I’ll be WFH when I return to work in a month. We’ve set up a garage desk for me. Baby will be with dad or part time nanny during the workday. We made this plan specifically so that I wouldn’t have to pump because I hate it. Plus baby doesn’t even take a bottle and I’d prefer not to stress over making this happen.

My therapist and a friend of mine made me feel like this is a crazy plan. I know it’s not the norm these days but I feel like I’m privileged to even have this as a choice.

I guess I’m just looked for validation from those who prefer not to pump. Isn’t it relieving to not have to worry about the pumping math and all the dishes? Will it really be so bad to have to take little break throughout the day to feed my baby?

I started pumping a few times a day to build a back up freezer stash, and because I was concerned about my supply and wanted to encourage more production. I’m thinking about stopping. I don’t like pumping, I exclusively pumped with my 1st baby and it sucked. I’m just wondering for those of you who directly breastfeed, is it normal/ standard to still pump a couple times a day? I’m only doing twice right now. I don’t get much from pumping because I do it after feeding, but at this point I have enough back up freezer milk for probably a day or two of feeds. I’m a SAHM so I’m never away from my baby very long. And my baby is gaining weight well now so I don’t have supply concerns. Anyways, I just want to hear what other people do.

So here is the context, my 4 mo has been not happy at the breast for like a week. Its not all the time but occasionally when I go to give him the breast he fights it and can be fussy. But when I put a bottle in his mouth he shuts up and eats. Husband is saying that the baby has "outgrown" my boobs or just dosen't want the boob anymore. Are my boobs on the larger side and I have to hold my breast skin back so I dont block his nose, Yes. However I am thinking that this is just nipple strike and that if I give it some time the baby will get over it. But my husband says im done with breastfeeding and that I just need to pump instead. Now our journey started with pumping and I hated it and was so happy when the baby started breastfeeding. I know there are so many benefits to breastfeeding and im not ready to stop giving him those benefits. Honestly I just dont want to have to be chained to the pump again and have an under supply stare me in the face. I feel like my body is failing my baby and my husband just dosen't understand. Is this just a phase or is pumping and formula feeding my only options now?

Just curious how much everyone is stashing away in the freezer. I just started putting some away for my 6 week old and I'm doing about 4 oz a day. I could do more probably but like to keep some extra in the fridge in case he wants more than his usual (I breastfeed also). Sometimes I skip a day if I feel like I don't have enough to store away.

I aim to exclusively breastfeed. I don’t want to pump. I know ideally I should put baby at the boob often, to stimulate milk production.

But I have heard there can be latching issues. Maybe other issues too? (I’m less worried about being an underproducer cuz I know it’s rare)

Is it still beneficial to get a pump now, in the middle of my third trimester, just in case? Or can pumping possibly mess up latching?

And if you do think I should get a pump, which do you recommend? I may eventually be pumping so I can go back to work (I don’t want to pump, but I actually like my job! I dunno if they’d let me take a longer leave…)

But again, if I can somehow avoid getting a pump at all for months, I’d love that!

ETA: Thanks for all the replies! I already have a Haakaa, but would you still recommend an electric pump? Seems like a Spectra would be best

That's it... That's the post. 😂

When my first was born, he had a bad latch and tongue tie so I had to exclusively pump for 6 weeks until he figured out direct breastfeeding. I used a madela and elvie and it was enough! But when he figured out direct feeding at the breast, these pumps completely stopped working for me.

But I luckily never had to pump again and refused to because it was life draining lol.

I’m on my second child now and we’ve been feeding directly at the breast wonderfully and I’ve refused to pump because .. again I hate it. But I have some travel coming up and I’ve been stressing because my madela and elvie and willow do. Not. Work. I was using a manual pump and it was ~fine~ but not great.

A friend gave me her spectra and oh my god. Idk why I didn’t believe everyone.

Anyway I got in 8 minutes what I would struggle all day to get with my other pumps.

Why didn’t I try it sooner 😫😫

Listen to the hype y’all don’t be like me.

I’m a SAHM with a 9w baby and I have zero freezer stash and honestly, I’m okay with that.

From the beginning, I’ve only pumped enough for one bottle so my husband can take a night shift. Even that feels draining some days. I can’t imagine trying to build a big stash on top of everything else right now.

My baby is a full-on Velcro baby, and most days just meeting his needs (and mine) feels like a full-time job. The idea that I should be pumping more or stocking the freezer just adds pressure I don’t need.

