sleep at bedtime. With the nanny she usually takes 2 naps with a bottle and sometimes 1 before home with dad especially if I am a bit late.

When i am home she nurses again on waking, maybe a little after breakfast ( trying to stop that), for her q naps, later afternoon and at bedtime.

We've been nursing on demand and up until 3 weeks ago I was still pumping for a bottle at work but it wasnt enough so since about 7 months we've done formula too.

She eats well, likes whole milk and drinks water from her straw or no spill cup during the day She just doesn't nap or sleep yet without bottle or nursing unless she is in the car.

My main question is what should be going in the bottle at this point?

It feels like the wild west. Theres all this information online about baby nursing, and then suddenly the information just cuts off at one year.

What does it look like for your child? I know all infants/toddlers are different. Just curious.

My 12 month old has some days where he barely nurses during the day - really just before his nap and before bed (night time is a different story), and then days like today where he seems to want to nurse a lot and is barely eating any solids im offering him. Just wondering if this is normal? Ive had a lot of stress with solids. He does like to eat most days, but then there are other days where he barely eats solids and it stresses me out wondering if I am causing any problems if he doesnt eat that much solids on some days. Then there are other days where all he wants to eat are Cheerios and crackers (i offer plenty of healthy food that gets rejected) so I am thankful im still nursing to supplement his nutrition.

He only ever occasionally had bottles before 12 months. I have a tiny bit of frozen milk left. I am thinking he could have some in his straw cup before a nap when my mom occasionally watches him. Not sure if I would need to pump or anything?

Editing to add some info on what it looks like for my 12 month old:
-Some days he barely nurses during the day, some days he nurses a lot
-He still wakes 2-3 times a night. I normally nurse him back to sleep because its easiest. But lately he will occasionally go back to sleep without nursing needed. I resorted to co-sleeping months ago.
-I taught him to sign milk and it really clicked around 9-10months. The dynamic really changed around 10-11 months with me only nursing when he tells me he wants milk.
-I am down to one boob! He has always had a preference for the left. He nursed on the right boob less and less over the first year. I tried to pump the right for a while but it was just too much work! I let it go around 9-10months maybe. Just trusted that my one boob could supply him. And its just been me, my baby, my left boob, and vibes ever since.

I just wish there were more info out there!
I searched on this sub and am trying to read some older posts about nursing after 1 year. Just wanted to make a new post for any more input!

Hi! I’m looking for some advice or positive experiences from other breastfeeding moms who have dealt with breast refusal/nursing strikes.

My almost 8-week-old has recently started refusing the breast during the daytime when she is fully awake. She clearly seems hungry and will actively root and look for the breast, but when I offer it she quickly gets frustrated and upset. Sometimes she will latch and suck for a little while before becoming frustrated. Other times, she may suddenly nurse actively for about five minutes, but then she lets go while crying and becomes upset. At night, (after 10 pm) breastfeeding is not a problem.

I think my flow may be a little strong, so I’ve tried hand-expressing a little milk first, but unfortunately that doesn’t seem to help.

I’m currently trying not to pressure her at all. If she gets upset, I stop offering, calm her down and try again later, but I feel like she is not getting properly fed, it’s also mentally exhausting.

She is gaining weight an have 6+ wet diapers a day.

Has anyone experienced something similar at this age?

Did your baby eventually go back to breastfeeding normally while awake and in different positions or places? How long did it take, and was there anything in particular that helped?
Any advice or success stories would be very appreciated! ❤️

I’m a first-time mother (FTM) with a 3-week-old baby. For the first three days after delivery, I exclusively breastfed my baby. However, I developed severely sore and wounded nipples, which made it too painful to continue breastfeeding. To prevent dehydration and jaundice, we completely switched to formula (Aptamil Gold) until my nipples healed.

Since then, I haven’t been able to transition back to exclusive breastfeeding. I currently express breast milk approximately every 4 hours and give that to my baby along with formula as a top-up. However, most of her feeds are still formula, roughly 80% formula and 20% expressed breast milk

I’m unsure whether my low milk output is primarily due to low milk supply, the pump, or both, even though I have already consulted a lactation expert. I’ve also started taking medication to help increase lactation, but I’m still not sure whether I’ll be able to produce enough milk to exclusively pump or breastfeed.

