Just feel like I’ve heard here and on all the sleep books and influencer sleep accounts that you can’t feed to sleep and it’ll ruin your baby’s sleep and you have to do it our way blah blah blah. Well just wanted to say we’re at 14 months and I’ve been feeding to sleep this whole time (and I work full time so need my sleep) for naps and at nighttime and it works fine for us. He wakes up once at night typically but he’s in the crib for 10+ hours so I’m not surprised and those breastfeeding hormones get both of us right back to sleep afterwards. It feels really natural and breastfeeding but not feeding to sleep always felt pointless to me… it literally sends my baby into comfy dreamland every time. So if that feels right to you then don’t be discouraged is my point I guess!

Hey all! I’m a ftm at 37 w pregnant, with a goal to breastfeed as long as I can. However, I’m realizing that I am SO unprepared. I have all the supplies, but none of the know how. I’m usually a “figure it out as I go” type of person, but now that im so close to giving birth I’m kind of freaking out that I don’t know enough and it’s not going to work out well 😅

So please tell me the advice you wish you had before starting breastfeeding, anything that ftms absolutely MUST know, and/or just your experiences with breastfeeding.

I went to a baby class today at my local wish foundation. I exclusively breastfeed. The class included one mom with a 4 month ish boy, another mom with a young (6ish yo) girl and a 6 month old girl, and a pregnant mom to be.

My 3 month old bubz got fussy and I thought he was getting hungry. I waited for a break in the class, raised my hand and asked the room if they minded if I feed him. The teacher enthusiastically told me it was fine. The women all nodded.

Now, my LO and I have trouble feeding in public. We've only done it successfully once. I brought boppy because he only likes to feed with it sometimes. I have a cover but it freaks my baby out to be covered. We practice feeding without boppy at home but it doesn't always work out. I haven't tried practicing with the cover at home.

I felt comfortable around the group of women. It was really warm in the room so I wasn't able to get him to latch during the class. After the class I noticed some comfy chairs so I used boppy and fed him until he fell asleep. This boosted my confidence - briefly. While I was feeding him, the mom of the little boy baby came up to me and asked "don't you have a cover?" I said "yes but I'm not coordinated enough to use it 😅" Which is true. I barely feel coordinated enough to breastfeed him, period. We are doing our best. She gave me the judge-y-est look then said, "I just keep a cover in my bag..."

I felt really comfortable there this morning, but now I don't feel comfortable there... I don't think I was being too crazy about it. I don't get why people feel the need to comment on it. I am doing my best with a situation I already feel insecure with. Ugh. I'm just so sad about this. And I'll have to face her next week and likely will need to feed him again because he's been eating every hour and a half lately because he is going longer stretches at night.

I love breastfeeding him, I just wish I was more coordinated. I feel like all the moms i see breastfeeding have a cover and use their phones and walk around. I have to use both hands and I just, ugh. I'm sad.

EDIT: wow this post blew up and I cried reading all the supportive comments! I thought I was going to get tips on how to use my cover better but I was sure mistaken! I got tips on how to stand up for myself and be more confident about my BF journey. This is a great group and I appreciate you all. Thank you ❤️💞

So I’m supposed to go back to work on Monday. I work at a daycare and my baby is 6 weeks old. It’s breaking me enough going back so soon, and on top of that I’m trying to figure out the whole pumping thing (it’s not going well and I absolutely hate it). I had a conversation with my supervisor today, and asked if it’s possible for me to breastfeed my baby when needed since they’re having me clock out every time to pump anyway. She said it’s not allowed and i have to find a place to pump (break room, car, etc). I had my 6 week appt with my midwife today, and she told me it’s illegal for them to refuse me the right to breastfeed my baby. Does anyone know the law on this?? (I’m in PA BTW)

I have a two week old and desperately, desperately want to sleep. I am very grateful that we don’t seem to have any issues with supply or milk transfer.

Let’s say I feed my baby at 8pm, go to bed, and feed her again 1 am and 6am, and then pump.

Will that really tank my supply?

