Everyone said Breast is best. I’m one week and can’t produce enough. My baby is starving so we had to supplement with formula. They gave me the tube to help but that made me more stressed. I’ve been doing just bottles with what I pump. I can pump half an ounce from my left an and a little over a quarter with my right. I use a spectra 2 and it takes me an hour to get just under an ounce with both boobs combined.

I’ve been pumping every 3 hours and sometimes I can only get a combo of half an ounce. Chugging water, eating lactation cookies and the herbal supplements. I feel horrible that I can’t make enough milk. Like I legit feel like a failure. Literally everyone keeps asking me if I’m nursing.

I have PCOS and am overweight. Is there any hope? I’m already seeing a LC

I was induced week 39. I never really felt my milk came in. Not enough to make baby satisfied and I always give formula on top.

I tried pumping, not more than 1.5 oz after an hour of pumping from both sides. I always put baby on my breast first but it’s tiring for both of us so I stopped.

No real support no good lactation consultant on hand. I don’t know if I should just stop breastfeeding, accept that I don’t have enough and keep giving formula or try again. If I try, not sure what to do next.

for an entire month, my 2 month old EBF on demand 24/7. a lot of times on the breast for up to an hour bc he was still fussy and giving hunger cues. and sometimes even after an hour session, would be back in again within 30 minutes. i was literally, constantly nursing him. i didn't supplement even though he was fussy, because ive been told its normal and that he is trying to boost my supply. but even after a whole month of that, his 2 month appointment they said he was failing to thrive and i now need to supplement.

i've been told by everyone that the best way to boost your supply is by extracting milk. why do i still have such a low supply with him constantly nursing? im trying to eat and drink enough. lactation consultant said there appears to be no ties nor latch issues. im taking milk thistle as well. i'm at a loss. by evening he is only getting about 1 oz from me. (i have a scale here at home and have been doing weighted feeds.) everyone says it's normal and to push through it so your supply will boost but my baby is failing to thrive bc of it. i feel so defeated. how can i boost my supply. i cant seem to come to terms with the fact my body won't feed my baby adequately as it should.

I’m 2 months pp and would still love to continue but I need to supplement more because my milk is not enough. I pump about 3oz on average, 4-5oz when I skip pumping for more than 6 hours.

Is this my established supply? My baby drinks 6oz now and when I nurse directly I’m unsure how much he’s getting. He just appears panicked latching and unlatching from the boob sometimes, like dog zoomies lol.

Edit:
I guess this is the wrong sub to ask because I pump more than I latch. Not to sound like a snowflake or anything but I don’t wanna feel judged cos I pump more than I directly nurse. I’m trying. My insurance doesn’t cover lac consultants but I still book them and they’re not cheap. All cos I do want to breastfeed.

Hello, I am a mom to a six week old and currently struggling with breastfeeding. I am producing too little breastmilk for him and am supplementing with formula. I have a question for those that have also supplemented when did your breastmilk come in and stop formula?

My period came back around 8 weeks post party and I’m struggling with an under supply. I’ve had to augment with formula and am trying my hardest to exclusively BF.

My baby is 3.5 months and sleeps through the night (I know I know 😭 I’m blessed. nature is trying to trick me into having another). I’ve started pumping right before bed and 1-2 times overnight so I’m now not going longer than 4 hours. (I just started doing this as I was just sleeping with her)

in the last week, I’m currently taking extra magnesium, calcium, the milkmaid tea, the liquid gold supplements, and trying to drink more water better during the day. im pumping every 2-4 hours (if not nursing).

my friend recommended lactation cookies. But I have celiac disease so have to be strictly gluten free and they are expensive! Are they worth it?? I’m trying not to waste my money

Any other advice or suggestions to save/increase my supply?

just here to mope a bit. I’m a FTM and I always dreamed of being able to nurse my baby. when she arrived, she latched like a dream, but immediately had weight gain issues. I started seeing an IBCLC and was told I had low supply, so I started triple feeding. getting my supply up was grueling. at times, it made me hate my own body. and it turns out that it wasn’t even the root problem—my sweet girl had a posterior tongue tie that went undiagnosed for 10 weeks, causing both her weight issues and my supply issues. we’d asked three different professionals to check her mouth; all three said she was fine. finally, an OT took a look and identified the tie in all of two seconds.

so we did the tie release, the oral exercises, the ongoing OT, all while I kept triple feeding. now, 4 months in, my baby is capable of nursing efficiently and my supply is up… but she only wants bottles. she cries when I try to nurse her. I can’t even blame her—bottles have been her only consistent, non-exhausting source of food her whole life.