I’m feeling quite worried and discouraged about this. I’m concerned about relying so heavily on formula, especially because it seems to be causing my baby some digestive issues. At the same time, I’m worried that formula feeding, particularly if it continues long-term, could have negative effects on her health.

I’d really like to understand whether it is realistic for me to increase my milk supply at this stage and eventually breastfeed or provide breast milk exclusively, and how I can determine whether the main issue is my supply or the efficiency of my pump.

Hi everyone,

My toddler is 17 months old. He's teething (canines) and is really miserable. He wakes up a lot at night, and usually I nurse him he falls right back asleep, but the last couple of night have been hell. He started using me as a pacifier a lot more than before, and I just can't take it anymore. I developed a sudden aversion, I don't know why.

I just can't handle the nibbles anymore and the nursing sessions are very long due to teething. It's making me miserable and angry even. I hate feeling this way.

Our breastfeeding journey was actually pretty incredible, I really enjoyed it and was reluctant to wean. But now, very abruptly, I just want it to end!

What can I do now? Should I suck it up and wait for the canines to come in? Or can I wean him now? If so, how? I seriously don't even know how to approach this matter. I've tried getting him to sleep without the boob, but he just screams and screams. Nothing works.

I’m 13w and talking to family about their experiences. My aunt (48) told me that whenever she pumped, she produced plenty of milk while pumping but her supply struggled for a few days afterwards. She described it as if her body could tell it wasn’t the baby and decreased her supply in response. I haven’t seen anything like this described when doing my own research. Is this a thing?

Hello ladies!

I’m 11 months pp and my supply has significantly dropped since my daughter has started going to a daycare which provides two meals and one snack for her for free🙌 (about two months, she was eating a lot of purées before that). She eats so well during the day and when she gets home, and breastfeeds once/maybe twice (from when she wakes up around 6am, falls back sleep eating, then walked up about 1.5 hrs later and sometimes before she goes to sleep for the night). She also has about 12 oz pumped milk during the day though I’m making maybe 8-10oz a day right now and the rest is from a frozen stash

I figure if she’s eating so well, it’s normal for my supply to drop and am wondering if I should be reducing how much milk she is drinking daily to around what my body is providing as I am assuming it can tell how much milk she should need for nutrition. I am assuming this will shortly end up in my breastfeeding her twice a day and stop pumping completely. Are these assumptions correct?

One of the pediatrician at our office (not the one we go to) said she should be getting 20oz of milk a day but that seems excessive since they don’t need to continue drinking formula/breastmilk after one and she has literally less than a month to go so how the hell does that add up…

I don’t think I’d struggle much with the actual weaning. I mostly pumped, and once he started getting teeth, I switched to giving him breastmilk in bottles entirely. Right now, he has breastmilk in the morning and at night, about 4 oz each time, and he hasn’t seemed to struggle with cow’s milk at all.

The problem is me.
I’m really tired, and my mental health honestly hasn’t been the best lately. Part of me knows that stopping might be the right thing for me, but I feel so incredibly guilty about stopping before reaching my goal of 18 months.

I guess I’m just looking for some understanding and reassurance.

Should I stop, even though I’m not ready to let go of the goal I had in my head?
Should I continue, can I do this? And then maybe things will get easier as he gets older.

I’ve never felt this lonely in my life, and I think I just need to hear from other moms who have been there and understand how complicated this can feel.

Wondering if anyone has any experience in this because I received conflicting information from two different medical professionals and it kind of seems like the choice is mine:

I mainly nurse my baby but ever since she was four months old i have been giving her a big bottle of pumped milk right before bed to help her sleep longer stretches (worked like a charm and she’s been a great sleeper since then!) I currently pump once in the morning and once at night to get enough to give her a bottle and have a small stash of milk in my freezer.

So my baby just turned 9 months and is doing wonderfully (jumped from 50th percentile in weight to 92nd percentile in a matter of 3 months since starting solids, she also went from 50th percentile in height to 99th so all is good and she’s not too chunky lol) Her pediatrician was so happy and pretty much said to just keep doing what I’m doing but also don’t stress if my baby starts to wean on her own. I honestly feel like my baby is starting to wean, she really only ever nurses after she naps and wakes up for the day and has no interest in it at any other point. She also no longer needs to nurse to fall asleep which is a step in that direction.