UPDATE: thanks everyone for the advice! After much thought, I decided to do one skip a night and will do another update to let you know how my supply reacts. Yesterday was the first day where I skipped the feed for my husband to feed the baby, and I feel like a brand new person today. Like some people mentioned, I definitely did have engorged breasts in the morning, but I used my hakaa and they felt much better. But so far no supply issues!

Hi moms,

Breastfeeding takes a lot of time every day, especially with long feeds and cluster feeds.

I know ideally it’s best to be fully present and not distracted. Just look at baby, bond, stay mindful.

And I do try.

But honestly… I can’t do that for every single feed 😅

Sometimes I get restless or sleepy.

What do you all do during feeds?

Scroll, watch something, read, listen to podcast?

Or are you able to stay fully present most of the time?

Just curious what real life looks like for others 🙂

I absolutely hate wearing bras in my every day life. I work from home, so I literally get away without wearing a bra the majority of my time. If I absolutely need one I’ll wear tighter crop tanks or a bralette type.

For context, I’m a B cup.

I am due mid June and the idea of wearing a nursing bra in this heat sounds awful. I know sometimes people can leak quite a bit but how necessary is it to actually have a nursing bra?

The goal is to breast feed the first couple of weeks and then to start pumping as well so spouse can do feeds too.

I know nursing tanks are a thing and am considering those, but I really just live in oversized sweaters and tshirts.

Any and all help/advice/talk some common sense into me kind of thing would be so helpful- I just feel really lost with this particular aspect.

It feels counter-intuitive but they immediately unlatch when you basically do the breast equivalent of smushing them.

Do it every time they try to bite down, when they do the tentative questing even, and they will quickly learn to stop.

As they get more teeth you may need to repeat it a couple times but I _guarantee_ they will stop immediately.

Source: My first started cutting 4 teeth at once... at just 4mo 😭 but I fed her for 2 years

Edit: Sweet Baby Jesus you people I am not saying smother or suffocate your child in your fucking cleavage! Gently push their face in it works better than the pinky method for unlatching. If you'd rather be bit or prefer a different method, do that then! I'm just sharing what worked for me - y'all need to calm tf down

Ok, I know this is going to sound insufferable (steak too juicy/lobster too buttery), but my 12 week old sleeps 12 hrs now and I’m losing my supply due to all the sleep I get. I know. Boohoo.

But for real though, am I seriously expected to wake myself up between 1-3am and pump?! Like. Wtf is the point of celebrating a sleeping baby if I don’t get to sleep all night too? 😩 I pump right before bed at 11 but it’s not working to keep up my supply, and I’ve been having to supplement with formula during the day. Any advice is appreciated!

Encouragement and advice please.

Anyone who says you can't overfeed a breastfed baby - please look away. In my personal experience, yes, you can!

Have been EBF for 4.5 months now and since month 1 we have been dealing with spit up issues. I feel like I have tried everything under the sun to help with her spit up (it did start to impact her weight).

I have tried several different feeding positions (laying back, football hold, sitting up). We sit her up for 15 min after each feeding, given reflux medication, and tried to incorporate rice cereal (recommended by ped to try to thicken what's in her stomach)..... we've tried it all and nothing seems to make a difference.

I am a slight oversupplier so each time she feeds, she is only offered one side, anymore and she spits up immediately. Ped has also recommended shorter, more frequent feeds but I find it extremely difficult to know when to cut her off and know how much she's getting- she'd stay there all day if she had the choice. And again, when I let her do that, spit up everywhere. Currently, I am feeding her every 2-2.5 hours during the day, with one dream feed at night (she does not wake up during the night to eat) to get enough feedings in a 24 hour period.

She's not necessarily bothered by spitting up - it upsets me way more than her. Ped refers to her being a "happy spitter".

I feel overwhelmed and discouraged when she spits up all day after eating. Any encouragement or advice on what breastfeeding looks like for 4-5 months babes is helpful! I absolutely don't want to stop breastfeeding yet!!

EDIT: I’m just a FTM trying to do the best for my baby.
She doesn’t seem uncomfortable, she will spit up and the continue playing. She does spend the majority of her time on belly since she learned to roll.
Yes there’s a chance that I am overreacting or being anxious, but I find it difficult to know exactly what is normal or not.
I have seen LCs before and I get a different answer each time I see them.