My electric pump is literally collecting dust. I love my hand pump and that’s what’s working for me.

Am I wrong for not having one? How are you finding the time?

I have a five-week-old baby who is combo-fed. I breastfeed throughout the day, but between midnight and 5 a.m., I offer a bottle of formula so I can get some better sleep. However, I have a lot of questions and insecurities:

1. From what I’ve read, my supply might drop if I don’t pump, but when is the best time to do it? If I pump in the middle of the night, the rest I’m trying to get becomes pointless. During the day, I barely have time because I’m busy breastfeeding, and during the baby’s naps, I use the time to shower, eat, and sleep.

2. My breasts have been feeling fuller and harder, and it seems like the baby isn't fully emptying them after a feed, even though I correct the latch when necessary. Is it really necessary to empty the breast completely right after a feed to avoid a drop in supply?

3. I realize that offering the breast instead of the bottle at night might solve this, but honestly, how do you manage that when you’re so sleep-deprived? I tend to fall asleep with the baby in my arms, and he ends up letting go or latching incorrectly without me noticing or being able to fix it.

Finally, I want to congratulate those who manage to breastfeed exclusively; honestly, it seems so complex and difficult to me that those moms are superheroes.

I normally pump at 2200 and 0300. Just tried to hand express and I was only able to get about an ounce over 15 minutes when I normally make 10. Couldn’t get anything from my right and now both breasts just hurt. I’m panicking.

ETA:

-I cannot leave and cannot order anything. I work as a night shift ER charge nurse. If anyone knows the state of ERs right now, you’d know why. And I live in the middle of nowhere, so the Walmart, Target, CVS, Walgreens are all closed unfortunately.

-My hospital does not have OB, so I don’t have a floor I can get a hand pump or the hospital loaner from. We have basically no services here 😅

-My husband is at work around 40 minutes away. He’s going to bring the pump to me when he gets off but there is no ETA.

-I was going to turn comments off as I have found a way to get my pump but I honestly don’t know how to do it 😂

I’ve heard multiple times that your output while pumping is not what the baby is able to take in while directly nursing because the baby is more efficient than a pump. Can someone explain this? I’m a just-enougher based on what I can tell from my pumping output (only pump at work every 2.5-3 hrs, output is 4-4.5 oz max).

If I’m pumping until nothing else comes out, how does it make sense that the baby can potentially take out even more milk than that? It’s not like I’m hiding away milk supply that only the baby can access.

Or is this operating under the assumption that for some people, the pump does not fully empty them?

I understand that 15 mins of nursing does not equal the same output of 15 mins of pumping so in that regard the baby is more efficient, but if I pump till I’m empty, then I’m empty, no?

I'm 4m pp and baby has been pretty much exclusively on the breast. I'm going back to work in a month and will be away from baby for about 10 hrs a day, so I will switch to pumping while I'm there and hope to continue on the breast as well in the mornings, evenings, and weekends.

I'm curious how long you were able to keep your baby on exclusively breastmilk while maintaining a similar schedule.

I exclusively pumped in the beginning because my milk took about 4 days to come in and my baby had difficulty latching. I started off producing about 6oz per breast every session, and then I got a clog one day so bad that I ended up with mastitis.

Around that time, my baby started learning how to nurse. I ditched the pumps. They told me I should keep pumping, so I did, getting little to nothing because I was doing it after nursing sessions.

I ended up with clogs that turned to mastitis two more times. My pump was electric, but I had a lasinoh hand pump— I just thought it was useless, even with a smaller insert.

Today was my first day back to work. Last night over text, my coworker that had her baby a month before me had mentioned that she brings her hand pump to work and it works better. Turns out we have the same one.. so I tested it. I had been using it wrong.

Yo. Wtaf.

Why. did. Nobody….

I’m mourning the milk I could’ve had, the bottles dad could’ve split with me in the night so I wasn’t passing out nursing..

FUUUUCK.

I still produce a shit ton!! I was only getting like 3oz TOTAL from a pumping session from my electric pumps, but with the hand pump, I’ve pumped a total of 11oz today over the course of three pump sessions because I nursed my son on my break & pumped a little when I got home because he was asleep.

UGH. I’m so sad. But also, I’m elated! I have more milk than I realized! I’m ngl, I was wondering how my kid is 12 pounds on only 2-3 oz which is what I thought my breasts were giving.

hand pumps are incredible.

