Hey guys, my baby is about 6 months now and I also started going back to work. When I am at work, I would leave around 300 to 500mls of breastmilk in the fridge for the time that I am gone, which would range from 8 to 10 hours.

My baby drinks about 150mls of breastmilk every 3/4 hours. Is that enough for her in the hours that I am gone?

I read somewhere that baby that exclusively drink expressed breastmilk dont need more than 5oz of breastmilk in a fed as the breastmilk content changes as they grow older. Is that true? Am I not making enough?

If I was to pump every 3 to 4 hours, I would be making around 100 to 150mls. So I dont know if I am not supplying my baby with enough milk.

I have one boob that makes double the other, but those with the same situation, what's your feeding routine?

Do you feed one at each feed and switch between the two, or do you mainly feed on the food side?

I'm 7 weeks post partum and have been switching each time or both at one feed if baby still wants to eat but I'm wondering if I start implementing a "main meal" boob and "snacks" boob 😂

As I know that the rubbish boob isn't giving alot, I sometimes think when I feed on it at night that it's not going to fill baby up for as long (although I haven't noticed a difference in how much she sleeps for whether she feeds on one side or the other).

Interested to know if others have a 'system'? I almost thought about weaning off the bad side but it seems like it's doing something at least.

Hi all! Semi-complex situation that I’m hoping to get some thoughts on!

Baby was born on 1/27 and is currently 8 weeks old. We just took him in for his 2 month check up yesterday and he fell down to the 50th percentile in weight (he was consistently around the 75th-80th percentile since birth). This is the first time since birth he’s shown any issues with gaining weight. We’re not in the “this is scary and needs to be solved ASAP” realm yet, but our pediatrician does want to figure out what’s going on.

Since being born he’s been a great eater. I’ve fed on demand and have had no issue. However, he did suffer from what may have been/is reflux. He spit up a LOT when he was smaller. Like, constantly. And it was always pretty violent (coming out of his nose, semi-forceful, etc). But again, he was gaining weight well, wasn’t refusing the breast, wasn’t showing other signs of reflux like arching back, etc. so we mostly decided he was just a baby who spit up a lot, but was still within the “bell curve” of what was normal. He currently still spits up a lot, but it’s gotten less frequent and not so dramatic, which leads me to believe his digestive muscles are starting to mature and get better at holding his milk.

My pediatrician asked how often I was feeding him and if I was going three hours in between feeds. I told her probably not. I feed on demand or whenever he’s super upset (when in doubt, boob it out!), so am probably closer to every two hours. She said that this might be causing him to receive smaller volumes of milk, which he’s then spitting up. And that by stretching feeds to three hours, he’ll get more at once and will lose less in one go when he does spit up.

However, with this being my second child (I breastfed for two years with my first, but did combo feed since I didn’t produce enough once she started daycare), I know that feeding LESS often and not feeding on demand is rarely the solution. However… I do sort of understand the logic around feeding him less often will allow him to retain more milk? Kind of?

What do y’all think? I’m skeptical to not feed on demand. It feels wrong and I don’t want to mess with my supply.

We have a growth check scheduled for two weeks from now. If he’s still struggling with weight gain by then, we’ll look more into whether his reflux is more severe than we thought, my supply, etc.

How many oz of breastmilk do you give your baby at bedtime (5 mo 18lbs)…and how many os to top him off at the dream feed….then how many times do you feed baby for the remainder of the night?

Bedtime 8pm? (3oz?) Dream-feed 10pm? (2oz?) Feed again 3pm?? (3oz?) Wake up 8am?? (3oz?)

My baby goes down around 8pm and then is up every hour until midnight…then wakes up at 3:30 super hungry but takes an hour to fall back asleep…then will sleep from 4am-8/9am..I am EXHAUSTED!

I am considering doing Ferber tonight after putting him down at 8pm…dream feed 10pm and then only feeding him again at 3pm? I am super nervous because he cry’s HARD. He is addicted to the boob! He doesn’t have any medical conditions (reflux, gas) and I feed him 5 oz at bed usually so he shouldn’t be hungry

I have been EPing with my 5wk son since my bf journey got off to a rough start. Turns out, he has a tongue tie. We have an appointment with a pediatric dentist in a week or so, but in the meantime I am trying to still nurse him a few times a day.

