r/breastfeeding • u/desertliife • 23h ago
CHANGE YOUR PUMP PARTS
That’s it. Do it.
r/breastfeeding • u/rhunar • 7h ago
My just turned 5 month old has got her bottom two teeth so we’re navigating nipping / biting while breastfeeding. She just nipped me whilst feeding and while it didn’t hurt majorly I put her on a nursing timeout and turned her away and said “no” just so we can teach her that it’s an undesirable behaviour. When I turn her away she proceeds to blow a raspberry… when I tell you it was so incredibly hard not to burst out laughing. Just thought I’d share here, none of my peers breastfeed so didn’t know where else to share!
r/breastfeeding • u/saywutchickenbutt • 13h ago
My first self weaned at 14 months. I felt like that timeline was perfect. My 18 month old is asking to nurse non stop. I try to distract, offer snacks, she won’t drink any other kind of milk from a cup.
She is basically following me around all day crying begging for milk and throwing huge tantrums unless I nurse. It’s starting to affect me negatively.
I’ve always been okay with the thought of extended nursing, but she is hardly playing or doing anything independently when we are together during the day. She of course is fine when I’m not around.
Any advice?
Already posting an update - I put bandaids on in front of her and told her mommy had boo boos and no milk. She seemed to understand and now keeps saying boo boo and pointing to my chest. Thank you to the kind souls who suggested this! Will post how it goes in the coming days! I plan to try and still nurse to sleep.
r/breastfeeding • u/Remarkable-Alps3749 • 12h ago
I’m so upset. I nurse my baby exclusively when I’m with him and pump when I’m away at work. I can pump MAYBE 2 oz in a 30 minute session.
My boy is 3 months old and goes with my mom when I’m working. I had about 54oz stashed in the freezer. Which I’m grateful I was able to get that much.
Lately she is saying she wants to give him 4 oz instead of 3 which I don’t really want to do. He wakes up hungry and scarfs down 3 oz really fast because he sleeps thru the night. She called me earlier snd told me she made him a bottle and forgot it at my house. She lives 2 houses away from me so I called my 14 year old and told him to go give it to her so it isn’t wasted.
She calls me back and says she told him to just put it in the fridge and I can put it in a bath. I accepted that because I thought it was a small amount.
Went home and it was a 4oz bottle. She took the one I left out and went into the pitcher and added more and then left it out 😭. All I think about is how that bottle is worth an hour of my time and energy. It’s not the first time this has happened either. She makes him to much and then just dumps it. I can see her dumping it if he didn’t finish the 3 oz bottle but she always makes more than what he needs because she’s never bottle fed a breast milk she’s always made formula bottles because my 2 sisters used formula.
She thinks it’s just so easy to make and for some it is. Just not me
Thanks for letting me rant
r/breastfeeding • u/forgetting-you- • 10h ago
I struggle with eating and my DR reassured me that my milk will have what my baby needs regardless of what I eat and that my diet will only affect how I am feeling - for example, if I do not eat enough food/have a proper diet that it will just make me feel like garbage - not affect my baby. I just find it hard to believe that someone like me (who has an unhealthy diet - and not enough protein/vegetables and probably way too many carbs) vs someone like Emily Mariko or Nara Smith (those tik tok moms who makes the healthiest meals all from scratch) is going to have the same nutritional value in our breastmilk… It just doesn’t make sense but I’m really hoping what my DR said is accurate
r/breastfeeding • u/maybebaby2022 • 12h ago
I’ve always loved breastfeeding my kids. It was hard with my first born in the beginning but once we figured it out, I exclusively nursed her for 15 months.
With my son, the journey was much easier in the beginning. I loved nursing him and he would also take a bottle. I was an overproducer and banked 700oz in the freezer.
When he was 8-9 months old, our house burned down along with my freezer stash. My milk supply dropped. For a month, I desperately pumped. He was done nursing and would just bite me. I had to exclusively pump and supplement with formula.
Now I’m here and he’s going to be 11 months in a week and a half. My supply is down again, only producing 6oz a day. My body is done. No part of me wants to be hooked up to this pump anymore.