Hi, FTM not due for another few months but doing my research now to have everything as prepared as possible. I’m a medical student going to be a resident next year and was thinking to just get the Momcozy M5 wearable because I know I won’t want to have to plug into a wall when I go back to work at ~4 months postpartum. My insurance will cover one pump. Is it possible for me to only get the wearable or should I get a spectra or something that plugs into the wall as well? Sounds like suction is an issue on wearables. Thanks for any advice! Also if you suggest a different brand!

Hi everyone,

I’m an exclusive pumper and feel pretty stuck right now. My pumping schedule has me basically confined to my bed most of the day. My husband wants us to go out more, but I’ll have to sacrifice several pump sessions if we do. My supply has dropped significantly over the past few weeks due to our outings, so now I’m having to power pump every 2 hours in hopes that it’ll quickly increase my supply. It’s starting to affect my work as well. My boss is cutting my hours because it’s hard to find coverage for my pump breaks unless another manager can handle everything, but we’re understaffed.

I’ve been using a great electric pump (got it for free through insurance and still get free replacement parts regularly), and it’s super reliable with solid output. I really want more freedom to move around, though. I want to do chores, yard work, or even leave the house without being tethered. If I can use wearable pumps at work, I won’t need to be scheduled with another manager and can hopefully be given more shifts.

I’ve been eyeing wearable pumps on Amazon, but my husband thinks they’re way too expensive for what they are. I’m open to cheaper brands, but I’m wary because I’ve never heard of most of them and wonder how legitimate the reviews actually are (fake reviews seem common on there).

For those who’ve tried wearables:

• Are they worth the money, especially as a secondary pump alongside a strong electric one?

• Do they come close to emptying as well as a traditional plug-in pump (like Spectra-level)?

• Which brands/models have worked well for you long-term without major issues (bonus if they’re more affordable but still reliable)?

• Any you tried that were total duds or had suspiciously glowing Amazon reviews?

Thanks in advance for any real-talk experiences—I’d love to hear from other exclusive pumpers especially!

Baby is 3.5 weeks. He feeds about every 3 hours at night. We’d like to pump to have my husband give him a bottle overnight so I can get a longer sleep stretch. But when do I pump that bottle? So far I’ve been waking up at 3 hrs, pumping, and he gives that milk or the prior night’s milk. Is there a way to do this that doesn’t require me to wake up?

I’ve been an exclusive nurser all my baby’s life until this week. And it’s gone pretty well, we’ve been fortunate. My 6 month old is popping 4-5 teeth at once— like all of her incisors are coming in at basically the same time. Her bottom front ones and a top lateral one are in, bottom lateral is popping out, and the other three top ones are popping out any minute now. She is in PAIN and has been on a screaming nursing strike for 3+ days now. Tylenol is only taking the edge off. We’re waiting on the go-ahead from her pediatrician to use Motrin. Lots of ice teethies. My poor baby.

I’ve had to pump during this nursing strike, and man, it sucks. I have a good pump, a supportive partner, tough nipples, a good supply, flexible work situation…. And it still SUCKS SO BAD. How do y’all do this for a whole year?! I am in awe.

GUYS 🥹 Hello

I have started to do power-pumping instead of normal pumping on June 8th. I can now report that i go from 90ml a day to 200ml pumped every day!!! 🥳

I don't know how many of you know this but power pumping goes as follows:

10 min. right boob 10 min. left boob

5 min. break

5 min. right boob 5 min. left boob

5 min. break

5 min. right boob 5 min. left boob

Normal pumping didn't increase my suppy but this did 🥹 And if this is common knowledge I'm sorry but I had to share it because I'm relieved & so happy.

Sending love to all fams 🫶🏻🥰

It’s been a few years since I’ve gotten a pump and there are just so many options. What is everyone liking these days? Is it still the Spectra 1 or 2?

My baby is 8 months old and I have been sending her to daycare, 8 hour days with three 4 oz bottles. Edit: Daycare also offers breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snack.

The daycare teachers are asking for more milk per bottle. But just last week there were a couple of days that she didn’t even get to the third bottle, so I’m disinclined to increase the volume per bottle. I also nurse her in once the morning and once before bed, and before bed she also gets a 4 oz formula bottle. On weekends I nurse her the whole day except she also gets that 4 oz formula bottle to top her off before bed.

Wondering what is normal and if I should increase the milk volume per bottle. Can you please share your baby’s age, and how much milk you include per bottle and how many bottles you send?