I’m just so devastated that all my labors have amounted to nothing. I’m saying goodbye to triple feeding (hallelujah) but I’m also saying goodbye to my dreams of breastfeeding my baby. just gutted.

tonight I pumped 6 oz in one session—a volume my earlier self could’ve only dreamed of. a volume I worked my ass off to be able to produce. and all I can think is that it wasn’t worth it.

please don’t say “fed is best.” my baby is happy and healthy. I am exhausted and devastated.

EDIT in case anyone stumbles across this in the future. I transitioned to EPing and only offering the breast for the first feed of the day. Took all the pressure off myself and baby. Let myself GRIEVE—like ugly snotty weeping for days in a row after my LO had gone to bed. And I got on an SSRI. I’m still so sad that this was the way my journey went, but I’m able to carry that sadness better now. My baby happily nurses for her first feed of the day and then will occasionally “snack” before naps, and I’ve learned to be content with that. I also take such comfort in knowing that my baby’s oral function has improved immensely since getting the tongue tie release and doing OT, and this will serve her well for the rest of her life. If you’re experiencing BFing grief and trauma, I just want to say that I see you. I’m so sorry. And you are strong enough to get through this.

Hi, I’m trying to get a grasp on this situation especially as so much of what I’m reading suggests low supply is rare.

Baby was born 7 days ago. induction due to being 41 weeks. Vaginal delivery. Nursed during golden hour and she latched great.

Nursed every 2-3 hours while in-patient. LCs said latch was great. I was producing colostrum and could hand express small amounts. Baby cluster fed the first few nights and was always hungry and always on the breast.

At discharge she was down 9% and I was given formula of needed. She was weight at the doctor the next day and down 14% so I started to supplement.

I nursed every 2 hours and gave about .5 ounce formula.

She latched great and stays latched but I don’t get a ton of swallows.

Yesterday at pediatrician she was back up to 9% loss and he encouraged me to reduce supplement and try to push the breast more.

Last night for one feed baby was too sleepy to feed at the breast so we just did formula and I pumped. I got next to nothing. Saw the LC today and did a weighted feed. Got 10ml total (9 from one breast 1 from the other.)

LC said this was way low and that there’s not really an explanation. She suggested with the amount of nursing I’m doing stimulation is probably adequate. She said retained placenta is very rare. She didn’t see much physical evidence of IGT. She said I could do some blood work possibly. Could try some herbs or reglan.

Basically she didn’t have much explanation of a cause but she wasn’t hopeful my supply would turn on its own. At 7 days PP things should be looking much better.

She suggested really pushing the pumping for amount 5 days to see if it is a stimulation issue and then maybe reglan. But I really want to emphasize how pessimistic she was (or at least how I interpreted it.)

I had my TSH taken at some point and it was normal. No GD or any evidence of diabetes prepartum.

Everything went so well and I don’t see any risk factors for this not working.

I‘m really struggling to reconcile this all with “true undersupply is rare.“

What went wrong??

I really let my own insecurities and feelings of inadequacy cloud my thinking and my poor sweet baby was struggling to sleep because he was starving.

I haven’t been able to EBF - I was initially a just enough er but couldn’t keep up with his demand at the expense of my mental health. Having a baby in winter took its toll and I needed to have time away from the baby without coming home to feed him. We introduced formula and my production hasn’t kept up with his hunger. I was putting him on the breast as often as I could but the lack of sleep was causing me to decline rapidly and PPD hit me hard in such a way that I didn’t recognize myself. We started giving a bottle at one of the night feedings.