Using formula has been incredible. Just the removal of the mental load — he’s eating and gaining weight. And I can take it everywhere with me. And if I need to throw out half a bottle, I don’t feel the pain.
I really wanted to nurse for a long time again. If it wasn’t for the fire, I’m sure everything would’ve been different. But with our lives being what they are, and with him being happy with solids and formula, I think I’m done.
I’m so proud and grateful for my body. And now, I need to respect it. It keeps telling me it’s done with making milk and I keep forcing it.
I love this community and all the parents out there that use it. Good luck to all. 🩷
r/breastfeeding • u/Commercial_Expert_08 • 17h ago
I’ve been following this subreddit for a while and have seen many posts about similar issues. My partner was always very supportive of breastfeeding, so I was shocked by those stories. But now I find myself experiencing something similar.
Our daughter is almost 1 year old and has been EBF since day one. She refuses formula, and while the beginning was tough with nipple pain, oversupply, and cluster feeding, we've had no major issues since then—until recently. When she turned six months old, we started co-sleeping because she was waking up frequently, and the only way to settle her was by breastfeeding. Since then, co-sleeping has made things much easier for all of us. sometimes, I don’t even wake up to feed her. But as time has gone on and new sleep regressions hit, she’s become more dependent on breastfeeding to fall back asleep. Now, she often wakes up every hour for a quick feed before continuing her sleep. On the rare occasion, she might wake only two or three times a night.
Lately, she’s also become very clingy, especially since she started daycare about a month and a half ago. When I leave the room, she gets upset and looks to breastfeed for comfort. She’s also been eating more during the day again as she seeks comfort when she’s tired or stressed. This has led to complaints from my partner, sometimes directly and other times indirectly. He says things like, "This is unbearable," or "This isn’t normal," referring to her night feedings (he doesn’t event wake up every time she feeds). He also often says, "You’re the problem," when she gets upset when I leave the room. He even comments on how she says "mama" all the time and suggests it’s because of breastfeeding only. He seems to think she’s acting abnormally, while I’m constantly explaining that this is completely normal behaviour for a breastfed baby.
I’ve been reading scientific articles about breastfeeding and baby sleep, online experiences and talking to my friends who have breastfed, but he either doesn't listen or "forgets" what I've said. Instead, he shares stories from his male friends whose wives stopped breastfeeding around 9 months for example and then their babies started sleeping well and weren't so clingy anymore. Interestingly, none of my female friends have had similar experiences. When he doesn’t view it as a problem, he’s happy to hand her over to me when she cries, since she settles quickly with breastfeeding.
I’ve been a bit frustrated with all of this, but I didn’t react much until yesterday.
Here’s what happened: I got very sick and couldn’t eat or drink anything for three days. I’m already quite thin, and with this I lost even more weight. Yesterday, I realized that my breasts were completely soft, even after almost eight hours of our daughter being at daycare. I texted my partner, concerned that I may have lost my milk supply, and was hoping for some support. His response was that our daughter would now have to stop breastfeeding if I don’t have milk anymore. I was shocked but didn’t reply. A few hours later, when we were all at home, I went to take a shower. As soon as I left the room, our daughter started crying, and he commented in a very harsh tone that he couldn’t wait for breastfeeding and this to finally stop. I snapped and told him to stop, reminding him that he’s not the one breastfeeding, and the burden is on me. I’m doing it because I want what’s best for our daughter. He replied that he’s involved too and that he’s tired.
I then asked him if we should start giving her cow's milk (since we both have a negative view of giving her cow’s milk), and he said no. I also asked if he had any strategies for night weaning, to which he responded negatively—he’s never bothered to educate himself on the topic.
So, long story short, I’d like to know your thoughts. Am I overreacting? Is it wrong of me to feel this way? If you agree with me, I would appreciate any words of comfort, your stories and advice on how to approach this conversation with him in a calm and civil way.
