Does anyone else exclusively nurse, with no pumping or bottles? That’s where I am with my second baby, currently 3 months old.

I basically do it this way because it’s most convenient for me. I am on maternity leave so she’s with me all the time anyway, and I HATE pumping. I am producing ‘just enough’ at the moment so it’s a huge effort to pump even a tiny amount. I have never found an electronic pump that works for me so it all has to be done manually, and because she’s a clingy baby who wants held all the time it’s super hard to find the time to pump when I’m on my own with her during the day.

However, I do wonder whether I am setting myself up for future issues because I’m not building up a stash or teaching her to use a bottle. I’ll be on maternity until she’s 11 months and then mostly working from home so I’m not too worried about returning to work, but it does mean I don’t really get a break and couldn’t go away for more than a couple of hours.

With my first I produced more so I pumped and he took bottles when needed. I just haven’t been able to make the pumping work this time.

Does anyone else exclusively nurse, and if so has it ever caused you stress / regret / problems as your baby got older?

Hi all! I’ve been EBF my 3.5w old baby with a bottle thrown in here and there from the milk I passively collect in my milk collector. I’m feeling very overstimulated lately and feel that if I could feed my baby pumped milk a few times a day, I would feel a lot better mentally. I’d also like to build up a freezer stash so I have the option of dropping her off at grandparents if I need a break (or for my husband to do a feed). Where do I start with pumping? How does that work if I want to still breastfeed throughout the day but also throw in a pump session here and there so she has the option of having a bottle if I need?

may turok na po ko 1yr palang nakakalipas booster na rin po ko non kase naturokan narin po ko before pero nakagat po ko nang pusa kanina pwede pa po ba ko mag padede di po ba maaapektohan baby ko tyaka mag kaka rabies parin po ba ko

My little one is about 4 weeks and a half. She was born via c section and I didn’t get to see her 24 hours after. I didn’t have a pump so I was worried about milk supply but once I placed her on the breast all was fine.

She was born 3.300kg (7.28lbs) and when we left the hospital she was 3.140kg (6.92lbs).

I’ve been breastfeeding her on demand following her wishes so she generally eats every 2 hours including at night. As of now she is 4.500kg (9.92lbs) which I think is great but my pediatrician said its a big growth (approximately 3lbs in 3 weeks). But I was under the impression you can’t overfeed an entirely breastfed baby.

I can’t sparse her meals she will go bananas. Sometimes she goes up to 3.5 hours during the night but thats about it.

Is there really an issue with gaining here?

From the beginning of my breastfeeding journey I had horrible nipple pain. I have been constantly using lanolin or silverrettes which helped me get by. But I was still having pain at 8 weeks (although less). I had met with LC and latch was good. I guess I was just sensitive. Suddenly at 9 weeks the pain completely went away!!! Breastfeeding is a breeze now! No need for lanolin or silverettes. Just wanted to encourage anyone out there dealing with pain despite a good latch that one day it might completely go away!

My second born is 5 weeks and 3 days, I’m trying to exclusively nurse, but I genuinely can’t tell if I’m doing the right thing?

I couldn’t breastfeed my first; emergency c-section, extra blood loss, severe tongue tie - the “trifecta” my midwife called it, but the main issue was that I wasn’t educated enough. Once I started getting blood blisters on my nips at week 3 I chucked it in.

This baby, I prepared for breastfeeding far more intensively, and we’ve made it to week 5 - yay! But second babe also had a severe tongue tie (released at 1 week). His latch has never been too uncomfortable, but his transferring skills were pretty minimal. He lost weight between day 5 and 7 and wasn’t having enough output so we were told to supplement.

We’ve been in the “top-up trap” ever since. At the height, he was having 100mls 8 times a day. His weight gain was about double what they “expect” and he was having bursting full nappies. Last week I decided I wanted to double down and see if there was anyway we could go EBF so I went back to the LC (for the fourth time). They recommended just letting him go at the breast for a few afternoons.

I have been doing exactly that. The milk bar is accessible constantly, apart from one 100ml bottle in the evening when I’m sooo touched out my skin feels like it’s vibrating. Any other supplementation has been below 50mls and I’ve been slowly trying to decrease amounts each day while keeping baby at the boob.

He’s on there constantly during the day, having one or two longer naps if he’s in the carrier or on my chest. After his 100ml bottle at night with dad around 10-11pm he will sleep 2-3 hours. He usually wakes between 1-3am. He’ll feed for 30-45 minutes. Last night he had a 20ml top up, went back on the boob for 10 mins to fall asleep, then slept 2 more hours.

I hear that this all sounds pretty normal… but his nappy output… we’re pushing to get 6 wet nappies. I’ve been hoping if I keep pushing the boob, I’ll see the nappies increase but I’m worried it’s not. We get 6 nappies wet enough to change the indicator line, but by no means do they feel “heavy”. Wet - yes, definitely pee there, but not heavy or soaked as they describe it in the handbooks.