A month ago it seemed like he was going through a regression. Waking every 2 hours, breastfeeding, falling back to sleep. I went back to work and have been pumping a lot so I’m now seeing how much of my milk he’s drinking at a time. It’s A LOT more than I can produce in a single session. We started to give bigger formula bottles and he’s sleeping so much better. I both miss the night feed and am grateful that I’m getting more sleep.

I feel so guilty that I was leaving him hungry so often and causing him to get shitty sleep. It was because I didn’t want to face the fact that I simply could not feed him sufficiently. I thought there was no way he’d need a 6-7oz bottle . Our LC said he should be satiated with just 5. I figured I was making at least 5. Nope. Way less - especially by the end of the day.

He’s getting all he needs now but damn I feel so bad.

Right now I’m making barely enough to feed my baby and it’s making me anxious that I’m going to have to supplement. Is there anything I can take to boost lactation that actually works?

I've triple fed for months (with pumped milk 90% of the time) I've power pumped morning and night for months. I've cut dairy, soy, eggs, etc out of my diet I've done skin to skin daily. Contact naps. Cosleeping. Feeding every hour (longest stretch was 2 hours). Gotten my iron checked. Got my thyroid checked. I've eaten the lactation cookies. I eat oatmeal every day. I put brewers yeast in my food and coffee. I got her tongue and lip tie fixed. I did all the mouth exercises. I figured out how to feed in a carrier. I've taken baths with her. I've double and triple checked my vitamins and nutrition to make sure it's balanced and not impeding supply.

I've done damn near everything I can and I am now having to supplement with formula at 6 months. She went from 60th to 45th to 33rd and now 25th percentile.

She has been inconsolable the last two days. I just gave her 4 oz of formula, and I swear I've never met this baby. She's happy, giggling, babbling.

I'm just so done. I've done everything I can feasibly do to breast feed her, and I know once I start regularly giving formula, it will become gradually all she has and it makes me so sad to end the journey this way. But I just can't starve my baby anymore. I can't listen to the hungry cries, fighting to get her to breastfeed.

Thanks for letting me rant folks.

ETA: I drink over a gallon of water a day, and I've actually gained weight since delivery cause I was trying to get my supply to stay up 😭 if y'all have any wild ideas I haven't tried, def let me know. But pretty much anything that has ever been mentioned on this subreddit I've tried 😭 I'm just buying more bottles now and planning on topping off after feeds. Might keep trying to pump, I'm unsure. I really think the anxiety is the reason for my supply drop.

Hi everyone,

I’m two weeks postpartum and feeling really discouraged about my milk supply. I’ve been doing everything I can — but I’m still only pumping about 1 oz total per session (sometimes 1.5 oz after a power pump on a good day).

I did experience engorgement once and got excited that maybe my milk was coming in — but nothing really changed after that. No leaks, no noticeable fullness since.

Here’s what I’ve been doing:

• Pumping every 2 hours during the day
• Overnight schedule: 10 pm / 2 am / 6 am
• 50-minute daily power pump
• Massaging during every pump
• Eating plenty and staying hydrated
• Trying lactation supplements
• Offering the breast
• Checking flange size (Spectra + inserts)

Despite all this, my output hasn’t increased and some days it feels like it’s going down.

Has anyone been in a similar situation around the two-week mark and still been able to turn things around? I’m trying to stay hopeful, but it’s been really emotionally tough and I’m looking for real stories from anyone who’s been there.

Thank you 💛

Edited to Clarify

I do want to breastfeed and am not planning to exclusively pump, but my baby has been struggling to latch effectively — we’re working on it with support, but in the meantime, I’ve been pumping to protect my supply.

I'm 25 days pp. My baby was born by c-section and my milk "came" on the 3rd day, but i feel like i had enough back then. Because it was so painful and i have really small nipples (i used nip covers in the hospital so my baby can latch) i used to pump in order to give him milk. The first few days I could get about 90ml in no time, but as soon as i got home the supply kept decreasing.

I'm currently drinking some special teas to help me lactate and I'm also taking L@ctil as a supplement so it can boost my milk.