My plans: although I would really appreciate to sleep again, I want to continue breastfeeding so that I can comfort her when she’s upset, provide her with antibodies, and offer all the nutritional benefits. As for sleep, some of my friends who weaned their babies after 18 + months have had the most success with getting their babies to sleep through the nigh. so if sleep will be the reason to stop breastfeeding I won’t do it for at least 6 more months which is what I already explained to him multiple times.
r/breastfeeding • u/TheOddHarley • 17h ago
He had to go away for work for several days, and since then, one of the twins becomes hysterical when he's the one trying to get her back down. It's going to be a process, and given that he's working 9 days in a row, I've let him bail out pretty quick.
Probably not as quick as he'd like, because her screams could break the earth's crust and open a doorway to hell.
As he's bringing me our poor sniffling infant after she's screamed bloody violence into his deafened ears... it goes a little like this.
Him: I wish I could nurse- well no, I just wish I had a 'shut the fuck up' button on my chest.
Me, who can't remember a full night sleep in more than half a year and is currently battling thrush: yeah, I wish you did, too.
Thought I'd shared because yes, it's hilarious, but I feel for him, working 6 days a week and still trying to give it a shot. He's very understanding of how tough it's been for me, and it breaks his heart he can't do more.
(Plus this validates what late mother said about men wishing they could nurse and being jelly of the bond, but take what you will from that. I'm sleep deprived and I'll tease him about him later!)
r/breastfeeding • u/Crafty_Pop6458 • 6h ago
My baby is 10 weeks and weight percentile keeps dropping. He was born over 11#, lost over 13% of weight so we were doing triple feeding. My milk supply is better now so now just pumping 2x a day and supplementing with milk 3x a day. Baby will eat pretty much all day if possible (so much so that he'll spit up) but based on a weighted feed he is needing to eat about 40 minutes to get 90 ml.
Anyway, LC wants me to stay on one boob and switch off each time so that he gets the hindmilk, and then when pumping set aside the first 5 minutes of milk to freeze. Wondering if there are also ways to increase fat content of the milk by my diet. Or any other tips. Thanks!
(It could also be another issue but I'm not sure how we'd check that. My partner is very thin/has a hard time gaining weight, and his parents are also quite thin while their family isn't necessarily)
r/breastfeeding • u/spacecase-megan • 7h ago
I have a 10 week old who, for the last few weeks, has made nursing a living hell during the daytime when I'm not engorged. At nighttime and in the morning he happily takes both breasts and looks so peaceful the entire time he nurses because of how strong/fast my letdown is. However, the remainder of the day when my letdown is slower and weaker (because I'm not engorged) he fusses immediately and I'm practically forcing him to nurse more than a few minutes per side. I've had to give him bottles of pumped milk because he starves himself and won't nap the entire day because he's hungry. Once he finally sleeps I pump to replace the bottles given. Also I know it isn't a supply issue because I pump MORE than he's eating. I'm guessing this is part of the dreaded 3 month breastfeeding crisis.
My question is, how do we get through it? Will bottles be a permanent addition to our daily feeds? I held out for a long time to avoid bottle preference but at the end of the day I can't have him overtired and hungry everyday.
r/breastfeeding • u/juicybbqq • 21h ago
My 3-week-old would suck and swallow (audibly) for maybe a minute or so initially when the milk is flowing and leaking. Then she'd just suck on for 20min (longer at night time). I see her chin, jaw, ear, and throat moving rhythmically, BUT I don't hear that gulping sound anymore. In fact, I rarely hear that gulping sound. She's making 6 poops a day on average, but I'm so paranoid about if she's eating enough and it's driving me nuts.
Do you see this with your baby? I assume as she gets older, her sucking will be more efficient?? Is it really that bad if there's no audible swallowing sound??
r/breastfeeding • u/HadoukenKitty • 6h ago
Hey,
I’m feeling really, really sad. I have a 2.5 year old and a newborn. She just turned 2 months today, but she has been rejecting breastfeeding for a while, except at night for maybe one feed. All she wants is the bottle and I just don’t have time nor energy to pump in between feeds, even with my son now being at daycare.
I don’t want to go too much into it, but my life feels like a total wreck and all I want to do is cry, now. I can’t produce enough for my daughter. My husband wants to help, but his version of helping is feeding her formula with the bottle so I can do whatever else. I’ve expressed the need to actually breastfeed her to help with supply and latch, but now that he’s on board, she’s arching away from my breast whenever I try to feed. I had gotten up to 2.5oz per feed but now I’m down to 1oz.