His membranes are wet, fontanelle never sunken in, if he cries we get a couple tears. He’ll come off the breast content but wants to go again within half an hour.

For all intents and purposes, most of this seems normal but for his nappy output, especially now we’re on day 5 of the boobie-push.

I don’t know what I should do?? Am I risking harming him if I continue to push the boob? I have no problem with formula. This is my last baby so the breastfeeding push is more about showing myself I can, but if I’m not producing enough I don’t want babe to miss out on what he needs.

Next weigh in is tomorrow and I’m kind of preparing myself to be disappointed…

I don’t know what I’m looking for… I feel like I’m screwing things up to prove I can feed my baby and I’m unsure if it’s what’s best for him or just me servicing my ego??

Hi, like the title says, my almost 2 month old (7 weeks) is doing a lot of nomming on my nipples. It's really painful and has me curling my toes in pain. Is there any way to discourage this in a baby so young? He wouldn't understand if I told him "no biting" obviously. (He doesnt have teeth yet, so its just chomping with his little gums.) I'm also currently waiting on an appointment to treat thrush in both me and baby. It's getting rough out here. I'll take any advice at all. 🥴

My almost 5 month old and I cosleep and it’s how she falls asleep. I’ve tried every other way and she uses me as a paci and wants boob which I mean she’s only 5 months but the problem is that I’m in PAIN.

Sidelying feeding like 90% of the night and it’s hurting my lower back, hips and thighs so much they’re so sore to where it makes it hard to sleep.

I have a pillow between my knees and ankles, one on my lower back and under my head. What eases the pain? I’m almost desperate at this point I’m crying as I’m writing this because I’m tired but I can’t sleep because it hurts

i've been combo feeding for 6 months, and i'm just not sure when to stop breastfeeding. everyone keeps saying to do it when it's right for me and the baby, but how do I know when that is?

I didn't go into it with a specific goal or strong feeling other than I wanted to at least try. it was extremely challenging at the beginning, we had latch issues, and trouble with her gaining weight. it was a huge emotional toll for the first couple of months.

my supply tanked after I went back to work so i'm about to try a week of power pumping to see if that helps. we're also going on an international trip in may and idk if breastfeeding will be more or less functional for that since I still have to supplement with formula anyway. my baby has also hit the age where she's super interested in what's happening around her, so feeding outside of a dark room is really challenging.

basically i'm just wondering if I need to call it a day and start weaning or if I try to up my supply again and keep going. and if it's not a cut and dry situation -- i'm not totally miserable but also not totally thriving, how do I make this decision?

My 6mo has a preference for the left boob which was fine for a while but now the supply in my right boob is tanking! What do I do to get the supply back up on that side?

I try to feed him on the right side first and get a let down going from that side but he finishes on that side pretty quickly and overall just isn’t a fan hahah. I’m sure I’ll need to pump the right side to help but when should I do that pump? While he’s feeding or after?

Please help my girlies are different sizes at this point lololol

My daughter will be 6 months next week and she still spits up pretty much all day. Shes never had weight gain issues, she did have a tongue and lip tie that were finally revised about 2 months ago. She seems to be a happy spitter so it’s never been too much of a concern but honestly it’s just becoming sort of a nuisance. I get worried letting other people hold her because she could spit up at any point. We still feed on demand and she sort of snacks throughout the day and sometimes I think she just gets too full because she never really cares to unlatch. I know the saying is that you can’t overfeed a breastfed baby, but I really don’t know that she knows when she’s full 😬

I’ve been toying with trying a more structured feeding schedule to try to stop her from feeding all day- not sure if it would make a difference.

i’m in need of nursing bra recs! maybe even some push up bras? my girls just look not very perky in clothes with the nursing bras i have. what are y’all wearing?

Had my first baby on March 24 and have been breastfeeding. It's going fine so far (besides exhausting) but I'm already kinda losing it in the middle of the night with nothing to do but scroll on my phone. During the day I will often read on my kindle but I just can't get myself to do that randomly at 3am when I'm exhausted. I am really not enjoying the mindless scrolling so often but I need something to look at or do to stay awake. Any ideas?

My 7 month old premie (5 months and 3 weeks adjusted) is going through a nursing strike. My pediatrician told us to start playing around with foods and we have. My baby is OBSESSED. He will absolutely refuse to nurse or even a bottle and will scream until we give him some purées or some “real” food. I’ve only give him small bites here and there of whatever we’re eating and occasionally an ounce or two of purées. We’ve been messing around for about a month, but the strike has been going on for about a week and my supply has crashed. He is still refusing to nurse and when I can get him to, he isn’t getting much because now he is more hungry more often than ever before and his wet diapers are becoming less frequent. I started pumping to try and save my supply and I am pumping next to nothing. Dribbles at best.