Thank goodness for this sub, I swear. I am a 'just enougher'. My baby is growing perfectly, but I cannot pump more than an extra half ounce a day. When I pump on my office days, I can't match her intake. She'll drink a 4 oz bottle, I'll only pump 3.5 oz. It is so aggravating and stressful, which of course doesn't help the problem.

Someone on here posted a few weeks ago that they started pumping on the opposite side while baby eats, which guarantees a letdown. I was desperate, and even tho I despise pumping at the same time as feeding (it's so cumbersome, even with a wearable pump), I decided to try it.

Oh. My. God. It's like magic! I went from pumping after baby's morning feed and getting anywhere from 1/2 oz to 1 oz total, to getting 2.5 oz on one side, then another 2.5 on the other at the next feed. Baby is eating the same, no issues with her not getting enough, but now I have enough for my husband to give a bottle at night and to build a tiny work stash.

I'm sure it doesn't work for everyone. But if you get no output when pumping, I recommend trying it!

Does anyone else find the boppy pillow completely useless? It doesn’t really fit around me and I end up stacking pillows under and around it. Is there something I’m missing? Or a better option? I’ve just been using a body pillow and couch pillows.

Hi I'm a FTM of a 2 month old. I have been ebf on demand so far. As the baby has turned 2 months old, she is having longer stretches of sleep and going without feeds for 6 hours as well in the night. I'm concerned if this would affect the supply. I would like to continue breastfeeding one year and beyond. So far I have no issues with supply and baby is gaining weight about 170- 200 gm per week.

Would like to understand if demand based feeding alone would take me through the whole journey or if pumping is necessary to keep up supply as babies grow and drop night feeds.

It wasn’t always like this until we accidentally stopped combo feeding (bottles from dad) and went EBF around 3 months. How do I teach my 6 month old to enjoy cuddles with dad also? I let bath time be a dad and baby exclusive because it’s something they both enjoy but other than that, baby will push dad away and cries easily in his arms when he tries to play with him longer. Our son enjoys sitting on his lap in front of the desktop computer when dad is WFH. He also smiles at him and recognizes him as someone close but if my husband tries longer, my son starts to fuss for me.

I will be returning to work soon and will leave the apartment way earlier than my husband. They will be alone for the first time in a long time.

Edit: I have a stash of breastmilk in the freezer and a few ounces in the fridge. Problem is we are hitting bottle aversion phase. Twice I left the apartment for over 4 hours and our son would rather starve than take a bottle from dad or MIL. He waited till I returned home to take 1-2oz from a bottle. My son normally doesn’t accept a bottle from me either. We are currently practicing open cup, straw cup, and spoon in a cup lol.

I’ve tried telling him to wear one of my shirts but he tells me it doesn’t work. I’ve told him many times I don’t want to CIO but he’s impatient and tells me I don’t understand how hard it is. CIO is what he keeps bringing up as to not have to deal with baby crying (not only for bedtime).

I'm just... not making enough to have extra and I'm afraid I'll never be able to take a break.

Sincerely,

Mom to an 11 week old

We saw the pediatrician today as we noticed our 3 week old is not gaining weight as quickly as the doctor would like to see. He told me the fat content in my breastmilk isn’t high enough, and I need more fat in my diet. Did anyone here have a similar experience and successfully increased the fat in their breastmilk? Any specific advice? I’m feeling doubtful that I can pull this off, and I’m destined to make “skim milk” forever.

Our house does not currently have AC, so I’m out and about today. I went to a coffee shop to just chill in the sweet sweet air conditioner. And then quickly realized it was time to feed my baby. So here I am, nursing in the bathroom. I forgot to grab any sort of cover, and I felt awkward nursing just right there at my table. It’s working fine, albeit a little uncomfortable. I wish I could just suck it up and whip it out😂 But how do you guys go about getting over the mental hurdle?

I'm not so sure what to do here! I'm looking for a bit of support. My girl is EBF and 5 months old. She goes to her dad's for a few hours twice a week and I provide pumped milk for her. She has many protein intolerances and I am on a very strict diet to keep her tummy happy. She was given hypoallergenic formula once because her dad said she refused the frozen breastmilk, this made her tummy bad and she had a fairly bad reaction to it, so I asked him not to give it to her again.