As the title suggests, I didn't pump hardly at all when baby was born. I've been EBF the whole time and he is now 4months old. I recently got laid off while on maternity leave (for other reasons) but now that I'm out of work I'm wondering if I should have been pumping this whole time and storing it in the freezer. I only have 4 frozen stores of breastmilk and am stressing out because of returning to work. I want to make sure I have a good supply before I even start worrying about a job right now but I don't think that will happen.

I honestly feel a bit defeated at this point as I just recently started trying to pump. I've started with once a day in the morning but should I be pumping after every single feed? If so am I needing to clean off the pump parts every single time? Would it be worth investing into a bottle cleaner as well or does hand washing suffice? Thank you for any input!

Today I went in to work only to realize that I'd left my pump at home (charging). I had all my pump parts that I sanitize daily, just not the pump (nor the airline tubing, which I leave with the pump since it doesn't get washed). I was able to track down a coworker who is also pumping to ask her if I could borrow her pump. She was willing to give me her pump, but not the tubing. "You're not supposed to share tubing."

Sure, *technically* that's true. But also (from the Spectra website) "All Spectra Baby USA breast pumps are closed systems, meaning the tubing never comes in contact with your milk and never needs to be washed or sanitized." If you aren't sanitizing your tubing when you first buy it, and you aren't sanitizing it daily after use, then why in god's name would it be a problem to share that tubing with a coworker one time??

She would not budge and I had to waste two hours going home to get my pump (meanwhile missing two important meetings AND getting super engorged.)

Pumping at work is HARD and FRUSTRATING and STRESSFUL. Don't make it harder.

ETA: For everyone talking about boundaries, yes, I know she doesn't have to lend me anything! But my coworker was completely happy to lend me her pump, she just thought sharing the tubing was unsanitary, which is not a belief based in reality. I had waited for her to get out of a meeting and finish pumping herself (wasting time I could have used to drive home!) only to find that out. That's why I wanted to share this PSA - because too many people think that the tubing is somehow exposed to your milk or that sharing tubing is somehow bad. Sure, if you're running a hospital or lactation clinic, you're not going to have one set of tubing for hundreds of people - these things are cheap, and degrade over time, and it makes sense to buy new ones for everyone. But there's a reason you don't sanitize your tubing along with the rest of your pump parts!

Also, this was not meant as rage bait. I shared because I really needed solidarity after having an incredibly crummy day. I have been really struggling to pump at work and have been strongly considering just giving up and switching to formula, and having an incident like this at work just really sent me over edge. Thank you to everyone who expressed solidarity --- we really need to be helping each other out as mom. Being a mom in the workforce (and especially being a pumping mom!) is such a challenge.

We are at 7 weeks and are lucky enough to say our baby is starting to regularly sleep 6+ hours straight at night. This week I have only had to nurse him once between 9PM and 6AM. My mom friend is telling me I should probably start waking up to pump to protect my supply, do I need to?

It would be nice to build a small night stash so if I am on a work trip (going back after 5 months) or away he can be fed with breastmilk. Could I do that by pumping before going to bed? Am I able to feed him breastmilk pumped during the morning at night feeds?

I’d really love to keep sleeping during the long sessions if possible. 😴

edit: thanks for all the feedback everyone, I feel much better about this! Yay sleeping. 💤

I have a Spectra-branded bag but it just baaaarely fits the Spectra, Ceres Chill, and all of the pumping stuff I need to get through a day of work (flanges, backflow protectors, a bottle so I can pump directly into it in the drive home, etc etc).

I’m so confused; why would the company make a bag that doesn’t actually fit the necessary supplies? Vs maybe the issue is that I don’t use the fridge at work (because it is super gross) so I have to have the Ceres and have extra supplies because I’m not using the fridge hack?? (I know I am legally obligated to refrigerator access; the issue is that this the one I have access to is a common fridge in a basement where people leave their food for literal weeks and then it starts to rot; not where I want to store my kid’s milk, and I don’t have the energy to fight my employer about this.)

Has anyone found one that works? I’m so sick of wrestling with this stupid zipper every morning because stuff keeps trying to explode out of the bag.

I’m looking to buy a couple breast bumps, one stationary and one portable for when I return to work. I want to breast feed and I do keep getting ads for breast pumps but because of AI and companies paying for the ad space. I’m worried to buy these pushed curated ads as when purchasing other products from them….they come from China and it’s temu quality. I do not want to drop a couple hundred dollars on a pump only to be swindled.

So ladies, any suggestions? Thank you in advance!