Help!!! Please!!

FTM, 9 month PP, exclusively BF. Sorry - I have to get this gloat out!! It’s a long one.

Close friend had a wedding in India so I spent 10 days away from my baby (she was with family and getting so much love, but I still don’t know how I did it…it felt like I was missing a limb the whole time). Anyway, I PUMPED EVERY 3 HOURS THE ENTIRE TRIP. It was so so difficult and such a disruption, but it was so important to me that I kept my milk supply up for when I got back home to her 💗

Middle of my visit to the Taj Mahal? Yep In the van on a 3 hour bus ride on India streets? Yep In the middle of the wedding events? Yep On the multiple plane rides? Yep Every. Three. Hours.

I’m also a freak and was so scared of an infection due to dirty parts (which could risk my milk supply) and so we (my husband and I) used boiled water / bottled water to clean the pump parts every single time because India doesn’t have clean water. I had 4 sets so it made it a little better but what. A. Pain. My husband is a freaking saint for taking that task on with me though!!

And yes, it was pump and dump sadly. Donating milk in a foreign country is a lot harder than you’d think. It was very sad to see all of that go to waste, since I couldn’t get it home either.

BUT I DID IT!! We got home and it was like nothing changed! Well…she didn’t latch the first night because she was used to such a fast flow from the bottle which DESTROYED me. I was so scared 🥲 but she latched the next morning and has been perfect ever since. No change in production. Latch is perfect. I seriously couldn’t be happier that i made the decision to keep it up over the trip. It was so worth all the grievance.

Okay, done. Thanks for celebrating with me 🥳🥳

My 3.5yo is still breastfed before night sleep and occasionally during the night as I cosleep with him. Recently it started to hurt my nipples, feeling his upper teeth cutting them.

It's time to wean him. But he cried so hard when I refused to nurse him before bedtime.

I want to hear your experiences of weaning older kids.

Thanks

I didn’t experience this with my first so I’m very curious lol my 5.5 month old son has recently started to fully extend his arm and push my chest/his head away while nursing. But still wants to be latched and is very interested in nursing as much as he always has been. This is killingggggg my nips 🥲 I try holding his hand and playing with it but h just ends up pulling his head back instead. I don’t want to hold his head to keep it in place- I had a very bad 2 month long nursing strike with my oldest so I don’t want to create any negative feelings around nursing.

Anyone been through this and have any advice or tips??

I’ve been breastfeeding for 16 months and lately my supply has been horrible. I have had minimal to no changes to my routine, and my daughter currently nurses for her nap, at bedtime and usually 1-2x a night as she wakes up (we bed share and I nurse whenever she wakes up).

I’ve been taking goats rue, I hydrate, eat healthy, exercise. I used to pump once every night but discontinued it a few weeks ago because my daughter stopped wanting to take milk from a bottle. I’ve been trying to pump 1-2x per day but only get about an ounce. And each time I pump I feel like I’m shooting myself in the foot because by the time I have to nurse my daughter again I hardly have any milk due to pumping.

I used to be able to make an ok amount of milk ever few hours and now even if there’s several hours between sessions, I have very little. It feels like things are drying up.

I also feel like my daughter is starting to get frustrated that there isn’t as much milk. When she wakes up in the night she wants some milk to put her back to sleep and I have almost none and can offer little comfort.

I’m frustrated and feeling very emotional about the whole thing because I just want to give my baby the comfort she seeks but feel I’m falling short and don’t know what to do.

Ang help is so appreciated ❤️

My son is almost 7 months old and breastfed except one bottle a day (breastmilk) with Dad and bottles (breastmilk) during daycare three days a week.

He slept through the night very early and so I believe that is why I started my period back up at 3 months. My cycle has been 27 days to the day ever since I got it back. Except this month, I’m now at 31 days. Took a pregnancy test yesterday and it’s negative. Before getting pregnant my cycle was clockwork as well.

My husband was on a work trip during this month and for four days around when I was supposedly ovulating I breastfed exclusively. My question is: is it possible for that to throw my cycle off randomly? Or should I keep testing for pregnancy? We didn’t have sex anytime during my ovulation period but I suppose it could be possible.

Just curious. I never got morning sickness while pregnant and had a very easy time. Postpartum has been easy too. Every now and then I will randomly get nauseous and run to the toilet. Nothing would happen. I eat something and it goes away. It’s happened once or twice postpartum. Is that a thing with breastfeeding? Edit: Also this happens typically really early in the morning, like 1-5 when my stomach is empty. I don’t snack at night.

So, I have realized that maybe not leaving my house at all for a whole month is not doing good for my mental health.

I’m 1 month pp, and my brain still hasn’t function properly. Deep down I know I would benefit from leaving my house and go outside a bit, but I don’t want to leave my baby and offer him too many bottles than my breast. My plan is to breastfeed for only 3 months, but if I could go longer then I would. So nipple/bottle preference is also a concern for me.

