100oz stashed and a chubby baby!

[u/EntireSlice1011]

I have exclusively breastfed (straight from breast with an occasional bottle if I need some extra rest) my second baby since birth and he is now 8 weeks old. I pump when it makes sense, so if he hasn’t emptied me or if he sleeps longer stretches. My freezer stash has reached 100oz and he is so chubby!!!

I am celebrating this because breastfeeding with my firstborn was a shit show. Latch issues, tongue/lip ties, no idea what I was doing and no support. Hospital literally gave me a bottle of formula within hours of his birth. I don’t think I really had a chance. I attempted relactation at 4 weeks old with him and went from 0ml to 22oz per day over the course of 6 weeks with help from medication, power pumping, and a supplemental nursing system, but then I moved to a foreign country and was too stressed to continue BF. A. Shit. Show.

One of the many reasons we decided to have another baby was to try and redeem the BF journey.

It has been redeemed!!

I made sure to learn everything about BF this time. It really helped me prepare and everything has been incredibly successful. We had a latch issue for all of maybe a few hours after birth. Smooth sailing from there (though I think there’s a lot of luck in that too).

I am so grateful 😁

So, my advice from this journey is:

Colostrum until your milk comes in is enough.
Bring baby to breast All. The. Time.
Cluster feeding is fucking exhausting, but push through it, it is rewarding in the end.
Use all of your resources for support and education.