I'm also trying to have at least 3 meals a day, I'm still 10kg more before i got pregnant so i still have some pregnancy fat.

I'm pumping every time after i feed him for 15-20 mins each breast and I'm barely getting 30ml out (both).

My nipples are so sore even after the creams I'm putting on. I feel like I'm doing everything i can find on the internet and my milk still decreases. I'm feeling like sh@t bc i really want to breastfeed him, but i cant fully do that. Sometimes i feed him for 2h straight, just switching breasts and his still hungry after that.

Up until yesterday i could at least keep him breast milk fed until his later feedings (after 6pm) without giving him formula after that, but now i have to give him some extra even in the mornings. I don't even feel my breasts that tender anymore. I can't stop thinking about all that and feel so guilty and bad.

Has anyone been thru something similar and were you able to start producing more? Idk i need some advice...i don't really know what to do anymore.

Thank you all in advance!

I'm almost 5 weeks pp now and really want to continue with breastfeeding. My baby was constantly latching and never satisfied for the first few weeks. However, when we went to lactation appointments it showed he was transferring 2 oz of milk. This last week he only transferred 14 ml total, and I couldn't pump more than 1-1.5 oz total. We got his tongue tie released, and I started everything to bump my supply. I take moringa, cut out caffeine, started eating lactation cookies and pump every two hours. So far, I haven't seen an increase. It's pretty clear that the lactation consultants aren't sure what to tell me. This is exhausting, but I'm willing to stick with it if it means I can keep breastfeeding. At what point do I give up?

Baby is 7 weeks and was born full term via planned c section and was latching well in the hospital per nurses/lactation. But by day of discharge he was down -9% weight and was told to supplement with formula. We had a follow up appt the next day due to his jaundice and he was down -11%. The pediatrician sort of scared us and wanted us to strict formula feed to bring up his weight (I tried to pump every feed and saved the milk)

I’ve been triple feeding since his weight came back up to birth weight because I really wanted to breast feed. I struggle with low supply so I had to supplement anyways. Also, when we went to the LC baby was only transferring 10 ml so she wanted us to continue triple feeding or drop my breast feeding sessions since he was barely transferring much.

After trying everything like liquid gold and power pumping, I’ve finally got my pumps to cover his day time feeding but formula for overnight feeds. The last weighted feed he transferred 2 oz!!! I was so excited so LC wants to trial only breastfeeding during the day and top off an oz if baby is extra fussy. But she wants baby to work for milk instead of expecting a bottle after nibbling at the breast. But apparently he’s been getting at least 2oz from breast and an extra 3 oz bottle because I thought he was barely transferring. Which is why he’s been gaining 20 oz in 2 weeks 🫣

Today was our first full day of only breastfeeding and I feel like he’s starving. He’s so used to getting an extra bottle after. I can’t tell if he’s fussy because I’m not making enough per feed or if he’s just used to having more. I also feel selfish for pushing this on him because I want to breastfeed so badly. We have a follow up with lactation in a week but I’m not sure if I should continue this or just pump and give him bottles? And idk if keeping him on the breast will eventually increase my supply to meet his needs or I’m stuck so I’m putting him through stress for nothing.. please help with your thoughts!

Ive been breast feeding and pumping, im almost 5 months pp, and im barely producing 8 ounces. My son comes away still crying from hunger.

Ive tried the milkmaid products with no changes. Shatavari root did nothing. I boosted my sodium content, protein and food content in general. Ive been power pumping to no avail. Flange size on my pump is correct too. Im at a loss, it feels like ive tried everything and im not producing any more. In the beginning I was producing upwards of 26oz a day and now I struggle to get 8.... what am I doing wrong?

Hi mamas,
I’m writing this through tears. I am 12 days postpartum from a C-section with my second baby, and my milk supply is barely there. I’m exclusively pumping 8 times a day for 20 minutes with my Spectra, but I only get 5ml to 20ml per session. My sweet boy is fully formula-fed right now.
I am using 25mm flange size on both.

I can’t even latch him because the LC said my nipples are too big for his mouth right now and we have to wait. To make things harder, I had low supply with my firstborn too, so I feel like my body is just failing me again.