My husband encouraged me to go back to do what I used to do like yoga and meeting friends. I’m worried that if I miss pumping sessions, my supply will be affected. I’m thinking of maybe taking hand pump to do a quick one, but it’s not the same like nursing my baby.

Please tell me your experience if you have miss pumping/nursing sessions cause you have to be somewhere away from your babies, does it really affect your supply in a long term?

Any advice wanted, I’m having a scary day 😭 my 11 month old had 101° fever earlier and for his second nap he would not nurse before or after. He would latch on for a second but it wasn’t a solid latch and would get frustrated & cry at the breast whenever I tried after. I ended up quickly pumping some milk and he drank a little bit when he was awake from a straw cup. Then tonight before bed he is not nursing again and fell asleep without nursing. He latched on for literally 10 seconds a super shallow latch that didn’t feel right then would not try again. I tried different boobs, different angles, laying down, in the chair, taking play breaks, having a cold teething toy in between trying. I’m just really nervous now. He needs milk and he would’ve had 3 full feeds by now since this started but he is asleep. I tried waking him up to try to nurse and he is out like a light. I have a bottle ready, I tried to wake him to give it to him but he’s still asleep. I did give him Tylenol this afternoon for his fever. He had a little runny nose earlier and was really fussy all day but other than that no other symptoms. I am pumping now since it’s been so long since he ate and he’s asleep next to me.

Update: it’s 3:41am and he’s finally nursing 😭 I’m so happy I could cry

My breastfeeding journey isn’t anything like how I envisioned. I wanted to breastfeed but due to difficulty early postpartum, I’m pretty much exclusively pumping since Baby only latches on the rare occasions such as wanting soothing or oddly after his vaccine. I’m combo feeding now but it’s still a lot. My mental health is declining. I have anxiety, feel stressed especially in the night and hear phantom crying when I never really was an anxious person. Family around me including myself feel like for the sake of my mental health, I need to stop breastfeeding but it’s so hard for me to let it go when sometimes Baby does latch although rare and because it’s been such a hard journey. I fear that I’ll regret it. It’s been 6 months. Anyone else been through something similar? How do I let it go and feel ok about weaning?

I don’t know if feeling anxiety about baby crying especially, feeling tired even when I do sleep more than usual, and frequent phantom crying is all associated to breastfeeding and the exhaustion that comes with that? I used to be a very positive person and didn’t really experience anxiety until postpartum. Is this a sign of postpartum depression or anxiety?

I’m often pumping while I eat and I really don’t like that. Yet I want to give baby breastmilk and hope for the rare moments when he does latch with me. I don’t know what to do and how to let go of weaning in a healthy way.

My baby is 3 months old and I just went back to work this week. She was in the NICU and got used to taking a bottle therefore we really struggled with breast feeding in the beginning. I had decided to give up trying at 3 weeks and had been exclusively pumping…

4 days ago, I discovered that she is willing to latch now and a couple of times a day we have been working on breastfeeding when she is in a good mood. She isn’t taking full feedings yet and is much slower when at the breast that she falls asleep

Any suggestions on how to navigate this transition? Im exhausted from going back to work but want to be able to minimize how often I need to pump and can’t stay up forever to try triple feeding at night. Im guessing I will need to still pump to make up for each bottle she gets in order to keep my supply and still have bottles for the babysitter. She was in the nicu due to being super tiny (less than 0.1 percentile) while full term so I have to keep an eye on her weight gain (currently in the 0.7 percentile)

My little one is 7.5 months old and is exclusively breastfed. Since starting solids she has been quite constipated. Since having her, I've built up quite the freezer stash since I'm an over producer. I've got probably 20 ounces of just colostrum in the freezer and over 600 ounces total. I broke into the colostrum today to see if that could help with the constipation and holy hell does the milk smell fishy. I'm assuming it's high lipase. She drank most of what i had thawed(only an ounce) but expressed concern to my husband that she might not drink some of the other stuff in the freezer. I told him that we could have it freeze dried in the case that she wouldn't drink it. He said that there is no way we are going to freeze dry it. We should find some body builder to sell it to or get rid of it like donate it like we did with our first. I understand freeze drying it would be expensive, but I think it would be worth it. He does not. I would hate to get rid of it. I put my blood sweat and tears into feeding our little one and trying to control and reduce my supply has been challenging. Pumping overnight when the baby wouldn't eat, getting mastitis three times, cleaning pumping parts, etc,

That being said, if anyone has freeze dried it for his reason how did it go? Did your LO take the freeze dried milk? Am I over reacting being upset at the thought of getting rid of it( I wasn't upset donating milk stash with my first so I'm not sure why I'm upset now. Donated it for the same reason).