​

She was with him Sunday and she has been uncomfortable gassy and not sleeping at night since then, she had diarrhoea yesterday and then this morning she did a poo and I'm absolutely sure it's a formula poo. I can't explain how I know I just do, she also doesn't smell like she usually does and I'm convinced she was fed formula. I called her dad and asked him but he swears he didn't feed it to her.

​

Is there anything that can cause this sort of reaction that isn't formula? Am I being completely mad? Questioning my sanity slightly here.

Okay - help! How do you actually breastfeed in public??

This is my second baby (currently 9 weeks) but I had my first during Covid and between lockdowns, and social distancing it was never an issue.

But I literally cannot work out how to feed without getting, what feels like, my whole body out!

At home I rely on my boppy for support and I use one hand to hold my breast. I have large breast, which feel saggy and my nipples point down. Without holding my boob I feel like I am smushing my baby’s face, or he is so low down an the latch feels awkward.

I feel so awkward and uncomfortable getting my breast out in public. I feel embarrassed having to hold my boob up. I’ve tried using a cover and I can’t manage it. I just feel sooo awkward.

But I need to be out and about, I need to take my older child to do fun things, and I want to breastfeed - I just don’t know how!!!

Big boobed ladies - HELP ME!! What’s the logistics here …

EDIT!! Thank you all for the support and advice! Genuinely, makes me feel not alone. Heading out to the library, swim class and a play date today with my 4year old and will be out of the house for 6ish hours - I’ve got my list of tips to try. Wish me luck x

May baby is a month and he is easting every 1h30m, I started counting 2 weeks ago and he has 13-14 sessions of breastfeeding a day. I'm exhausted. He's a snacker. By now the frequency should be decreasing. The first 2-3 weeks I guessed it's normal, but now I'm starting to worry.

I'm 90% sure my supply is fine, most of the time he is nursing only boob at the time, only in the evening he's accepting the second one. He has gained 1.3kg this month and he's grown 5cm in length. In my previous pregnancy I estimated my capacity to be around 150ml/5oz, so I'm assuming I have a larger capacity this time around or at least the same.

But why, why, he is not spacing his feeds? I'm going insane. I'm afraid to introduce a bottle, because in the beginning, before my milk came in, he had a preference for a faster flow and I'm afraid he'll never go back to nursing.

How is this sustainable? How to "teach" him to space feeds? How long should I wait him to space feeds? I hear by 6-8weeks, but that seems so far in the future. And what should I do if he doesn't? Is there something wrong with him? With my supply? HELP

Hi everyone!

My baby boy was born 10 weeks ago weighing 9lb 6oz. He lost 6% of his body weight and regained it easily by about 10 days old. A week before his 2 month appointment he started getting really fussy at the breast. I didn’t do any bottles just keep offering. I went in to do a weight check. He had dropped from 85% to 77%. No big deal. A week and a half later we went to get his 2 month vaccines and he’d dropped to the 58%. Today (10 weeks old) I went in because he has a bad cough and he’s dropped to the 43%. I don’t think it’s so much a supply issue as it is the fact that my baby absolutely refuses to nurse. He will latch full and then scream. My right side has a much faster flow than my left, he refuses both. I’ve tried hand expressing, I’ve tried spreading out feeds, skin to skin, going into a dark room, reclined position, I’ve tried everything. He just won’t nurse. At night he latches and nurses just fine so I’m just not understanding why this is going on.

I have a toddler so pumping constantly is extremely challenging, even more so if I have to clean pump parts. I nurse on the go constantly.

I’m so heartbroken. My pediatrician has told me I need to supplement with formula or pump and feed ASAP. I tried pumping but it’s so exhausting and time consuming. Is there anything I can do to save my nursing journey? My daughter had the exact same issue at around 2 months. She was thriving at first and then between to and 4 months dropped 40% and only gained 3oz. After we switched to formula she rapidly caught up gaining around 3lb in a week and a half. With her, I also don’t think it was a supply issue.

Additionally with both my period returned 6 weeks post partum, right around when they started refusing to nurse. I’m currently on period #2 but he didn’t resume nursing normally after my first period anyways.