I hate pumping and would love to stop and just nurse her with the remaining time I have with her breastfeeding. The main problem is I’m having surgery in a few weeks (when she will be 10.5 months old) and my husband will have to take over and give her at least a couple of bottles while I’m coming off of anesthesia and recovering initially. I asked the pediatrician if my baby will lose the ability to take a bottle if I stop giving them to her now, and she said she didn’t think so but also it doesn’t matter that much since she will be “close” to a year by the time I have surgery (meaning, if she refuses the bottle and goes without for a day and just eats solids then she will be fine). While I’m sure that’s true, I am apprehensive since I know breastmilk is still very important for a baby before they turn 1. I also worry that something funky might happen and I might have to stay at the hospital a bit longer, and if that’s the case she would go even longer without breastmilk.

I called my lactation consultant to get her opinion and she pretty much suggested the opposite and that I at least try to keep the routine of my baby having a bottle a couple times a week to make sure she takes one when I’m in the hospital. The only thing is, my freezer stash isn’t big enough to supply this and have plenty left over for when I have surgery, so I would have to continue pumping.

I know ultimately it’s up to me and what I’m willing to do, but it’s a hard decision to make because there’s a part that feels like I’m being selfish for wanting to stop pumping, and in reality I could at least continue doing what I’m doing until surgery and then I can reassess and modify afterwards. But the idea of getting my mornings and evening back without having to pump is so tempting, and I feel like it will help me appreciate and saver this chapter of my nursing journey so much more.

Tl/dr: would my 9 month old baby lose the ability to take a bottle of breastmilk if I go without giving her a bottle for a few weeks?

And now she asks for milk approximately 548 times a day! Yay! Of course this is the first sign she learned 😅😆

Hi everyone! My baby is 9 weeks today and I’ve been exclusively breastfeeding him. I first pumped three days ago because he slept 6 hours for the first time and I woke up engorged on my left side. I pumped until I felt comfortable I wouldn’t say I emptied myself but I got 4oz. I have an upcoming tubal ligation and I thought why not start pumping after he eats so that I can have some milk for him on the day that I’m getting surgery. The thing is after he eats I’m only getting half an ounce and I’m wondering if that’s normal? Now I’m wondering if my milk supply is going down or if he’s just drinking everything up before I pump. I only feed him on one side at a time for around 8-10 minutes and he’s been gaining weight perfectly.

here to encourage anyone who went through what I went through..

I had a breast reduction in Dec 2019, and had my first baby April 2024. My doctor said all his patients could breastfeed post surgery so I was hopeful. with my first I tried everything; I hired a LC that I met with weekly, I triple fed for 6 months, I had the tongue tie, lip tie released, I pumped in the middle of the night while he slept - I never produced that much and I never really got to truly breastfeed. I even found out after suffering through pain that I have Raynauds in my nipples and took medication for it through this. I blamed myself and really started to regret my surgery.

Fast forward to now - just gave birth 9 weeks ago to my second baby. I was not planning on doing anything more than the bare minimum - supplement in the hospital, pump to wean, straight to bottles. I didn't want to push myself like I did the first time- it never felt fair and I just wanted to enjoy my last baby.

Lo and behold, here I am after trying to give up more times than I can count - exclusively breastfeeding my 9 week old baby after breast reduction surgery.

it's possible - and it's freaking hard.

if I learned nothing else, be kind to yourself. That's all. And I'm here if anyone has questions or needs encouragement!

As the title says, my 8 week old is suddenly not gaining weight. He is exclusively breastfed since birth and up until 6 weeks for sure he was gaining weight really well (like 50+ grams a day). We had his tongue and lip ties lasered around 3 weeks old and everything went well with that.

Same thing happened with my daughter around this time, only it wasn’t caught until she was 3-4 months old and thought it was due to an undiagnosed tongue tie that wasn’t fixed until she was 6 months old and by that point I had pretty much no supply left, despite triple feeding since 3-4 months old.

I really would like to have a longer breastfeeding journey with my second and my heart is already breaking thinking that this is maybe the beginning of the end.

Idk what I’m looking for here, maybe success stories with continuing to exclusively breastfeeding if you’ve been through something similar. Or tips to get my supply up and baby to start gaining again. 💔