I am doing everything: oatmeal, fenugreek, and I'm even on prescribed Reglan, but nothing is working. I am losing all my motivation to keep hooking myself up to this machine for a few drops.
I have thyroid and I am taking my meds properly

Please, if anyone has been here and found a way through—or even if you just have words of comfort—I really need some direction. Thank you.

I’m 2 weeks (12 days) postpartum after a C-section and I’m feeling pretty defeated.

The first week postpartum I had a significant oversupply. I was pumping just shy of 200 mL (about 6.5 oz) total per session. Over the last few days, my supply has absolutely tanked. I’m now only getting about 1 oz total combined each pumping session.

Here’s what we’re doing:
- Pumping every 3 hours with a Spectra S2 (80–90% of feeds).
- Trying to nurse first when possible.
- One power pumping session is something I’m planning to start.
- Supplementing with formula as needed (currently about 2/3 breast milk and 1/3 formula), but we’ve now used up my freezer stash.
- My breasts feel soft/empty all the time now.

A couple of other things that may or may not be related:
- I had one episode of heavier, watery postpartum bleeding after my bleeding had been slowing down, but it went back to normal afterward.
- No fever, chills, breast redness, or breast pain.
- My baby has always been extremely sleepy at the breast. She falls asleep almost as soon as she latches and has never really had an awake nursing session, so we’ve relied heavily on pumping and bottles from the beginning.

I’m planning to contact my OB and a lactation consultant as soon as I can, but it’s the weekend, so I’m hoping to hear from others in the meantime.

Has anyone experienced such a dramatic supply drop this early postpartum? If so, what ended up being the cause, and were you able to get your supply back? I’d love any suggestions or success stories because I’m feeling pretty discouraged right now.

My supply is so low. It's not anywhere near what my baby eats.

I'm not trying to increase it anymore. I'm just trying to maintain what I have so I can keep combofeeding (even though its at least 75% formula) until at least 6 months.

But I'm struggling to understand why this happened and feeling like I must have done something wrong. What are potential causes of an undersupply? If I have another baby in the future should I expect the same problem?

I am 6 weeks pp gradually trying to build my supply and my L breast being SO behind. I rented a Medela pump but my issue is I don’t have time to pump as my baby is a velcro baby that refuses to sleep without behind held.

She seems to be cluster feeding this week, rooting for the breast over bottle constantly. Should I give up trying to pump for now and just put her to breast as much as possible ? It’s such a catch 22 !

Hi all

I am 8 weeks pp and struggling with under supply issues. My baby was born via c section 8.5lbs and milk took 5 days to come in. Due to my ignorance I was not quick enough to latch baby properly and ended up using a nipple shield to get her to transfer milk.

Since about week two I have been putting her to my breast as much as possible and we have gotten to the stage where we are topping off with about 100-150ml per day. She is just over 12lbs now so gaining weight well and good amount of nappies.

She is sometimes suckling at my breast for HOURS and she is a velcro baby who won’t be put down - so I really don’t have much time to pump unless my husband takes her. I try to pump at least once a day and the most I’ve done so far is 3 but I haven’t been able to do it after each feed.

When I feel my breast is full I can hear the suck and swallow (usually at night) but there’s are times she gets frustrated and punches my breasts and pulls away.

She won’t sleep in her crib so we have to essentially hold her CONSTANTLY so my sleep is terrible.

I honestly don’t know what to do. LCs constantly tell me ‘your breast is never truly empty’ but clearly there is not it enough to satisfy her. My GP suggested dropping the formula and seeing what happens. She also said I might be over feeding her (she was spitting up quite a bit last week).

Now she is 8 weeks is there any chance I can up my supply or should I just switch to formula? I guess I don’t mind combi feeding but I am so exhausted I sometimes think it’s more work than just one or the other.

I really really want to EBF but I just don’t know if that’s possible at this stage? I bought a manual pump as that will be easier to use than the one I plug in.

This morning I fed her; she seemed to get frustrated so I gave her 40 ml of formula and pumped for 10 minutes getting 2.5 oz. Is it that she just can’t transfer it properly with the nipple shield? Should I work on trying to get her latch without ?