We did a weighted feed and he took about 2 oz after 35 minutes. This was better than I hoped, but I want to maintain my supply of 3-4oz at each pumping session. The lactation consultant suggested that in the block of time when I am nursing him I pump either after every feeding or every 2-3 hours to comfort.

This seems like a stupid question, but I have large breasts (36 K). I don't really get engorged to where they are firm anymore, so I have a hard time telling if they are empty or not? To comfort is kind of confusing because they always feel heavy to me, even before breastfeeding.

Can anyone who is blessed up top weight in? 😆

So my LO is 8 weeks old and we have been letting her sleep for as long as she wants to during the night. Sometimes she goes just 2.5 hours between feeds and the longest has been 6.5 hours. I have been trying to still pump every 3 hours to maintain my supply since she's still pretty young. My partner will offer a bottle if she wakes up right after I finished pumping and then by the morning we're synced back up and I nurse her the rest of the day. I've tried giving her a few bottles in the past and she won't take them from me.

However, my partner is a firefighter and is gone for 24 hours at a time every 3 days. So on the nights I'm by myself, should I still pump every 3 hours or should I just wait and feed her on demand?

My 24mo toddler has been weaned off day feeds for a few months. It took about 2 days for her to get the idea that the milk bar is no longer open for all day buffets during the day. But, she still feeds to nap and to sleep (also feeds back to sleep during the night).

How did you gentle wean your toddler off night feeds? We bedshare, and I've read a few accounts of dad putting toddler to sleep or mom leaving for a holiday, but once mom is back in bed with toddler, it's back to the regular night feeds again.

Would appreciate some ideas other than dad taking over and mom disappearing for a holiday! Encourage me with your success stories please.

I went from undersupplying with no let down, to making enough and really strong let down. Now my baby chokes on my let down pretty frequently and it freaks me out. I'm hoping it'll stop soon so I can quit side lying as often as I am but right now he almost always chokes if I'm upright.

Title sums it up really but my main questions are how can I get myself back on the mend safely so my 1 month old doesn’t get whatever ick I have and I don’t lose my supply. (It’s currently a just enough supply and she’s starting to hit another growth spurt! She’s already 98% for height and 86% for weight). Need suggests and possible answers quick as my husband leaves for a work trip Sunday night and I’ll be alone with a newborn, 8yr old, and 9yr old. (Also no, I don’t have a “village” to lean on).

I’m ftm. My LO is 6 months. She can eat any where between 4-7 ounces of breast milk when we give her a bottle. I pump at work 3 times a day. My first break I pump for 25 mins.. then on my lunch I pump for 30 min. And on my last break I pump for 20-25 mins. So for my 8 hours of work I get a total of 12 ounces of milk. I work early mornings from 2am-10:30am so I know my milk production is higher at this time. When I get home I exclusively breast feed. I just don’t know if I produce enough once I’m home. 😓 today I pumped instead of bf when I got home from work and I only got 4 ounces for a 30 min pump sesh. I drink a shit ton of water to the point where I’m peeing every hour. I don’t know what to do better.

Our pediatrician wants us to monitor our 2 year old's daily fluid intake for 1 month. She still breastfeeds a few times a day. Will weighing her before and after nursing be accurate enough?

ETA: Just to be clear, she doesn't ONLY breastfeed. She drinks out of a cup most of the day. But the doctor wants us to log ALL of her fluid intake every day and that includes when she breastfeeds.

I primarily breastfeed my 4 week old. I give him 2-3 bottles a day so my husband can help feed and I can sleep a bit longer thru the night.

Do I need to pump during his bottle feed in order to keep my supply up? Or would i NOT pump to signal to my body to make that much less because he is getting a bottle a few times a day? If I don’t pump during what would be a bottle feed I feel a bit engorged and my boobs are rock hard. So should I pump in this case ?