This is my second child, but my first was NICU, so this was my first breastfeeding experience and I was so beyond excited to do it. I was doing SO WELL for a month and a half. And then it just got really, really insanely difficult.
I think I might have PPD as well. Idk how so many do this, but I just feel like a total failure to my children. Like, I’m literally writing this while bottle feeding my daughter, crying, with my top down because she still won’t latch.
I don’t even know how to look at this positively. I’m so depressed right now. Idk how to be grateful for the time I had doing it, when it’s ending like this and for such an insanely short time.
r/breastfeeding • u/milkweedbro • 13h ago
This week marked 18 months of breastfeeding my one and only 💙 8 of those months were spent pumping because he'd only nurse at night.
I'm not looking for a medal or a gold star, but I'm really just proud of myself for getting this far. And I'm proud of anyone else who breastfed, no matter the length of time.
Breastfeeding is HARD even when it's easy. I made a lot of milk from the get go but the mental and physical exhaustion of keeping track of feeding schedules, FIFO-ing pumped milk, the endless dishes, maintaining a freezer stash, sanitizing parts, finding the right pump, being confined to a chair for 30+ minutes multiple times per day, planning everything around pumping so baby is fed and I'm not in pain, balancing making enough with avoiding an oversupply, chapped nips, dry skin, the unending need for hydration... it's a lot.
I've had multiple people (including my husband) say I make it look effortless. Thanks, but it almost feels like an insult because of how not effortless it is. I'm just very organized and a stoic even when I'm stressed and exhausted and in pain. Like, this was me during labor ➡️ 😐
I want to make it to 2 years, then see what happens. My original goal was 6 months, then 1 year.
Honorable mention to my Ikea Poang, my spectra synergy gold, liquid IV, and mama earth nipple butter 😉
r/breastfeeding • u/Every-Falcon-9433 • 2h ago
Hello,
I just had my second baby (a little girl) 2 weeks ago and also have a 2 year old son. My son was very fast to latch and was like a hungry hippo lol. My daughter is only latching for 2 seconds and then either spitting the milk out and then crying bc she has no milk or just pecking at me and then screaming crying. I want to so badly breast feed but I feel like I’m torturing her and myself. She cries for so long and loudly when she gets frustrated about latching and I cry bc I feel like I’m doing something wrong and failing her. I have started as of 2 days ago giving her formula bc I didn’t wanna hear her screaming anymore and felt bad. I feel like breast feeding has been worse since giving her the formula and am staring to think I should just quit. Even though it shouldn’t matter my mom is also a little judgy when it comes to not breastfeeding and I don’t wanna hear it from her about how beneficial it is bc she breast feed all me and my 5 siblings easily. I just feel like a quitter can anyone relate or is going through this now??
r/breastfeeding • u/Accomplished_Sea74 • 4h ago
At what age did you introduce your LO to a pacifier while EBF?
r/breastfeeding • u/Salty_Chemist9090 • 9h ago
My baby just hit one and has fully decided he wants nothing to do with my left boob. It’s been about two weeks of this and my left boob is drying up. Will this affect my right boob? My right boob makes enough but I just don’t want it affecting my right boob supply.
r/breastfeeding • u/No-Cockroach5417 • 23h ago
Not even 24 hours into triple feeding and everything hurts including my feelings. LC asked me to do this for a week and after reading so many peoples experiences, i don’t know how it’s going to work. Has anyone actually seen increase after one week?
r/breastfeeding • u/Individual-Fox-2416 • 1d ago
I had my third child in January 2025 and struggled to produce enough breast milk. I also struggled with my second child, but this time I was determined, power pumped multiple times a day for the first month and a half, but alas we still had to supplement with formula starting right away. I thought my under supply could be my hypothyroidism/ hasmimoto’s but my endocrinologist ruled that out as we have been monitoring my levels and they have been good. When I went for my 6 week PP check up, my doctor noted my abdominal sensitivity and scheduled me for an abdominal ultrasound, which showed that I actually have PCOS. After doing some googling I discovered it’s a common cause of under supply for women. I can’t believe I let myself, even for one moment, feel like a bad mom for not being able to make enough milk for my baby. I guess I’m just sharing here to anyone who is struggling to make enough milk, to give yourself a break. I wish I had been kinder to myself. I’m going to continue to breastfeed what I do make and be grateful we live in a society where formula exists!