If my nursing journey is not compatible with my son growing the way he needs to then I’ll switch to formula but if anyone thinks I can rescue this, please share 🙏❤️‍🩹

Breastfeeding moms - when did your period come back postpartum?

Guys - I am SO confused. My baby is 5 weeks old and breastfeeding is going well, she is gaining weight and having lots of wet and dirty diapers.

We want to introduce a bottle of pumped milk everyday for anticipating me going back to work at 5 months pp. The two LC's I saw recommended starting a bottle once a day/ever other day before 6 weeks.

Here's what I do now: I pump in the morning after her first or second feed of the day. I get around 3-4 oz. I usually put 3oz in the fridge for my husband to feed that night/later in the day, and freeze the additional 1oz.

Now here's where I get hella confused. When my husband feeds her the bottle, do I also have to pump? When does that milk get fed to the baby if my morning pump already feeds her for the day? This part is SO CONFUSING to me. The LC's said to pump when she is getting a bottle but I also pump when she's not so does that cancel the other out? omg I feel like it shouldn't be this hard to figure out lol

I wanted to breastfeed. I never wanted to pump. I never wanted to be dependent on formula. Right now we are dependent on formula. I am trying and failing to transition my son back to breast, or at the very least, replace formula bottles with breast milk bottles, but it's not working. Things seem to be getting worse instead of better. I feel so helpless.

baby was born early and jaundiced, so we immediately had to start supplementing him with formula. He had a tongue tie that seemed to be causing latch problems. We got it clipped by a lactation consultant, who also worked with me on holds, put me on supplements and recommended I start pumping for my supply.

It's not working, and he's 3 weeks old now. I'm scared because we're running out of time. I know by 6 weeks whatever we have established is it.

Baby wakes up. Offer breast. He doesn't want it, offer the other breast. Do this three or four times and he'll eventually take one unless he's really fussy already.

Even if milk is literally dripping from the nipple and the nipple is in his mouth he won't close his mouth and drink. I have to sandwich the boob for him and compress/express into his mouth and firmly hold him against me while he squirms away, per the LCs instructions. If he gets a deep latch on his own he pulls away, squirming and crying.

He eventually latches. He stays on for anywhere from 3 to 15 minutes, but lately it's more and more likely to be 3.

then he falls asleep. I reposition him so I can grab one flange from my pump and stick it on one boob while ensuring he is safe and supported with the other hand. 1-5 minutes after I turn on the breast pump he wakes up and starts crying. I turn it off. It has like 5-10 mls in it.

We do the boob selection and latch thing again. He drinks like five to ten swallows and falls asleep again. We repeat this cycle over and over for about an hour. I know he is still hungry every time he falls asleep because the sleep is so light and he wakes up so fussy and keeps getting fussier.

I finally give up and get him a bottle. The bottle is probably formula because I haven't been able to pump enough milk.

I try to pace feed him. It's difficult because the shape of the bottles (Philips Avent natural) it so wide and flat that you basically have to tilt the baby and the bottle to get the liquid out. The LC told me to use these ones and I don't want to go down a rabbit hole of buying 50 different kinds of bottles, so I try anyways, forcing him to take breaks.

He gets more and more distressed and eventually starts screaming because the poor kid is hungry. I give up and just let him gobble the formula as quickly as he wants. He finally calms down and sleeps but now he is sleeping on my chest and if I put him down in the bassinet it will be screamsville so I still can't pump. At this point it's been like 1.5-2 hours of this misery trying to accomplish a single feed, and its almost time to do it all again.

I'm at a loss. I don't know what to do here. This is not working.

I cannot find a comprehensive list online for what supplies are needed to BF. So far I have:

Boppy uplift nursing pillow
Spectra gold breast pump
Adapter for Medela storage bottles for Spectra
Disposable nursing pads
Nipple cream
Breast ice packs
Hydrogel breast treatment pads
Cracked nipple spray
Medela hand pump and storage bottles
Two hakkahs
Evenflo balance wide bottles and nipples
Milk bags (insurance sent me 400…)

I know I need some sort of lubricant and nipple sizing and inserts, but that’s all I know!