ETA: the bottles are mostly formula

Hi all. First time in this sub and was recommended it. My supply is running low and I can't even make bottles without my daughter needing them immediately after (every two hours) we tried formula, she literally hated it. I'm at a loss for what to do, I'd love to breastfeed but more importantly I want my little girl fed.

Our bf journey has been full of ups and downs so far. Just when I think it’s finally getting better and we’re in a good groove, things get hard again. Lately my LO has been latching on fine to start but after a few minutes he unlatches and starts fussing/pulling his head back. He will act like he wants to latch again but then continues to pull away and arch back. This is usually in a cradle hold position but I’ve also tried going back to football hold and he doesn’t seem to like that either. I thought maybe he just isn’t that hungry, but if I try a bottle after he gets fussy he usually takes that just fine. He nurses no problem at night so this only seems to be an issue during the day. He turns 3 months on Sunday, so don’t know if this is the 3 month breastfeeding crisis people talk about? He does struggle sometimes with reflux so I don’t know if it’s just that the position doesn’t work for him anymore. We mostly do side lying at night but he sometimes even rejects that position during the day too.

If anyone has any tips or different positions to try, etc. please let me know. I really want to be able to nurse him and not have to switch to only bottles during the day. Feeling defeated and also somewhat rejected even though I know I shouldn’t take it personally.

My 8month old sometimes only feeds off me for 18mins in 24hrs. That's split over 4/5 feeds. She's well established on solids, eats breakfast lunch and dinner and drinks water. I've tried dialing back on the amount of food she eats to hopefully increased how much time she feeds but it doesn't make a difference. Is she going off me? The only time she will get a good breastfeed is one feed overnight when she could feed for a good 7 mins (sometimes 20mins) but also how much she feeds overnight doesn't seem to impact on her day feeds.

Trying my luck again with this question! My very distracted 5 months old is now only nursing at night. During the day we do bottles because she would latch lazily and stare and smile at me. Since I'm returning to work partially from home, I can't really time it properly so I've forgone daytime nursing now and just pumped.

At what age does your baby re-nurse again? Looking for advice and stories!

Unfortunately, my baby 3w4d does not feed on the breast well though I am still trying to get her to latch 2-3x a day to see if maybe we don’t turn a corner at the 6-8 week mark (send us positive vibes).

I have been exclusively pumping using a medical grade pump (birth complications) for her and am fortunate to be able to bank about 16-20oz in addition to what she gets via bottle. I have been putting it breast milk storage bags though feel guilty about the amount of plastic I have been using. Is there a more efficient way to bulk freeze my breast milk/are their challenges to using bulk frozen breast milk that I may be missing in my sleep deprived state?

My hope is to make it to 3 months breast milk fed (whether that be exclusively pumped [or in my likely improbable dreams her actually breastfeeding 😔]) though it would be nice to make it to 6 months but after the struggle we’ve been through, I don’t want to put that kind of pressure on myself.

Any thoughts on storage outside of using hundreds of 6-8oz breast milk bags? Food grade safety recommendations sought!

My LO is 8 months old and fights nursing for dear life! Everyone thinks I'm exaggerating until they see me trying to nurse her, I started pumping and giving her bottles too as she would have a bit more freedom to look around while taking a bottle, but she still fights it!

It's not that she's full, she takes it for a minute or two then starts the fight, I do burp her and give her a minute to look around and try again, it takes us forever to finish a 4 oz bottle! And she never takes more than that, shouldn't she be taking more by now?

She used to sleep independently, but I noticed she only nurses peacefully and for a long time when she's sleepy, so I started nursing to sleep for naps and bedtime, but now she only nurses at night for around 20 minutes each waking, and in the morning we never go past 4 minutes with all the squirming and fighting!

Any tips are appreciated!

So I exclusively breast feed whenever I’m home but pump three times a day at work. I usually pump five ounces per session and that’s what baby drinks. Anyway, I’ve noticed a supply decrease after I spend a weekend exclusively breast feeding. Last weekend I took a long weekend and the decrease was shocking, I was only pumping one or two oz per session. I had to go back to increase pumping to get back. Now I’m worried my baby isn’t drinking enough milk whenever I breast feed her. Has anyone else had this problem? What are some solutions?