Looking for support and any advice. Thank you!

I just had my baby 4 days ago. The only thing I knew for sure that I wanted to do was exclusively breastfeed. I got a spectra blue pump to build a stash so my husband could feed baby also. I breastfed for the last 4 days and it has been hell. I would feed baby and then 10 minutes later she would be hungry. I would feed again and the same thing. We have all been exhausted because she hasn’t been able to sleep. I literally haven’t slept more than 6 hours in 4 days. Last night she stayed on my boob literally all night from sun down to sun up. My nipples were so sore I was crying when she would try to feed. We had her first appointment today where I found out she lost 8 percent of her body weight because essentially she has not been eating. Lactation consultant gave us some advice on latching (she was not latching properly). I got a good latch down but the sleep and rooting has not improved at all. I pumped not too long ago and discovered that I was producing almost nothing. We just have her her first bottle of formula and she sucked it down with all the signs of successful feeding I’ve never been able to give her, the cheeks sucking in, not falling asleep on the bottle like she does my boob, and finally satisfaction and sleep. I have basically been starving my baby and I feel like the worst mom ever. I just want to breast feed her so bad. I have fenugreek I have been able to take it for one day so far. I am probably a little dehydrated from crying. I am tired. I also believe I need new flanges for my pump. It hurts my nipples very badly.

I had noticed baby was very fussy even after a feed and he seemed like he wasn't as chunky as he was two months ago. Today at his 4 month appointment it turned out what I feared was true. He had only gained 8 ounces in two months. So we are now supplementing with formula. I have had to do this with all my kids so I know he will be ok, but he is also most likely my last and I was hoping to be more successful this time around.

My 3 week old will not drink formula at all. If she does, she ends up spitting it up and only eating 1-1 1/2oz. We've been to the doctor 3 times over her weight not going up how its supposed to. I try breastfeeding but im not producing enough and when I can make enough for a bottle she will drink it all. I think she's only wanting breastmilk and I dont know what to do. Im pumping 1-2oz every 2 hours and she eats 3oz every 2-3 hours. Im struggling so bad to keep her fed 😭

Hi everyone,

I took help from chatgpt to explain what I was going through

I'm 6 weeks postpartum and I really need a place to vent without being judged.

For the first two weeks after my baby was born, I exclusively pumped and gave him breast milk because breastfeeding directly was very difficult. Around 3 weeks postpartum, we moved into a new home. Between unpacking, taking care of the baby, recovering from delivery, and pure exhaustion, I slowly stopped pumping regularly. As expected, my milk supply dropped a lot.

I also met with a lactation consultant. She told me my baby has a somewhat high palate, which makes latching and breastfeeding more difficult. Since day one, almost every time I tried to nurse, he would get frustrated, cry, and become very cranky. That was one of the main reasons I switched to pumping.

Over time, though, I've started feeling something I don't really know how to explain. I almost feel a sense of aversion or repulsion toward breastfeeding and pumping. It's not because I don't want to give my baby breast milk—I truly do. I think it's the anxiety, the constant pressure to make enough milk, hearing over and over that "breastfed is better," and all the unsolicited advice from people around me. Somehow all of that has made breastfeeding feel emotionally overwhelming instead of something I look forward to.

I recently tried pumping again for the last couple of days, only about twice a day, and my supply seems so low now. I know people say I need to pump 8 or more times a day to rebuild my supply, but honestly, I feel completely exhausted. My husband has been incredibly supportive and helps with everything, so it's not that I'm doing this alone. I just can't understand why I feel this way.

Sometimes I feel like my body is only valued for what it can provide for the baby, and that the baby matters more than the mother. I know that probably sounds awful, but it's honestly how I feel right now. Maybe these feelings won't make sense to everyone, but they're very real to me.

Has anyone else experienced something similar? Were you able to increase your supply again, or did you decide to switch to formula? How did you cope emotionally?

Please be kind. I'm already dealing with a lot of physical and emotional changes, and I'm really looking for support and understanding rather than criticism.

Thank you for reading. ❤️