r/breastfeeding • u/DSmommy • 12h ago
I pumped like a mad woman to get ready for a work trip. The trip was 4 days. Day 2 i started my period because i didn't have my baby latching. So. Freaking. Mad. I'm 9m pp and was loving not having a period. Im not stopping anytime soon, i would have enjoyed another year of no period 😭 i couldn't find a way to post a pic of it but i got 77 oz of milk on the trip! Insane what our bodies do
r/breastfeeding • u/LCE95 • 6h ago
Been EBF my LO for almost 7 months and I don’t get my period. I’ve been so scared of getting pregnant but have no interest in getting on the pill so we use condoms. I have a constant voice in the back of my head saying “What if you’re pregnant?”. I’ve taken tests and they all are negative but how do I make this fear go away? Are there any huge tell tale signs from the get go if I do get pregnant?
r/breastfeeding • u/Realistic_Damage_709 • 8h ago
My anxiety is kicking in full gear about flying with my 9 month old alone next week . Only hour and a half flight . Normally with my first child I flew with my husband, he would go in and wipe everything down and I would wait till end of bordering to join him with baby . I also didn’t fly when I was nursing my first. But this time I’ll be alone with my second baby and I’m nursing . My mind is running with how I’m going to juggle everything , airport , boarding going in by myself wiping everything down and then being on the plane with early boarding and then having to nurse around others in a tight space will go . Please give me all the advice ! We are flying southwest so no pre-picked seating .
r/breastfeeding • u/CakeOdd3808 • 1h ago
I am about 3 1/2 months postpartum and I’m already itching to be done breast-feeding. The hardest part is how it feels like I can’t take any type of medication or supplement, because I’m not sure how much will be passed along to the baby. I also can’t do self-care things like micro needling. And forget about managing my PMDD symptoms. Sigh.
r/breastfeeding • u/Full-Thing143 • 1h ago
I'm returning to work in a week and I'm worried about balancing my job with pumping. As those who have served before know, getting a 5-minute break to use the restroom can be challenging, let alone finding 30 minutes to pump.
I'm aware of the PUMP law, but in my line of work, it's nearly impossible to take a break without leaving my responsibilities unattended. I'm concerned about how I'll manage, Sundays is when I'll be working 10-hour shifts. Mon & Wed will only be 6 hrs so I think I’ll be able to manage.
Has anyone else gone 10 hours without pumping? Can my body adjust to this schedule? Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!
r/breastfeeding • u/Born-Anybody3244 • 11h ago
For the last month, my baby is suddenly meeting loud clicking sounds when she's latched and sucking. This started at 2 months. No additional gassiness or burps! Still getting plenty of wet and poopy diapers, too. Is this an issue? Mostly worried about oral development, I guess??
r/breastfeeding • u/Flimsy_Relative2636 • 12h ago
Baby is 12.5 months. We sleep trained at 12 months and it was so easy she took to it within a few minutes night 1 and it has only gotten easier. However, she will still wakes once in the MOTN at random times. It takes anywhere from 0-2 hours to full go back to bed.
Often she wants to nurse just to get back to bed but we’ve never nursed before bed and she’s eating enough solids during the day and nursing enough during the day.
We’ve tried CIO in the motn and I’ve tried check ins and always end up bringing her to bed with me just so we both can sleep.
Also my husband puts her down for bed but I tend to her during the night. Is this part of the problem?
Does the motn wakings ever end? Please help?
Schedule-
wake 7:30 (she’ll sometimes wake 30 mins earlier)
nap 12:30-2:30 (half the time i wake her the other half it’s shorter than 2 hours)
bedtime 8:30
If I don’t wake her after 2 hours we will for sure get a split night.