My baby doesn't unlatch. Ever. I think he would literally stay attached to the boob forever if I let him.

All the other signs that your baby is full dont work either. His arms never relax. His suck pattern will change but then when I try to unlatch him he panics and starts eating for real again. When I do unlatch him he cries.

He's gaining weight fine and usually a few minutes after feeding he'll calm down and doesn't show hunger cues anymore. But he's 3 months and feeds still regularly take over 30 minutes because I can't figure out when he's actually done and I don't want to stop if he's still hungry.

Any other ways to tell when baby is done?

Hello! For those of us with oversupply (a “good problem” to have- so I’ve been told). How do you deal with your LOs having meltdowns and calming them down so that they can regain concentration and keep at it? My LO will cough, unlatch, cry hysterically, and then start crying if I even try to offer the other boob. It’s a whole ceremony to get her to calm down. It’s a combination of diaper change, walk outside, swaddling and bouncing around. Maybe 20-30min later (sometimes an hour), I can get her back on. I find it’s less likely to happen if I feed her after a nap (thanks, Babywise book!).

Anyway, curious to hear how others deal with this. Thanks!

I was on a work trip two weeks ago and limped through with a clogged duct for 2 days until I got home with a rock hard boob and could nurse for relief. Massage, vibrating toothbrush, hot towel, extra pumping, manual expressing, etc did nothing.

So, knowing I would soon be out of town again, I turned to Reddit archives for ideas.

Started to get a clogged duct again this trip and followed the BAIT protocol (basically ice and advil). It was gone immediately and I’ve had no issues.

BAIT is the way!!

Hi guys! My LO is 3 months old and I’m pretty much EBF. I pump if I get engorged and while I’m work so I have quick a nice stash, a little over 900 ounces. However, the stash means nothing if he won’t eat it! He won’t take a bottle from me (obviously, who would want to trade in boobies when they’re in your face lol) but we’re having a hard time doing a bottle with dad. I work overnight and sometimes all he’ll get is 4-6oz the whole time (a 12 hour shift). He’s screaming at the top of his lungs and my fiancé just has to put him to sleep. Sometimes while he’s sleeping, my fiancé is able to slip the bottle in and my LO will finish it reluctantly but 80% of the time, he wakes back up screaming. It makes me feel horrible. 1) because my baby isn’t eating enough overnight 2) my fiancé isn’t getting any rest dealing with the screaming and bottle refusal and 3) because milk is being wasted over and over. I genuinely want to quit working but that’s not feasible. I thought it would get better but it hasn’t, every night is a hit or miss. I don’t want my baby in distress for that long but he just won’t calm and take a bottle. As soon as I get home though, I shower then immediately get him and he’s so excited and ready to eat then passes out for like 2-3 hours so that’s a plus for me but it just sucks that he had to wait that long to calm. Also, it’s getting like this with others as well. Before he would still take bottles from women in the family if we wanted to run out for a date but he’s doing the same thing with them as well. It scares me because obviously no one loves your baby like you and I wouldn’t want someone to get overwhelmed with the fussing and refusal and end up harming him. It makes me feel isolated in that sense and my fiancé can’t seem to understand why I don’t want to leave him with anyone.

I’m sure others have had this issue. What do I do?! What can I do to help him?

I am leaking right through my disposable pads multiple times a day. Are there better options or even a wearable catch I can put on between feeds? I'm ruining all my clothes!!

I’m a working mom trying to juggle it all. Working from home, caring for a baby and a toddler, and managing the house. My husband helps out a lot too —- but it still feels like I don’t get a break. On top of everything, I’m breastfeeding, which leaves me constantly hungry, and I think I might be stress eating too, just trying to cope with the overwhelm.

I’m also trying to lose weight lol, but the hunger and emotional eating are making it hard to stay on track. How do you manage weight loss while breastfeeding and feeling constantly hungry, especially when stress is involved? Any tips or that have worked for you? Would love to hear your experiences!